Forest Avenue's First Winter as a Promenade: What Downtown Laguna Feels Like Now
The Promenade on Forest opened as a permanent pedestrian plaza on Sept. 25, 2026. More than 500 people filled the street for the dedication, and Band 133 played on the new stage, the Laguna Beach Independent reported. The city's summer music series there had already ended on Aug. 30. The next stage program on the city's calendar is Hospitality Night on Dec. 4.
Apart from that one dedication evening, the stage calendar is empty for more than three months. The block between Coast Highway and Glenneyre will spend its first permanent season doing something it was never billed for. It will act as the hinge between a newly opened surf museum two blocks away, an art installation running down the beach this week, and the restaurants and shops that held the block together through construction.
The permanent version took a long time to arrive. The Laguna Beach Independent quoted Mayor Mark Orgill at the dedication on how long it had been coming. He traced the idea to Vision 2030, the community plan from 27 years ago that first called for a downtown social space on Forest Avenue. The temporary closure began on June 15, 2020. Construction on the permanent plaza started Feb. 17, 2026.
The Daily Pilot reported that the City Council gave Superb Engineering a $5.5 million construction contract in January. The paper put the total cost of the conversion at an estimated $7.3 million. The Orange County Register reported in January that closing the street for good would remove 48 parking spaces.
The design shows what all that money was meant to support. According to the city's project page, the plaza includes:
Days before the dedication, City Manager Dave Kiff told the council that full electrical service was about to come on. That would switch on a fountain, an audio system and Wi-Fi, according to the Daily Pilot. Sound systems and performance areas are built for crowds. Orgill described the space to the Daily Pilot as a place where "you can listen to music and you can socialize at the same time," and as a social space "that can also be used for entertainment from time to time."
"From time to time" describes this fall well. The city's stage page lists the summer run as Fridays through Sundays, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., from July 10 to Aug. 30. It asks street performers to apply for a permit. The city has posted no regular fall or winter series. The Independent reported that Orgill timed the late-September ribbon cutting to come "before we get into the fall and winter months where we start to have hospitality night and some of the other events."
With no programming, the businesses carry the plaza. Several of them have been there far longer than the plaza has. At the dedication, Bushard's Pharmacy celebrated 80 years and Moulin, the French café, celebrated 10. Diners filled the tables at Alessa under the new umbrellas, the Daily Pilot reported. All three stayed open through construction, when fencing left only narrow walkways around the work.
230 Forest Avenue was one of the restaurants that set up outdoor parklets on the block during the pandemic. In an earlier Laguna Beach Magazine feature, executive chef Marc Cohen said his regulars "really enjoy the opportunity to dine outside and have a bottle of wine."
One nearby change affects dinner plans. The Deck on Laguna Beach and Driftwood Kitchen closed on Sept. 7 to make way for the redevelopment of the Pacific Edge Hotel on Sleepy Hollow Lane. Under the approved plan, the hotel's oceanfront restaurants would gain 14 seats and a new 63-seat café would be added, according to the Independent. No construction schedule has been published. That leaves fewer seated dinner options near the sand downtown this winter, and the restaurant tables on Forest pick up some of that demand.
A plaza that is a few weeks old is still filling in. The city described the Sept. 25 opening as the start of a few more weeks of work on "remaining elements." The trees are the most visible unfinished part. When a tree fell into the work zone during construction, the city removed more trees, citing public safety and insurability, and residents protested, the Daily Pilot reported. The city's project page says nine trees came out after arborists flagged safety risks and seven older trees were kept. A city FAQ says the finished plaza is meant to have more than 30 trees, with shade coming as they grow. For now, much of the shade on the block comes from the umbrellas.
The block's public art is also on its way back. The Arts Commission's Aug. 10 agenda recommended three pieces that had been removed, stored and refurbished:
The Daily Pilot photographed Marlo Bartels with one of his tile pieces at the opening. The same agenda proposed an open call for a new signature sculpture, paid from the Art-in-Lieu Fund with an $85,000 honorarium. A subcommittee would come back with a location and draft guidelines. The proposal is a sign of how the city expects the space to develop over the next few years.
With nothing on the city's stage calendar, a visit to the block in November depends on what is within walking distance, and this year there is plenty.
The newest stop is the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center, or SHACC. The Independent reported that the center moved into a 1939 building downtown after about 20 years in an industrial building in San Clemente. Founder Dick Metz chose the building for its high ceilings, size, parking and closeness to the beach.
Surfboards line the walls in order, tracing board design from redwood and pine to balsa and foam. The collection includes five boards that belonged to Duke Kahanamoku. Rows down the middle cover competition, surf shops and film, and waves and oceanography. The first rotating exhibit focuses on Hawaii. SHACC's visitor page lists the main entrance and parking at 232 Ocean Ave. Admission is free. Hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Mondays, and may change for holidays or private events.
At the other end of Forest, the Coast Highway entrance looks out toward Main Beach. This week the beach is part of the art calendar. Laguna Art Museum's Art + Nature Celebration Week runs Nov. 1 through 9, and Kim Manfredi's participatory "A Flag Walk for Our Future" runs Nov. 5 to 9, according to Visit Laguna Beach. Stu News Laguna reports that the outdoor work stretches from Main Beach through Heisler Park, with four installation stations. The museum is at 307 Cliff Drive, at the far end of that walk.
A November weekend afternoon can link these stops on foot:
Later in November, the evening options move up the canyon. The Laguna Playhouse at 606 Laguna Canyon Road is running "The 39 Steps" through Nov. 22. Sawdust Winter Fantasy opens Nov. 20 at 935 Laguna Canyon Road. It runs Fridays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., through Dec. 20, with admission at $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for children ages 6 to 12. Closer to the plaza, Wine Craft at 662 S. Coast Highway has Saturday tastings planned for Nov. 7, 14, 21 and 28, with Thanksgiving wines on the lineup.
Hospitality Night is the first time the promenade will host a large crowd in its permanent form outside of summer. The city's schedule, which it marks as tentative, runs from about 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 4. Santa arrives at the Peppertree Lot ahead of the 6:10 p.m. tree lighting. Anneliese School performs on the Forest Avenue main stage from 6:30 to 6:45 p.m., followed by music on the promenade stage from 7 to 9 p.m. Businesses hold open houses from 5 to 9 p.m.
Parts of Forest, Ocean, Beach and Glenneyre, along with the Peppertree lot, close to cars at 3 p.m. A free trolley and neighborhood on-demand service run from 4 to 11 p.m. For downtown residents, that means planning trips around the 3 p.m. closures and leaving the car at home for the evening.
After the dedication, Orgill told the Daily Pilot that people were glad to have construction behind them and to "figure out all the different ways we can use it as a community." Hospitality Night will show the first of those uses on Dec. 4. Until then, the block is a place to sit between a surf museum and the beach while the new trees grow in.
If you are following how new public spaces like the Promenade on Forest are changing downtown Laguna, Susie McKibben keeps close track of these shifts across coastal Orange County. Schedule a private consultation to talk through what they mean for the blocks you care about.
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