The stretch of Third Street Promenade that spent most of 2024 papered over is now anchored by a fast-food chicken chain with a mayor at the ribbon cutting. Montana Avenue, which had settled into a coffee-and-boutique rhythm for a decade, gave up a beloved coffee shop and got a smashburger walk-up in its place. Main Street lost a donut shop and is about to get dipped ice cream from Montreal. If you live here, the pattern is easy to miss because it plays out one storefront at a time.
Look at the 2026 openings together, though, and they trace a specific map. Each of Santa Monica's commercial corridors is being repositioned this year, and the businesses moving in tell you exactly what each street is trying to become. That is the thesis of this post: the openings are not random, and the corridor you walk most often is quietly changing character.
The corridor map at a glance
| Corridor | 2026 arrival | Address / anchor |
|---|---|---|
| Third Street Promenade | Raising Cane's | Promenade, opened June 2026 |
| Montana Avenue | The Win-Dow | 930 Montana Ave. |
| Montana Avenue | Bacio di Latte (2nd SM location) | 1510 Montana Ave., next to Sogno Toscano |
| Main Street | La Diperie (first West Coast) | 2441 Main St. |
| Main Street | Circle Bar (reopened) | Main Street |
| Wilshire Blvd. | DOL Coffee House | 1231 Wilshire Blvd. |
| Downtown / 15th | Sonia's Café | 1260 15th St. at Arizona |
| Downtown Promenade area | Gott's Roadside | opening late summer 2026 |
| Colorado Center | Bower Santa Monica | ~6,500 sq ft, Colorado Center campus |
| Santa Monica Blvd. | Holy Basil Santa Monica | 2828 Santa Monica Blvd. |
Third Street Promenade is being rebuilt one storefront at a time
The Promenade opening that made the local papers this June was Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers cutting the ribbon on the Third Street Promenade, adding to more than 100 jobs and fresh dining energy to a city actively working to revitalize its economic core. Mayor Caroline Torosis showed up in person, which is not something that happens for a chicken-finger chain unless the city is treating the opening as a signal. Torosis noted that the new Raising Cane's location is expected to create 100 local jobs and said the timing aligned with a broader burst of civic activity downtown, including a newly opened FIFA store, World Cup festivities and Pride on the Promenade events scheduled through the weekend.
The corridor also has Gott's opening two LA locations in 2026, the first at the Original Farmers Market, then one in Downtown Santa Monica later this summer, and the arrival of a Museum of Illusions, The Cube VR, and Gacha & Catch under one downtown roof. If you have been staying away from the Promenade because it felt hollowed-out, the version showing up in late 2026 is going to look different from the one you last walked.
Montana Avenue got a lot more casual this spring
Montana had a particular character for years: independent boutiques, a couple of long-standing coffee spots, restaurants that took reservations. The 2026 arrivals soften that posture noticeably.
- The Win-Dow at 930 Montana Ave. opened one day before the Cane's ribbon cutting, taking over a space previously occupied by the Go Get Em Tiger coffee shop. It is the seventh location for the brand, joining The Grove, Hollywood, Long Beach, Venice, Silver Lake and Santa Barbara, and opened in mid-March.
- Bacio di Latte is bringing a second Santa Monica location of the Italian gelato brand to 1510 Montana Ave., next to Italian market Sogno Toscano.
- Pop's Bagels is relocating its bagel-making operation from Brentwood to a few miles west in Santa Monica.
- Rolld, the Australian-style grab-and-go handroll concept selling pre-made temaki from a deli case with five to six roll options daily, quietly joined the mix.
If you live north of Wilshire, the practical read is that Montana's evening options are moving toward walk-up and counter-service. That changes what a Tuesday looks like more than any single opening would suggest.
Main Street traded one dessert for another, and a dive got its ghost back
Main Street's shifts this year are the most visible if you walk it regularly. The closure of Holey Grail Donuts at 2441 Main St. has made way for La Diperie, a chain founded in Montreal in 2014 that specializes in dipped ice cream, cakes, donuts and cookies served with a selection of chocolate dips and more than 20 toppings, with more than 65 locations across Canada and into Florida — the Santa Monica outpost would mark the brand's first West Coast location.
