Laguna Beach's Quieter Fall Calendar Has a New Center on Forest Avenue

The construction fences are gone from lower Forest Avenue. In their place are rustic tumbled brick, a fountain shaped like a kelp forest, a nautilus bench and new bike racks. A block toward the water, behind the doors of a 1939 building, five surfboards that belonged to Duke Kahanamoku are now on public display. Both opened in the last week of September 2026, within days of each other. In a fall when several of the town's usual events are missing, those few blocks have become the most reliable plan in Laguna Beach, and almost everything on them is free.

A $250,000 Experiment Became a $7.2 Million Plaza

The Promenade on Forest started as a stopgap. The temporary plaza that opened in June 2020 let restaurants keep serving during COVID distancing, and the Orange County Register put its cost at about $250,000, including $10,000 for security. The permanent version cost $7.2 million, which City Manager Dave Kiff said came in under budget. Crews removed the roadway, curbs, sidewalks and parking spaces and laid a brick promenade with art and seating.

The idea is much older than the pandemic. Mayor Mark Orgill traced it to Vision 2030, the community plan more than 2,000 residents helped shape 27 years ago, which called for a downtown social space on Forest. He also told the Laguna Beach Independent that the California Coastal Commission approved the project unanimously. The project has had critics. According to the Register, some community members argued that it cuts parking, takes away from the town's historic character and could make flooding worse. Kiff said the decomposed granite used in construction should help with drainage. The new landscaping was chosen to suit a saline environment, and unstable, sick eucalyptus trees were removed over the summer.

The public first saw the plaza just before July 4, when the perimeter fences came down. The formal dedication came on September 25 under a full moon, with more than 500 people on the brick and Band 133 on stage. Orgill said the plaza had been finished for over a month by then. The city held the ribbon cutting before fall and winter on purpose, ahead of Hospitality Night and other seasonal events. A few things were still unfinished that week. Kiff listed some interior brickwork, activation of the Wi-Fi speaker system and a few adjustments on the Coast Highway side.

People were using the space before the ribbon cutting. Orgill mentioned reading circles, high school students who talked about meeting there, and other groups that had started gathering. At Bushard's Pharmacy, which opened in 1946 and still stocks specialty cosmetics and perfumes, many of them from France, the family reported more shopping, eating and lounging nearby since the Coast Highway end of the plaza opened in July.

The Surf Archive That Spent Two Decades in San Clemente

Several people at the dedication planned to walk over to the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center afterward, since it had just opened. The move is a big change for SHACC. For about 20 years, the collection sat in an industrial building in San Clemente, where much of it stayed out of public view. Founder Dick Metz, 97, who was surfing in Hawaii by 1950 and began saving old wooden boards when few others did, told the Independent the downtown building was a rare find. He cited its high ceilings, its size, its parking and its location near the beach.

The layout rewards a slow visit. Boards line the perimeter in order, from redwood and pine through balsa and foam to modern boards. Historian Chris Mauro, a former Surfer magazine editor, called that loop a "time capsule." The center rows split into three themes: competition and athletes; surf shops, fashion, movies and music; and waves and oceanography. The first rotating exhibit covers Hawaii and ancient Hawaiian surfing. Upstairs is a library and archive with thousands of photographs and films.

Before you go:

• Address: The Independent places the building on Broadway, but SHACC's visitor page lists the main entrance and parking lot at 232 Ocean Ave.
• Admission: Free.
• Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Mondays. Hours may change for holidays and private events.
• Transit: OCTA Route 1 stops at Broadway and PCH, two blocks east.

October, Block by Block

Late October is when the free museum is hardest to get into. From October 17 through 25, SHACC is open only to Coast Film Festival ticket holders. Outside that window, the month has something on most weekends within a short walk of the brick.

The Plein Air Invitational, now in its 28th year, runs October 3 through 11 with 30 artists, according to Stu News Laguna. The concert lineup comes from the Coast Film & Music Festival site. SHACC's events page currently lists nothing after the October 29 book launch. The Promenade has no fall programming yet either. The city's posted Forest Avenue stage series ran Friday through Sunday evenings and ended August 30.

The Fall Fixtures Missing This Year

The new downtown blocks matter more this fall because several regular events are off the calendar or changed:

• Taste of Laguna Food & Music Festival. It was scheduled for October 1 at the Festival of Arts grounds and was canceled. The Chamber said it looks forward to a 2027 Centennial Celebration.
• Concerts in the Canyon. The Coast Film & Music Foundation moved these concerts to 2027. LPAPA changed its Collectors Art Party to offer zero-proof bars. The festival's separate Irvine Bowl closing weekend is still listed for October 23 to 25.
• The Deck on Laguna Beach and Driftwood Kitchen. Both closed on September 7 after more than a decade, to make way for redevelopment of the Pacific Edge Hotel property at 610 to 668 Sleepy Hollow Lane. The project description includes a new café.

Until the Tree Goes Up on December 4

The Promenade's first big test as a holiday stage is Hospitality Night, set for Friday, December 4, from about 5 to 9 p.m. The city's tentative schedule has Santa arriving at the Peppertree Lot to light the tree at 6:10 p.m. The Anneliese School performs on the Forest Avenue main stage from 6:30 to 6:45 p.m., followed by Susannah B & the Lowkeys and Earl Thomas from 7 to 9 p.m. Businesses hold open houses from 5 to 9 p.m. Street closures on parts of Forest Avenue, Ocean Avenue, Beach Street and Glenneyre, plus the Peppertree Lot, start at 3 p.m. The trolley and neighborhood on-demand rides are free from 4 to 11 p.m.

Getting downtown between now and then:

• Coastal Route trolley: Runs daily on the non-summer schedule that began September 8, every 20 to 30 minutes. Hours vary by day.
• Canyon Route trolley: Runs weekends from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. out of Lot 16/Act V, every 30 minutes, for $5.
• Laguna Local: On-demand shared rides run until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and until 7 p.m. Sunday.
• Broadway Lot: The city's lot at 234 Broadway has 25 spaces and accepts card or cash. Enforcement runs 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. It is a separate address from SHACC's own lot at 232 Ocean Ave.

The city's current trolley page shows the non-summer schedule running through June 25, 2027.

At Perrie Mundy Group, we follow changes like the finished Promenade and SHACC's move because they shape how a place feels day to day. If you have questions about downtown Laguna Beach, or about how a change like this fits your own plans, please reach out. We are always glad to talk.