"You go to the [Laguna] Playhouse, you're in seating. You go to the Cultural Arts Center, you're primarily seated. It's a different experience. [At] the promenade, you can listen to music and you can socialize at the same time."
That was Mayor Mark Orgill speaking to the Daily Pilot the day after the Promenade on Forest's ribbon-cutting on Friday, Sept. 25. Since then, the block of Forest Avenue between Glenneyre Street and Coast Highway has been a permanent pedestrian plaza. Its first winter starts with a quiet stage. The city's posted Music on the Promenade series ran Friday through Sunday evenings from July 10 to Aug. 30, 2026, and no fall or winter series has been posted.
So between now and New Year's, the new plaza gets its life from two other places. One is the town calendar Laguna Beach already had. The other is the everyday traffic of the businesses along the block. Both say more about what the Promenade will be in the long run than any summer concert did.
The Stage Went Quiet Before the Ribbon Was Cut
The fences came down for a first look right before the Fourth of July, according to the Orange County Register. The summer music lineup started July 10 with Jodie Siegel and ended Aug. 30 with Kelly Fitzgerald. The city's stage page says the program was funded by lodging establishments and the City of Laguna Beach. The official opening came almost four weeks later, with crews still finishing pieces of the project that same week and 133 Band playing after the ribbon-cutting.
That means the plaza held its scheduled concerts before it was finished, and its finished version opens into the off-season. The stage is still available on other nights. Street performers can apply through the Cultural Arts Department. The city's Street Performing FAQs say performances on the Promenade have to stay within the designated performance area and can run no longer than three hours. The city's performer application also requires performers to follow the street-performer and noise ordinances. Live music on a given winter evening depends on who applied, not on a published lineup.
What Was Finished, and What Was Still Being Switched On
The permanent version is a different kind of space from the 2020 setup. That setup used removable decks, string lights and potted greenery, and its visitor description only looked ahead to January 2021. The Orange County Register reported that the roadway, curbs, sidewalks and parking spaces were replaced with rustic tumbled brick, seating areas and a kelp-forest-inspired fountain. City Manager Dave Kiff described the final week's additions as more art pieces, a nautilus bench and bike racks. The Daily Pilot photographed local tile artist Marlo Bartels with one of his pieces on opening night.
The cost figures depend on the outlet. The Register put the project at $7.2 million and said Kiff called it under budget, against about $250,000 for the temporary plaza in June 2020. The Daily Pilot gave an estimate of $7.3 million, including a $5.5 million construction contract awarded to Superb Engineering in January.
Some pieces were still being finished in the opening week. At the Sept. 22 City Council meeting, Kiff said full electrical service, which runs the fountain, the audio system and the Wi-Fi, was expected to be finished that Wednesday. Work also remained at the Coast Highway end, facing Main Beach. The trees are also still filling in. The city's project page says nine trees were removed after arborists found safety risks. It lists two specimen oaks and ten 48-inch-box eucalyptus trees already placed, and plans for more than 30 trees in the finished Promenade area, including larger Southern Live Oaks. The canopy downtown sees this December will be smaller than the one the plan calls for.
The Weekday Plaza Belongs to the Storefronts
On the many winter days with no event, the Promenade comes down to the businesses facing it. Two of them marked anniversaries at the opening.
Bushard's Pharmacy turned 80. Joseph Bushard and his brother Earl started it in 1946, and the Register reports it still operates in the building he built on Forest Avenue, in its original footprint, never remodeled. Marisa Fader, his granddaughter, now runs the business side. The Register says the shop carries specialty cosmetics and perfumes, many from France, alongside prescriptions.
Moulin, the Parisian-style cafe, turned 10 and handed out free crepes and baked goods at the opening. Alessa, the Italian restaurant, had diners at its tables under umbrellas the same night.
