"We are finally here!" Jim Krieger, chief operating officer of Tiger Hospitality Holdings, said that to the San Clemente Times in June, just before the Miramar Food Hall opened on Thursday, June 18. The building had been mostly empty for more than three decades. The Miramar closed in 1992, and only now has its corner of North Beach come back to life.
Three months later, the food hall is the one part of North Beach running on a normal schedule. The Beach Trail below it is still under OCTA construction. The restored theater next door has not opened. The city has been adding crosswalks and bike racks after the fact. So a North Beach outing this fall depends less on when the food hall opens and more on which day of the week you go.
What Moved Into the Old Bowling Alley
The food hall fills the 1946 San Clemente Bowling Center building, which sits beside the 1938 San Clemente Theatre. Architect Clifford A. Balch designed the theater in the Spanish Colonial Revival style that shaped much of early San Clemente. Inside are 12,600 square feet with an indoor bar, an outdoor bar, ocean views and patio seating. The hall lists its address as 150 W. Avenida Pico, at the corner where Pico meets North El Camino Real. Some early coverage gave an El Camino Real number instead.
The hall's current vendor page lists 15 names. These names come from the opening-week list and the current roster:
- Cosmos Burger for burgers
- MOTO Pizza for the Detroit-style pizza Krieger mentioned at opening, and MOTO Swirl, now on the roster
- Lobster Lab and Norigiri for seafood and sushi-style plates
- El Puerto Street Tacos, Graciously Thai and It's Allll Rice
- Hen Haus, Sidelines Sandwiches and The Pita
- La Vida and RolledUp SC
- Egg&Out for breakfast
- Immersion Coffee Co. for coffee
The hours have changed since June. At opening, the plan was vendors from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, with the bars closing at 9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and at 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. The hall's website now lists general hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. The bars run 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Egg&Out serves from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Immersion Coffee Co. stays open until 10 p.m. So coffee now runs later than dinner, and the bars stay open to 10 p.m. every night, not just weekends. Check the hall's site before you go, since the rosters and hours are recent and may keep changing. As of today, its events page shows nothing scheduled.
The Street Had to Catch Up to the Crowd
Crowds came fast enough that the streets around the hall needed quick fixes. At the July 1 ribbon-cutting, Mayor Rick Loeffler, whose council district includes North Beach, said the hall's popularity had quickly caused transportation and safety concerns. The main issues were e-bikes parked around the property and visitors crossing the street from nearby parking.
Loeffler said the city cleared about 70 feet of vegetation near the property and moved ahead with e-bike racks. The city is also adding a crosswalk from the parking lot north of the food hall to the Casino San Clemente side of North El Camino Real. That new crossing joins the Miramar side of the street to the Casino side, which wasn't easy on foot before the hall opened.
Parking is the other limit. OCTA says its contractors are staging equipment and materials in the North Beach parking lot. The construction that keeps the trail closed is also taking up spaces in the lot closest to the food hall.
The Trail Runs on OCTA's Clock
The food hall's view looks out over the Coastal Rail Emergency Project's Area 3. OCTA describes that work as a 1,400-foot catchment wall from the El Portal beach access to Linda Lane, with the pedestrian Beach Trail restored alongside it. Construction began in September 2025.
Here is how OCTA's current project page describes the trail near North Beach:
| Trail segment | Weekdays | Sundays | Reopening |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Beach parking lot to El Portal | Closed during work hours, reopens at the end of each workday | Open | Grading work scheduled Sept. 25 through Oct. 2 |
| El Portal to Linda Lane | Closed | Closed | At project completion, estimated fall 2026 |
The two schedules overlap in a useful way. The food hall is open until 9 p.m. every day, and the North Beach to El Portal stretch reopens after each workday and stays open all day Sunday. A walk on that segment followed by dinner works on weekday evenings and Sundays. A Saturday morning walk south from the food hall doesn't work right now.
OCTA hasn't given a reopening date for the closed segment. Its trail flyer earlier said "summer 2026." The project page now says "fall 2026," still with no specific day. Recent work has included irrigation, landscaping and handrail installation. According to the flyer, the finished trail will run raised beside the tracks with open coastal views, a retaining wall and fencing.
The Theater Next Door Is Still Waiting
The building's other half isn't open yet. The restored theater auditorium is now the Miramar Event Center, run by Wedgewood Weddings as a venue for weddings and private events. In June it was expected to open this fall. Wedgewood lists it as Miramar Theater at 1700 N. El Camino Real and advertises a vaulted-ceiling ballroom and the original theatrical stage. The company announced bookings in February. In a later San Clemente Times report, the broker marketing the property said the Event Center had not yet opened. Because it's a 250-guest private venue, opening day will most likely mean booked events, not public hours.
That same report covered news that matters for the corner's future. Less than two months after opening, the property was being prepared for sale as an investment. The sale covers about 21,020 square feet on roughly 0.62 acres, but not the businesses. Parham Khoshbakhtian of Marcus & Millichap said both tenants signed 10-year leases with renewal options. About a decade remains on those leases, and both operations will continue under them. If the property sells, the food hall and event venue stay under their current leases. Khoshbakhtian also said the building's historic character will remain an important part of its future.
Arriving by Train Is Its Own Schedule
Khoshbakhtian also listed the property's closeness to the Metrolink station as a selling point. This fall, though, train access is uncertain. On Sept. 8, OCTA closed the coastal rail line through San Clemente after high tides and waves damaged the slope and protective rock. At the time it gave no reopening timeline. Metrolink service stopped at Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo, and Pacific Surfliner ran to San Juan Capistrano with a bus bridge between Irvine and Oceanside. OCTA's rider alerts also list a planned Orange County track closure on Oct. 10 and 11, with service reductions through at least October. Check live Metrolink and Pacific Surfliner alerts before planning a train trip to the North Beach station.
Up the hill, Ole Hanson Beach Club looks down on North Beach. The city lists a 25-yard lap pool, a wading and lesson pool, event space, and a slate of swim and fitness programs there. It's one more place close to the corner that doesn't depend on the trail being open.
If you own a home near North Beach and want to know how this year's changes at the Miramar corner might factor into your home's value, the family team at Casa Bella Realty Group is glad to talk it through. Request a Free Home Valuation, and we'll give you a local read on your home.
