Laguna Beach always changes pace in summer. In 2026, the shift is more structural. Familiar restaurant spaces have new names. Two canyon festivals are celebrating 60 years at once. Forest Avenue has live music three nights a week, and Pageant evenings will keep Laguna Canyon Road active well after dinner.
The story behind Laguna Beach summer 2026 new restaurants and festivals is not simply that there is more to do. The places residents already know are being used differently. North Laguna has a nationally recognized new pizza destination. A historic South Laguna restaurant space now serves smash burgers. The canyon functions like a second town center, while the trolley becomes a practical link between neighborhoods rather than a visitor novelty.
That creates a useful choice for locals: avoid the seasonal version of town, or learn its new rhythm and make it work for you.
Familiar Coast Highway addresses have new routines
The restaurant changes matter because they are happening in recognizable spaces, not anonymous storefronts. These openings carry memories of what came before, which is why they feel more significant than a standard list of new places to eat.
Truly Pizza gives North Laguna a new gathering place
Truly Pizza opened its second location in May at 320 N. Coast Highway, beside Urth Caffé and across from Laguna Art Museum. The approximately 100-seat space was previously home to restaurant 3. Longtime residents may also remember the address as Madison Square & Garden Café.
The new restaurant arrived with considerable attention. Truly Pizza ranked No. 4 on the 2026 edition of 50 Top Pizza USA, while its Umami Mushroom pizza received the organization’s 2026 Pizza of the Year recognition. The menu also includes California-focused salads, focaccia sandwiches, charcuterie, soft serve, cocktails, wine, and zero-proof drinks.
Published summer hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., with the restaurant closed Tuesdays. Reservations are recommended on weekends.
The larger local story is the way the address has changed again. A familiar corner near the museum is now likely to draw diners who might otherwise have headed downtown. That spreads summer activity north of Main Beach and creates an easy pairing with the museum, Heisler Park area, or a Coastal Route trolley ride into the Village.
Small’s Smash Club remakes a South Laguna landmark
At 2794 Coast Highway, Small’s Smash Club opened June 6 in the former Dizz’s As Is building. Dizz’s closed in March after serving the community from that address since 1977.
The new concept kept the bar, indoor seating, and enclosed garden patio while introducing a focused menu of single, double, and triple smash burgers, onion rings, cheese fries, and loaded fries. The approximately 1,800-square-foot building dates to the 1920s, so this is less a blank-slate opening than another chapter for a long-standing South Laguna property.
Opening day showed how quickly the new chapter could affect the block. The restaurant reportedly handled approximately 650 tickets, with a line extending around the corner.
Small’s has no dedicated parking, but it sits near Victoria Beach and a trolley stop. That detail should shape the plan. A Coastal Route trolley can be more practical than circling for a space, especially when a beach afternoon and dinner are part of the same outing.
K’ya Laguna brings back a familiar name
Some of this year’s change is also a return. K’ya Laguna reopened in February inside La Casa del Camino at 1289 South Coast Highway, reviving the former K’ya Bistro concept with a mix of remembered dishes and California coastal small plates.
Chef Ceferino Hernandez worked at the hotel during the original K’ya era and helped reconstruct recipes from that period. Early highlighted dishes included Korean short ribs, Hawaiian ahi poke, deviled eggs, blistered shishito peppers, and lobster mac and cheese.
The restaurant has 58 seats, a bar, and live music. Published hours are 3 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. For residents who remember the earlier version, K’ya offers a different kind of summer opening: a familiar local name interpreted for the current moment.
Bouchée creates a new daytime stop in South Laguna
Bouchée Patisserie opened March 2 at Montage Laguna Beach. Located near the resort’s porte-cochere, the French-inspired shop serves house-baked pastries, macarons, fruit tarts, gelato, coffee, breakfast sandwiches, salads, grain bowls, sandwiches, and juices.
Its range makes Bouchée useful beyond a formal resort visit. It can fit a coffee stop, a quick breakfast, an afternoon treat, or a grab-and-go lunch. That is part of the broader 2026 shift: several of the year’s restaurant changes can become ordinary neighborhood routines after the opening attention fades.
Laguna Canyon becomes a second center of town
The restaurant turnover changes individual blocks. The overlapping arts season changes an entire corridor.
Three principal festivals are operating along Laguna Canyon Road this summer. Laguna Art-A-Fair and Sawdust Art Festival run June 26 through September 6. The Festival of Arts runs July 7 through September 3. The Pageant of the Masters adds evening performances from July 9 through September 4.
| Event | 2026 dates | What changes this year |
|---|---|---|
| Sawdust Art Festival | June 26 to September 6 | The artist-founded festival celebrates its 60th anniversary |
| Laguna Art-A-Fair | June 26 to September 6 | Art-A-Fair also marks 60 years, with workshops and scheduled music |
| Festival of Arts | July 7 to September 3 | More than 100 juried Orange County artists exhibit in the open-air show |
| Pageant of the Masters | July 9 to September 4 | The theme is “The Greatest of All Time” |
Those overlapping dates turn the canyon into more than a route to downtown. For much of the summer, it has its own daytime, dinner, and late-evening schedule.