The bigger story on the same street is Circle Bar. Main Street Santa Monica's most (in)famous dive bar reopened after a three-year closure thanks to the owners of Hinano Cafe. The nearly 80-year-old signage and namesake round bar have been kept intact, and there's now a larger dance floor, a refreshed drink menu, and daily "Power Hours" with $5 wine and discounted cocktails from 6-7 pm. That is the kind of reopening a resident notices before the trade press catches up.
Wilshire and 15th are filling in the gaps
The Wilshire corridor has been picking up smaller footprint operators. Sonia's Café is working to open at 1260 15th St. at the corner of Arizona Avenue, and along Wilshire the vacant corner building at 1231 Wilshire Blvd. will soon host Vietnamese coffee specialists DOL Coffee House, which currently has a location in Gardena where it also serves boba and desserts. Along the same stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard, Holy Basil Santa Monica, the Westside continuation of the DTLA window from Wedchayan "Deau" Arpapornnopparat and Tongkamal "Joy" Yuon, opened at 2828 Santa Monica Blvd., giving the mid-city stretch a serious dinner draw it did not have a year ago.
Colorado Center is trying to reactivate the office-adjacent block
This one matters for anyone who lives near the eastern edge of Santa Monica. A surf-inspired, all-day restaurant and community hub is set to open this summer at Colorado Center, spanning approximately 6,500 square feet, offering food and beverage, health and wellness programming and what its creators describe as "socialization rituals" at the 15-acre office campus, announced by BXP alongside restaurateur Dave Harper and New School Hospitality. Harper, the founding partner of Amigo Roasters and the restaurateur behind community-focused venues including Bondi Harvest, El Chucho, Palmys and Likeminded Wellness Club, said the restaurant draws its name from Fairy Bower, a break in the Cabbage Tree Bay of Manly Beach in Australia. Bower is a bet that the office-adjacent blocks can be treated as neighborhood, not commute stop.
The hotels quietly rewrote themselves too
The residential read on hotel investment is that owners see enough long-run demand to spend real money. Hyatt Centric Delfina Santa Monica has completed a transformative $16 million renovation that updated all 315 guestrooms with a coastal color palette and introduced more than 15,000 square feet of versatile meeting and event space, including the 4,526-square-foot Delfina Ballroom, Santa Monica's only rooftop ballroom overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The Viceroy has been running its Après Surf Lounge concept on the terrace, and Casa Del Mar is marking its centennial. That is $16 million in one property alone, spent on the assumption that this stretch of Ocean Avenue continues to draw for a decade more.
August weekends worth blocking off
If you have out-of-town guests coming or you are looking for a Saturday that does not involve driving, these are the anchors on the local calendar this month:
- National Night Out, Tuesday, August 4, 5 to 8 pm, per the City of Santa Monica events calendar.
- Art on Ocean at Palisades Park, Saturday, August 8, 11 am onward, running along Ocean Avenue between California and Montana.
- Makers Hive Market at Santa Monica Place, Sunday, August 9, 12 to 5 pm at Center Plaza, bringing curated local handmade goods, art, and vintage items to the mall's ground floor.
- Santa Monica Summer Market Days at Palisades Park, Friday, August 14, 10 am onward.
- Cayton Children's Museum Friday movie nights, running every Friday through August 28 on Level 3 of Santa Monica Place, doors at 5:30, film at 6.
- Downtown Farmers Markets, every Wednesday and Saturday, per the Downtown Santa Monica events calendar.
Add to that the Sunday tastings at Ester's Wine Shop & Bar and the Live Music Fridays rotation at the Surfing Fox and the Whaler, and most weekends in August have a walkable default.
What this means for the block you live on
The composite picture is worth stating plainly. Third Street Promenade is being reactivated with national names the city clearly wants back. Montana is getting more casual and more walk-up. Main Street is losing some of its edge and getting a Montreal dessert chain, softened by a genuine Circle Bar revival. Wilshire and Santa Monica Boulevard are filling in with small operators and one serious Thai draw. Colorado Center is being pitched as a neighborhood, not a business park. The hotels are spending real capital on the assumption that the residential and visitor base holds.
For a homeowner, that is useful because the walking radius of your address is the thing that quietly moves value over five and ten year windows. A new Bacio di Latte three blocks up matters more to the way your street feels than a headline about Downtown revitalization ever will. Pay attention to your own corridor.
When you or someone you know is ready to think about what all of this means for the specific block you own on, the team at The Palacios Group covers Santa Monica alongside our South County and Silicon Valley work. Reach out for a free home valuation and a conversation about how your corridor is moving.
