In early October, a bakery opened in a restored 1940s administration building at the Santa Monica Airport, and within weeks people were waiting up to 45 minutes for croissants. On October 17, hundreds of residents filled Memorial Park Gym to see the city's Draft Illustrative Master Plan for turning the 192-acre airport site into a park after aviation ends.
One of the plan's eight districts, Arts & Culture, is built around the creative and cultural spaces already on the site. So part of the park residents are being asked to comment on is already open on weekends along Airport Avenue. The comment window closes on December 6, and three things on the grounds happen that same Sunday.
A bakery in a 1940s office building
Eater LA reported that Matilda's mostly sells more than 3,000 pastries a week. The menu runs from croissants, sausage rolls and Danishes to cookies, sandwiches, baguettes and a butter tasting with eight tastes and styles. Owner and restaurateur Sean Martin took over the building in 2022 and brought on founding baker Francois Pied. Pied told Eater LA the response caught him off guard: "I was not expecting this level of commitment from people to stand in line."
Matilda's is at 3200 Airport Avenue and opens Wednesday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. That sets the pace for a Sunday here. The bakery opens at the same hour as the antique market down the road, and it closes an hour before the afternoon art events at Studios 3026 wrap up.
Directly across the street is Airport Park at 3201 Airport Avenue. The four-acre city park has a synthetic turf field, a playground, picnic tables with barbecue grills, restrooms, and an off-leash dog park with separate areas for large and small dogs. On weekends and holidays the dog park is open 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Coffee at Matilda's and a lap of the dog park fit into one trip without moving the car.
Thirty studios and a gallery, down the road at 3026
Santa Monica Studios 3026 at the Airport Arts Center describes itself as a public-facing gallery and artist center, with exhibitions, open studios, workshops and lessons at 3026 Airport Avenue. The current show in its Propeller Gallery is "Shadows, Structures, Light." It features international photography by Alex Roberto Hybel alongside work by Studios 3026 photographers Makala Lee and Sabine Pearlman.
The Studios 3026 events calendar runs through December, and everything on it is free and open to the public:
- Thursday, November 19, noon to 1:30 p.m.: a professional development workshop on archiving artwork, with Andi Campognone and Legacy Artist Sant Khalsa.
- Sunday, November 29, 2 to 5 p.m.: the closing reception and last day to see "Shadows, Structures, Light."
- Sunday, December 6, 1 to 4 p.m.: the 2026 Holiday Art Fair and Open Studios, with more than 30 artists opening their studios, several gallery spaces, live music, holiday art activities and seasonal refreshments.
The December fair gives you a look inside working studios on airport land, the kind of existing creative space the Arts & Culture district is meant to build on.
The market that skips the fifth Sunday
The Santa Monica Airport Antique Market runs on the first and fourth Sunday of every month, rain or shine, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is $5, children get in free, parking on site is free, and leashed pets are welcome. It sets up on the Santa Monica Airport Interim Open Space at 3233 Donald Douglas Loop South. To get there, take Airport Avenue past the soccer field and follow Donald Douglas Loop to the entrance. The city lists this interim public-access open space, with its antique markets, among the current uses on the airport property, along with art studios, event venues, a city park, a restaurant and a theater.
The market's own rule is "never on the 5th Sunday." November 2026 has five Sundays, so the market is off on November 29, the same afternoon as the Studios 3026 closing reception. The remaining 2026 market dates on the organizer's calendar are November 22, December 6 and December 27.
Eight districts, and the one built on what's already there
The draft plan, designed by Sasaki with the city's airport conversion team, divides the site into eight districts. Santa Monica Next summarized them this way:
- Immersive Nature: the western, quieter half, with native habitat, urban forest, wildflower meadows, wetlands or stormwater capture ponds, and a possible community farm.
- Active Sports: the eastern side, with organized athletic fields and regional recreation facilities.
- Arts & Culture: built around existing creative and cultural spaces, with creative programming and food and dining.
- Urban Edge: a transition zone along the northern edge that connects the site to nearby residential streets.
- The Stroll: a connecting path through the site, which drew some of the strongest support in earlier public surveys.
- The Lawn: open, flexible green space for gatherings, recreation and events.
- The Meadow: a landscape-focused space for passive recreation and natural scenery.
- The Heart: a central civic core where architecture, landscape and the main paths meet.
Most of the list describes land that is runway and aviation infrastructure today. Arts & Culture is the one district whose description starts from buildings and uses already in place, and its pairing of creative programming with food and dining is roughly what a Sunday on Airport Avenue looks like now.
According to the project website, the draft builds on earlier community input and leaves out any uses that would require a public vote under Measure LC. The Santa Monica Great Park Coalition, a group backing a full-site park, puts estimated construction costs at nearly $2 billion if the city moves forward with this plan. Santa Monica Next reported the coalition's view that the plan would also set aside any idea of new housing on the property. The airport is scheduled to close on December 31, 2028.
This is Phase 4 of five. The city's announcement said phasing, implementation and cost estimates would be explored in this phase, and quoted Mayor Caroline Torosis:
"The airport land belongs to the people of Santa Monica, and its future should be decided by them."
From now to December 27, in order
Here is the airport side's calendar from November 19 through the end of December. Times for the city board and commission meetings were still listed on smacproject.com as to be confirmed closer to each date.
- Thursday, November 19: Studios 3026 archiving workshop, noon to 1:30 p.m., and the Recreation & Parks Commission's review of the draft.
- Sunday, November 22: Antique market, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Monday, November 23: Airport Commission review of the draft.
- Sunday, November 29: "Shadows, Structures, Light" closing reception, 2 to 5 p.m. No antique market on this fifth Sunday.
- Sunday, December 6: Antique market in the morning, the Studios 3026 Holiday Art Fair and Open Studios from 1 to 4 p.m., and the last day for the Phase 4 survey.
- Sunday, December 27: The year's last antique market.
The draft plan and the materials from the October 17 event are posted on the project website, and the Phase 4 survey is available in English and Spanish. Here's one way to spend December 6: browse the market in the morning, walk through the open studios after lunch, then fill out the survey from Airport Park while the dogs run. By then you'll have seen the part of the plan that already exists.
If you live near the airport and wonder what a park on your doorstep could mean for your home years from now, a good first step is knowing where it stands today. Jasan Sherman and the Collective have followed Santa Monica's neighborhoods for more than 25 years, and we're glad to talk through the airport side with you. Get your instant Westside home valuation.
