Laguna Beach's Free New Surf Museum Goes Ticket-Only for Film Festival Week

Two blocks of downtown Laguna Beach changed this fall. The Promenade on Forest became a permanent pedestrian plaza, and the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center moved into a 1939 building near the beach. On a normal Tuesday both are free and open to anyone. From Oct. 17 through 25, the museum admits only Coast Film & Music Festival ticket holders, and the promenade becomes one of the festival's screening venues.

Both projects were designed to host programs. Free admission and an open plaza are the everyday terms, and the event calendar decides when those terms are on hold. If you live within walking distance, the useful thing to know this month is the dates.

The two blocks the city and a nonprofit just finished

The Promenade on Forest had its official dedication on Sept. 25, with more than 500 people on Forest Avenue under a full moon, the Laguna Beach Independent reported. Mayor Mark Orgill told the paper the plaza had been finished for over a month. The city timed the ribbon-cutting "before we get into the fall and winter months where we start to have hospitality night and some of the other events."

The Daily Pilot put the cost of turning the pandemic-era seating into a full pedestrian plaza at $7.3 million. The idea goes back much further. Orgill tied it to Vision 2030, a community plan from 27 years ago that called for closing Forest Avenue. He said more than 2,000 people took part in that visioning process, and the Coastal Commission approved the plaza unanimously.

The city's project description lists what was built: tables and seats for outdoor dining and public use, designated areas for temporary performances, and wider walkways in front of the storefronts. The city also says some finishing elements were still due in the weeks after opening. Businesses on the promenade include Bushard's Pharmacy, the cafe Moulin, and Alessa, whose diners sit at outdoor tables on the plaza, according to the Daily Pilot. The OC Register reported in July that Faherty opened on Forest in April. The same story placed one of the six original trees that were kept, a large eucalyptus, near the popular Candy Baron.

The surf museum opened the same weekend. SHACC spent about 20 years in an industrial building in San Clemente, where much of its collection stayed out of public view, the Indy reported. Founder Dick Metz, 97, started the nonprofit 27 years ago. He told the paper he picked the 1939 building for its high ceilings, its size, its parking, and how close it is to the beach.

Inside, surfboards line the walls in order, from redwood and pine through balsa and foam. The collection includes five boards that belonged to Duke Kahanamoku. Upstairs is a library and archive with thousands of photographs and films. The first rotating exhibit covers ancient Hawaiian surfing. Chris Mauro, a SHACC historian and former Surfer magazine editor, described the walk around the walls this way: "You take the perimeter trip through time. That's your time capsule."

October turns both into festival venues

According to the Laguna Beach Independent's lineup report, the Coast Film & Music Festival returns for its eighth year from Oct. 16 to 25, with more than 80 documentary features and shorts. Its venues include the Rivian South Coast Theater, the Festival of Arts, the Forum Theater, the Laguna Beach Cultural Arts Center, the Hobie Surf Shop, the new SHACC, and the Promenade on Forest Avenue. Opening night shows "SURFILMUSIC," about Jack Johnson's path from surfer and filmmaker to musician.

The museum is three weeks old and is already one of the festival's main venues. That is why its walk-in hours stop for most of festival week.

Festival passes are sold at coastfilmfestival.com. The Indy lists the prices: the opening weekend bundle costs $200 and covers ticketed programs Oct. 16 to 18. The closing weekend bundle with three Irvine Bowl concerts costs $450 for Oct. 23 to 25. The all-access pass costs $750. On Oct. 12, a free museum visit is $0 and a festival-week visit starts at $200. The building and the boards are the same either way.

Getting in without a ticket

SHACC's visit page has the details. Most locals will need them only once.

1. Entrance and parking. The museum's parking lot and main entrance are at 232 Ocean Ave. The Indy's opening story placed it on Broadway, so use the Ocean Avenue address for directions.
2. Hours. Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Mondays. Hours can change for holidays and private events.
3. Transit. OCTA Route 1 stops at Broadway and PCH, two blocks east. The trolley runs only from Memorial Day to Labor Day, so it isn't running now.
4. Bikes. There are racks at the front entrance and bike lanes in both directions on PCH.

Today, Oct. 12, is a Monday, so the museum is closed. That leaves four free walk-in days before the festival restriction starts, and the next one after it is Oct. 27.

Live music on the promenade also follows a calendar. The city's summer stage series ran 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Friday through Sunday, from July 10 to Aug. 30, and it has ended. The performance areas are still there. The city handles street performances through a permit process, so what happens on the promenade on a given night depends on what has been booked.

The oceanfront lost two long-running restaurants

While Forest Avenue was gaining a plaza, the beach side of town lost two well-known places to eat. The Deck on Laguna Beach and Driftwood Kitchen closed on Monday, Sept. 7, after more than a decade, according to the Indy. Management said the closings were not for financial reasons. They make way for a redevelopment of the Pacific Edge Hotel complex at 610-668 Sleepy Hollow Lane. Investment group Dune Drifter LLC bought the property in 2024. Over the years the two restaurants served nearly one million oysters and ran 10 years of Sip & Shuck fundraisers for local nonprofits.

The plan the City Council approved on Aug. 10, 2021, keeps oceanfront dining at the hotel. It adds 25 hotel rooms, gives The Deck and Driftwood Kitchen spaces a net 14 more seats, and adds a new 63-seat cafe with outdoor dining. No reopening date has been reported for either restaurant space. So the plan adds seats at Sleepy Hollow Lane, but for now the only new outdoor seating downtown is on Forest Avenue.

Next up is the street in front of the museum

The city's next downtown streetscape project covers Ocean Avenue from Forest Avenue to South Coast Highway, and Beach Street from Broadway to Ocean Avenue. That puts SHACC's front door at 232 Ocean Ave. inside the project area. The Planning Commission tabled the project on Sept. 2 for more public outreach. A public meeting is set for Oct. 20, 2026, during festival week, and construction is scheduled for Fall 2027 with no completion date. The schedule is tentative. Still, the block with the museum's entrance and parking lot is the next one in line for redesign.

Before that, the promenade hosts the event the mayor said the dedication was timed for. Hospitality Night is Friday, Dec. 4, from about 5 to 9 p.m. The tentative lineup has Anneliese School, Susannah B & the Lowkeys, and Earl Thomas on the Forest Avenue main stage, and downtown street closures start at 3 p.m. First Thursdays Art Walk also runs Nov. 5 and Dec. 3, 6 to 9 p.m. Its listing doesn't say whether it will use the promenade.

Local sculptor Gerard Basil Stripling described the plaza at the dedication, as quoted by the Laguna Beach Independent:

"I have always felt that every city should have a piazza, and this is now our piazza."

For readers tracking other parts of the county, our Orange County neighborhood guide and our look at how Orange County's restaurant openings follow foot traffic cover the wider picture.

Do you own a downtown Laguna Beach property that needs more work than you plan to do before Ocean Avenue's streetscape project starts? Acquire'd Real Estate buys as-is, and our principals answer the phone themselves. Get a cash offer and you'll have a firm number and a closing date to plan around.