Downtown Santa Monica Is Reorganizing Around Lunch, Dinner and a Seat Outside

In 2026, the businesses arriving in Downtown Santa Monica mostly serve food, and the ones leaving mostly sell things. A burger stand from Napa picked a long-empty corner at Fourth and Wilshire because it had patio frontage. Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. has been setting out picnic tables on the Promenade twice a week. The city's deputy manager has said plainly that the goal is not to bring back the shopping street of the 1990s.

None of these pieces is very big. Taken together, they explain what downtown is offering this fall to someone who lives ten minutes away. They also show where it's still unfinished.

The Storefront Swap, Block by Block

This spring, the Promenade lost familiar retail names. The Santa Monica Daily Press reported in April that Doc Martens and It's Sugar had closed. The Santa Monica Mirror reported that Anthropologie's store at 1402 Third Street Promenade was set to close June 1 as part of a move to Marina del Rey.

Since then, the openings and announcements look like this:

All nine are food or drink. Dragon Alley Coffee is a local business that grew into a second concept a block away, and its burger spot is taking over the former Johnny Rockets space.

The storefront mix hasn't caught up with the trend yet. A September 2026 DTSM presentation found the Promenade's ground-floor commercial spaces 79% occupied as of August 2026. Clothing and accessories still held the most spaces at 23, followed by specialty retail at 17. Dining and nightlife held 13, fast food 11, and leisure and entertainment 7, while 15 spaces were listed as N/A. So retail still has more storefronts in total. Nearly all of this year's new arrivals have been restaurants and cafes.

Why a Napa Burger Stand Wanted a Patio on Wilshire

Gott's Roadside opened Friday, October 2, at the northeast corner of Fourth Street and Wilshire Boulevard. It's open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. It is the company's second Los Angeles County location, after the Original Farmers Market spot that opened March 6.

Gott's president, Clay Walker, told the Daily Press the company picked the site for its street frontage, which fits the "breezy indoor outdoor vibe" the brand started with in Napa Valley. "I was actually surprised at how little outdoor patio space there is in LA, given how good the climate is," he said. The heated patio has a glass barrier along its curve, and a planter of beach grass is going in along its length so diners feel less exposed without blocking the view from the street.

Walker also described who the restaurant is counting on. "We really rely on business for weekday lunch, and then residential for weekday dinner and weekends," he said. That makes residents the planned dinner and weekend crowd, not an afterthought behind beach visitors.

On the menu are the Ahi Burger, a California Burger with fried egg, bacon and balsamic onions, a kimchi burger, garlic fries, and a Vietnamese chicken salad with peanut lime vinaigrette, which Walker called the top-selling salad. Beef comes from Cream Co. Meats, chicken from Red Bird Farms and bread from Larder Baking Co. The soft-serve counter uses Straus organic soft serve. The bar serves only beer and wine, including Napa wines picked by co-owner Joel Gott, a winemaker.

Picnic Tables Between Arizona and Santa Monica Boulevard

The Gott's patio is a private bet on outdoor seating. DTSM is making a public version of the same bet. Its Sunshine Social series sets up outdoor community tables on the Promenade between Arizona Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard every Wednesday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with dates listed through Saturday, October 31.

It's built around the Farmers Market, which runs on the same mornings. DTSM's listing suggests shopping the market for fruit, bread, cheese and flowers, then sitting down at one of the tables. Hermanito serves ceviche, and adults 21 and older can get cocktails from Hermanito's pop-up spritz bar as part of the Entertainment Zone. The first 100 guests each day get a Third Street Promenade French market tote and a picnic tablecloth while supplies last.

How the Weekend Drink Zone Works

That Entertainment Zone is now a regular part of downtown weekends. City Council approved it on May 14, 2025, and the city set its hours before the June 2025 soft launch. The city's program page currently lists these terms:

• Hours: Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Hours can differ for special events and individual businesses.
• Boundaries: Third Street Promenade from Wilshire Boulevard to Broadway, covering the 1200, 1300 and 1400 blocks.
• Requirements: You must be 21 or older and wear an official wristband. Drinks must be bought from a participating business and served in a container that isn't glass or metal.
• Limits: Finish your drink before walking into another restaurant, bar or shop, and keep it inside the zone.

The participating businesses are 1212 Santa Monica, Barney's Beanery, Cabo Cantina, Casa Martin, Holey Moley, Pickle Pop, Ugo Santa Monica and Ugo Trattoria.

The footprint could get bigger. In March 2026, Council approved a plan the city described as expanding the zone to the full downtown core, with event-based authority reaching the Pier, Main Street and Montana Avenue. In practice it hasn't changed yet. For the COAST event on July 19, staff declined to fully activate the expanded area, and the city's program page still lists only the three Promenade blocks.

The October and November Calendar

The events this fall are built on the same mix of food, outdoor seating and a drink you can carry:

1. Saturday, October 3. Oktoberfest took over the 1200 block between Arizona Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard from 1 to 6 p.m., with live polka, a DJ and contests. The participating businesses were 1212, Ugo, Cabo Cantina, Casa Martin, Holey Moley and Barney's Beanery, all of which are also on the Entertainment Zone list.
2. Wednesdays and Saturdays through October 31. Sunshine Social, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
3. Saturday, October 10. Santa Monica Block Fest Vol. VIII runs from 5 p.m. to midnight across all three Promenade blocks. It has a Halloween theme, free admission, DJs and a food night market with more than 20 vendors. The city, DTSM, Good Society and Beat Repeat are listed as organizers.
4. November. The organizer has posted Block Fest IX as a November event marked "Coming Soon," without a date yet. Ice at Santa Monica says it will return in November 2026 at Arizona Avenue and Fifth Street, just off the Promenade. Its site doesn't yet confirm an opening day for this year.

What the City Wants the Promenade to Become

All of this matches what the city now says about the Promenade. At the late-September DTSM board meeting, deputy city manager Peter James presented an early plan to reimagine the street. "We don't want to bring the Promenade back, we want to bring it forward," he said. He called it "designed for an era that doesn't exist anymore," pointing to the paving, the dinosaur sculptures and its reliance on retail.

Foot traffic gives the plan something to build on. DTSM CEO Debbie Lee reported 3.3 million downtown visits from June 11 to July 19, 2026, up 26% from the same period in 2025. August visits were up 20%. Lee said the data couldn't pin the June and July increase precisely on the World Cup, and she described the August gain as a residual effect.

The plan is still preliminary. DTSM replaced its placemaking and marketing committees with task forces, and one of them is focused on the next generation of the Promenade. Board members Gleam Davis and John Warfel asked that basics like working elevators in the parking structures get as much attention as the big ideas. "Infrastructure is not sexy," Davis said, before saying it matters anyway. DTSM's own list of infrastructure priorities includes electrical updates, new flower beds and pavers, and crosswalk maintenance, without a schedule.

Money is in place to bring in more of the same kinds of tenants. The economic strategy the city announced in March created a $3 million fund for Promenade restaurant incentives, tenant improvements, recruitment and capital-renewal studies, along with fee waivers and faster permitting. The next storefronts to light up on the 1300 block are likely to be BROT Doner Cafe Bakery at 1348, a Berlin-style spot serving döner sandwiches, pastries, desserts and coffee, and Cotti Coffee across the street at 1353. Neither has announced an opening date.

Downtown's mix of businesses is changing, and nearby blocks feel it as foot traffic, noise, parking pressure and how close you are to a good dinner. At Jasan Sherman, we follow these changes block by block for clients who own near the Promenade or are thinking about it. If you'd like to know how downtown's shift is showing up in what homes nearby are worth, start with an instant Westside home valuation.