Fader told the Register that since the partial opening in July, "We've seen an uptick in people shopping and eating and enjoying the promenade." Orgill told the same paper that reading circles and other groups were already meeting there, and that high school students had talked about using it as a meeting space. He tied the plaza to Vision Laguna 2030, the community plan about 2,000 residents helped shape around the turn of the millennium. That plan called for a gathering place.
Two Thursdays and a Friday Borrow the Plaza
Three evenings between now and mid-December bring downtown its biggest crowds. The Promenade is the stage for only one of them.
- First Thursdays Art Walk, Nov. 5, 6 to 9 p.m. The event is free and includes extended free trolley rides. Laguna Art Museum is free from 5 to 9 p.m., and Hotel Laguna shows three selected artists starting at 5 p.m.
- First Thursdays Art Walk, Dec. 3, 6 to 9 p.m. This is the same format, one night before Hospitality Night.
- Hospitality Night, Friday, Dec. 4, about 5 to 9 p.m. The City of Laguna Beach and the Chamber of Commerce co-sponsor it. Downtown street closures begin at 3 p.m. and cover parts of Forest Avenue, Ocean Avenue, Beach Street, Glenneyre and the Peppertree parking lot. Santa lights the tree at 6:10 p.m. in the Peppertree Lot, also called Lot 2. That spot is where the evening starts, not on the Promenade. Santa's Beach House runs from 6:30 to 9 p.m., and business open houses run from 5 to 9 p.m.
The Promenade's role on Dec. 4 is the Main Stage. The Anneliese School performs there from 6:30 to 6:45 p.m., followed by "Music on the Main Stage on the Promenade" from 7 to 9 p.m. That makes it the plaza's only scheduled music slot posted for the season, and the city calls the whole schedule tentative.
Getting Downtown After Dark
The city's off-season trolley schedule runs from Sept. 8, 2026, through June 25, 2027, and the regular service hours line up closely with these evenings.
| Service | Days and hours | What it lines up with |
|---|---|---|
| Coastal Route, free | Monday through Thursday 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Fridays 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturdays 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sundays 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. | Regular Thursday service ends before Art Walk starts, so the event's own extended trolley covers it |
| Canyon Route, free | Saturdays and Sundays, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., from Lot 16/Act V, with parking there at $5 | Weekend trips between the canyon and downtown |
| Hospitality Night service, free | Dec. 4, 4 to 11 p.m., with neighborhood on-demand service | Runs an hour past the usual Friday 10 p.m. cutoff |
Service generally runs every 20 to 30 minutes, and Lot 16 is closed to the public Monday through Friday. The city's parking page lists an off-season parking period that runs from Sept. 8, 2026, through June 21, 2027, with enforcement hours listed as 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. No posted Hospitality Night material from the city mentions a holiday-season free-parking program, so plan on regular meter rules everywhere outside the closed streets.
The Canyon End of the Season
The longest-running holiday event this year is up Laguna Canyon Road, not on Forest. Sawdust Winter Fantasy runs from Nov. 20 through Dec. 20 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., at 935 Laguna Canyon Road. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for ages 6 to 12, and children 5 and under get in free. On Saturdays and Sundays, the free Canyon Route trolley runs the same hours, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. out of Lot 16/Act V. That gives a weekend afternoon at the Sawdust and an evening downtown two free rides along one corridor. Friday visits work differently because the Canyon Route doesn't run that day.
One more set of dates is useful if a Promenade evening tends to include a walk toward Main Beach. Stu News Laguna lists king tides for Nov. 24 to 26 and Dec. 23 to 25, the same week as Thanksgiving and the days around Christmas.
For the rest of the season, the Promenade's calendar comes down to the first Thursday in November, the first Thursday in December, and the first Friday in December, with Main Stage music from 7 to 9 p.m. that Friday.
If you're thinking about how a permanent pedestrian plaza changes the daily rhythm of the blocks around downtown Laguna Beach, I'm glad to talk through what I see on the ground. Colin Farris | Let's Connect.
