Forest Avenue Promenade in Laguna Beach: Your Fall 2026 Guide

There was a full moon over lower Forest Avenue on September 25 when more than 500 people filled the new promenade for its official dedication. Band 133 played after the ribbon-cutting. Diners sat at tables under umbrellas. One couple told the Laguna Beach Independent what they had planned for the rest of the night. They would hear the band, walk over to the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center "because it's open now," and maybe try for a table at Alessa.

That plan is a good map of downtown this fall. The town's two new public spaces opened a week apart, a short walk from each other. From now through the first Friday of December, the biggest local events are booked into one, the other, or both.

The ribbon-cutting was timed for winter

The promenade did not open on September 25. It was dedicated that night. Mayor Mark Orgill said the plaza had been finished for more than a month. The city held the ceremony then so the grand opening would come "before we get into the fall and winter months where we start to have hospitality night and some of the other events." The last details were still going in that week. At the September 22 City Council meeting, City Manager Dave Kiff said the brickwork was done at the northern end. Work was still wrapping up at the Coast Highway end, which faces Main Beach. Kiff expected full electrical service by that Wednesday, which would turn on the fountain, the audio system and the Wi-Fi.

The idea is much older than the construction. Orgill traced it to Vision 2030, a community plan from 27 years ago that called for closing Forest Avenue to make a downtown social space. He described the pandemic street closure as the experiment that led to it. The city's project timeline dates that closure to June 15, 2020. The permanent version drew an appeal to the California Coastal Commission. On August 15, 2025, the Commission found no substantial issue with that appeal, according to the same timeline. Orgill remembered the vote as unanimous. Local sculptor Gerard Basil Stripling, who has visited piazzas across Italy, put it this way: "this is now our piazza."

What the money bought on the lower block

The permanent closure covers lower Forest Avenue from Glenneyre Street to Coast Highway. In January, the City Council gave Superb Engineering a $5.5 million construction contract. The Daily Pilot estimates the full conversion, construction included, at $7.3 million. The Orange County Register put the total project cost at $7.2 million.

The Register lists a fountain inspired by a kelp forest, specialty brick, new furniture and greenery. The city's project page adds:

• permeable brick pavers and gardens
• seating and dining space, plus wider walkways in front of the shops
• new trees, including two specimen oaks and ten boxed eucalyptus
• areas set aside for temporary performances

Most of the businesses on the block are familiar. Two of them marked anniversaries at the dedication: Bushard's Pharmacy turned 80 and Moulin turned 10. Alessa serves Italian food on the promenade. All of them stayed open through construction, when fencing left only narrow walkways.

George Dubin is a local artist and planning commissioner who helped bring the promenade to completion. He described his own use of it: "I come down here and sit and just enjoy watching the sun go down." The city's Music on the Promenade series played Friday through Sunday evenings this summer and ended August 30. No fall series has been posted yet.

A 1939 drugstore now holds five of Duke's eight boards

A week before the dedication, the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center opened in the building at 239 Broadway. It had been empty since Laguna Drug closed in 2019. The building dates to 1939. Founder Dick Metz, who is 97, said it was a rare find downtown because it had high ceilings, room, parking and a spot near the beach. SHACC spent about 20 years in an industrial building in San Clemente, where much of the collection stayed out of public view. The ribbon-cutting was Friday, September 18 at 1 p.m., and the doors opened to the public right after.

The building faces Broadway. SHACC's own site lists 232 Ocean Ave. as the address, and the museum's parking lot is there. Culture OC describes it as 14,000 square feet with soaring ceilings, a 9-by-16-foot screen, a research room, a small cafe serving beer, wine and light bites, a gift shop and a foldaway stage. Admission is free. Hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and it is closed Mondays.

The boards along the walls trace the sport from Hawaii to California, moving from redwood and pine to balsa and then foam. Former Surfer editor Chris Mauro, one of SHACC's historians, calls that route "your time capsule." The first rotating exhibit covers ancient Hawaiian surfing. The centerpiece is the Duke Kahanamoku collection. Metz counts eight known boards that Duke made or rode. One went to the Smithsonian, one stayed in Australia, one is in Waikiki, "and the other five are here."

The location matters to Metz for the same reason the promenade matters to the city. "Everybody that goes to the beach really has to park inland and walk right by us to get to the beach," he told Culture OC. Executive Director Jeff Alter is the son of Hobie Alter, who started shaping boards in his father's Laguna garage. Alter called the move "such a step forward."

October gives both places to the Coast festival

The Coast Film & Music Festival runs October 16 through 25. Its venue list follows the new downtown walk closely. It includes the Laguna Beach Cultural Arts Center at 235 Forest Ave., Hobie Surf Shop at 294 Forest Ave., SHACC at 232 Ocean Ave. and the Rivian South Coast Theater at 162 S. Coast Hwy. The Festival of Arts and the Irvine Bowl, both at 650 Laguna Canyon Road, are the two venues outside downtown.

The festival notes that an Irvine Bowl concert ticket also gets you into the Festival of Arts for the day, and those doors open at 3 p.m.

The week SHACC is open only to festival ticket holders

One detail on the museum's site matters for anyone planning a weekday visit. From October 17 through 25, SHACC is open only to Coast Film Festival ticket holders. That leaves the rest of October 7 through 16 for a free walk-in visit, or the stretch after the festival ends. The surfboard sale on October 25 takes place in the parking lot, and the posted public hours start at 9 a.m. SHACC's calendar currently lists events through October 29. Nothing is posted yet for November or December. The museum also says hours can change for holidays and private events.

December 4 is the night the dedication was timed for

Hospitality Night falls on the first Friday of every December, and this year that is Friday, December 4, from about 5 to 9 p.m. It is the night Orgill named when he explained the timing of the dedication. The city and the Chamber of Commerce sponsor it together, and this will be the first one with the permanent promenade in place. Here is the tentative schedule from the city's event page:

1. 3 p.m.: Downtown street closures begin on parts of Forest Avenue, Ocean Avenue, Beach Street, Glenneyre and the Peppertree Lot.
2. 4 to 11 p.m.: Free trolley and neighborhood on-demand service.
3. 5 to 9 p.m.: Business open houses.
4. 6:10 p.m.: Santa lights the tree in the Peppertree Lot, which is Lot 2.
5. 6:30 to 6:45 p.m.: Anneliese School performs on the Forest Avenue main stage.
6. 7 to 9 p.m.: Susannah B & the Lowkeys and Earl Thomas play the Forest Avenue main stage.

The Peppertree Lot schedule also includes the Thurston Middle School Band and the Ukulele Academy. The Laguna Community Concert and JaZz Band plays after the tree lighting. Santa then moves to his Beach House to hear children's wishes from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Ocean Avenue is on the street-closure list, the same street as SHACC's parking lot and entrance, so plan on walking to the evening's events and leaving the car at home.

When Connie Maxsenti began working this coastline 51 years ago, the Forest Avenue promenade existed only as a hope that would later go into the Vision 2030 plan. Seeing it built is good news for the whole downtown. If you'd like to talk about how changes like these play out on the streets around your own home, Let's Connect — Schedule Your Free Consultation.