Sawdust at 60 feels deliberately bigger
The Sawdust Art Festival is featuring more than 180 local artists in media that include ceramics, glass, jewelry, painting, and sculpture. Its milestone season includes live music, artist demonstrations, and unusually elaborate displays. Reporting from the 2026 preview described two-story booths, aerial performers, music from local band Great North Special, and a 60th-anniversary poster by mixed-media artist Jesse Miller.
Food is also a more visible part of the experience this year. The Cove by Starfish is serving dishes that include bowls, sushi, bánh mì, dim sum, and churro bao. AhbA is bringing Wagyu burgers, sandwiches, and its first soft serve. Taco Loco rounds out the announced lineup under Gonzo Rebollar, who has been part of Laguna Beach dining for more than three decades.
Sawdust is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Children under five enter free, as do veterans. A 2026 season pass is listed at $35.50.
Art-A-Fair rewards checking the calendar first
Laguna Art-A-Fair is open at 777 Laguna Canyon Road from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. It closes at 6 p.m. on September 6.
The experience changes by date. The 2026 event schedule includes the Laguna Jazz Quartet for Chamber Night on July 15, Spanish guitar from Battista on July 18, surf music from the Surftones during an August 15 ice cream social, and Jamaican steel-drum music from Upstream on August 16 and September 6.
Admission is listed at $10 for a one-day pass, $8 for a student or senior season pass, and $15 for a VIP season pass. Workshops span painting, jewelry, textiles, ceramics, mixed media, and other disciplines.
Festival of Arts offers residents a meaningful advantage
The Festival of Arts Fine Art Show presents work by more than 100 juried Orange County artists at 650 Laguna Canyon Road. Current hours are 4 to 11:30 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on weekends.
Laguna Beach residents receive free admission with valid identification. That makes the festival easier to treat as a repeat local stop instead of an event that must be completed in one long visit.
Programming adds another reason to return. Family Art Day and the Junior Art Award Ceremony take place July 12. The calendar also includes concerts, demonstrations, workshops, and events such as Prints and Pinots. Check the official calendar before leaving home, since individual schedules can change.
The Pageant of the Masters begins at 8:30 p.m. and runs for approximately 90 minutes. Published tickets range from $45 to $150. A Pageant ticket includes free, unlimited Festival of Arts admission throughout the summer, which makes an early art-show visit and later performance a natural combination.
Downtown and Bluebird Park fill the gaps between festivals
Summer activity is not confined to ticketed venues. Music on the Promenade began July 10 and runs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through August 30 on Forest Avenue.
That schedule changes the feel of an ordinary downtown dinner or errand. A Friday evening can include live music without committing to a full festival plan, while a Sunday afternoon can flow from the Promenade to another neighborhood event.
The free Music in the Park series runs at Bluebird Park from 5 to 7 p.m. on five Sundays:
- July 19: Prince Again
- July 26: Lola Kristine
- August 2: Spencer the Gardner
- August 9: Missus Jones
- August 16: Rose’s Pawn Shop
For households planning around younger children, Festival of Arts Family Art Day is July 12, Art-A-Fair has daytime ice cream socials, and a Rivian Kids toddler program with Laguna Art Museum is scheduled for July 22.
The resident playbook: plan one anchor, then connect the rest
Trying to drive separately to every stop is where summer becomes frustrating. A better plan starts with one fixed event and lets transit, timing, and geography determine the rest.
For a canyon evening: Arrive for the Festival of Arts in the late afternoon, have time for the exhibition, and continue to an 8:30 p.m. Pageant performance. Pageant admission includes Festival of Arts access, so the two experiences already fit together.
For a family afternoon: Pair Family Art Day or an Art-A-Fair ice cream social with an early meal. Choose one area and avoid moving the car once the afternoon begins.
For a Coast Highway outing: Use the Coastal Route to connect North Laguna, downtown, the HIP District, and South Laguna. That opens the possibility of Truly Pizza, Music on the Promenade, K’ya, Small’s, or Bouchée without building the day around repeated parking searches.
The city’s summer trolley schedule supports that approach:
- The Canyon Route runs from Act V and Lot 16 to the festivals and downtown from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. daily, generally every 30 minutes.
- The Coastal Route runs from North Laguna through downtown and South Laguna from 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., generally every 30 to 40 minutes.
- Summer Breeze offers free parking at 16355 Laguna Canyon Road in Irvine and trolley service into town Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
- Act V at 1900 Laguna Canyon Road offers $5 parking on Saturdays and Sundays with free trolley service downtown.
The $29 Passport to the Arts offers another practical option. It includes one-time admission to Sawdust, Art-A-Fair, and Festival of Arts, plus a one-time Act V parking voucher and free trolley service. It is sold at festival box offices through August 30 and does not include the Pageant.
A different town, still recognizably Laguna
Summer 2026 is changing Laguna Beach through accumulation. A former local institution in South Laguna serves a new generation of diners. A remembered North Laguna address has become a nationally recognized pizza destination. Two arts organizations are marking six decades while the Pageant considers the greatest artists and masterpieces of all time.
Residents do not have to experience that as a wall of traffic and reservations. The season becomes more manageable when you think in connected districts: North Laguna, Downtown, the HIP District, South Laguna, and the canyon. Pick one anchor, use the trolley where it helps, and leave room to return rather than trying to see everything at once.
That neighborhood-level understanding is also central to how Casa Bella Realty Group serves Orange County homeowners. If you are curious about your property’s current position and want practical guidance backed by decades of local experience, we are ready to help.
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