☀️ GOOD MORNING, OC
Good morning. Keep the umbrella by the door for once: our first real rain chance of the season lands right on Halloween weekend. As of Monday's forecast there's a slight chance of showers Friday, a better chance Saturday, and showers likely Sunday morning before it clears. Highs hold around 70 all three days. One more weather note: a coastal flood warning runs through Thursday thanks to some of the highest tides of the year, so expect a little extra water on the sand early this week.
On this day: the very first Halloween Haunt at Knott's Berry Farm ran October 26-28, 1973. Three nights, one Ghost Town, and Bud Hurlbut, the man who built the Calico Mine Ride, personally putting on a gorilla suit to scare riders. It sold out every night by the next year. The 2026 edition, Scary Farm, wraps its season this Saturday.
In today's Buzz:
The 75-year-old pier swim that refused to cancel, now set for Halloween morning
Your hour-by-hour Halloween Saturday in Surf City
San Clemente: the Spanish village that housed a president
A $59 million island house that hasn't traded in 70 years
— Kevin
🔥 THE BIG THING
A 75-year-old swim race lands on Halloween morning. The 75th Annual Huntington Beach Pier Swim goes Saturday, Oct. 31, starting at 7 a.m., on the sand by the pier. The race was supposed to happen in June. Big surf that week pushed it to August, and the swell had other ideas again, so one of Surf City’s oldest traditions now shares a date with Halloween.
The persistence makes sense when you know the race's age. HB lifeguard Gene Belshe started it as a kids' race, and it's grown to 16 age divisions plus a Legends Division for swimmers over 65. It's also the last one standing: big surf this year canceled the Oceanside Pier Swim (its 97th running) and Newport Beach's Pier to Pier Swim. Huntington's is the one that refused to die, which feels about right for a race now happening on October 31.
Here's what to know:
When: Saturday, Oct. 31, from 7 a.m.
Where: Huntington Beach Pier
Cost: free to watch from the sand or the pier
Sources: City of Huntington Beach calendar (huntingtonbeachca.gov), dailynewsofopenwaterswimming.com, westliferealty.com
P.S. Share this with the friend who swam junior guards and still brings it up.
📅 AROUND TOWN: THIS WEEKEND
Friday
🎭 The Outsiders at Segerstrom Center, final weekend. The four-time Tony winner (Best Musical), adapted from S.E. Hinton's novel, closes Sunday. (Tickets) scfta.org
👻 Knott's Scary Farm, last call. The season ends Saturday, so this is the final weekend for the mazes. (Tickets) knotts.com
Saturday (Halloween)
🏊 From 7 a.m.: the 75th Annual Pier Swim at the HB Pier (above). Get there for the Legends Division, it’s the best part.
🎃 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Old World Village Oktoberfest, all-ages session. The season runs through Nov. 8 if you can't make it Saturday. oldworldhb.com
🍬 1 to 5 p.m.: Boo Bash and trick-or-treating at Bella Terra. Costumes encouraged.
🕷️ 4 to 7 p.m.: Surf City Spooktacular takes over Main Street downtown.
🌊 Last call in Dana Point: the remaining shops and restaurants on the original Wharf serve their final customers Saturday as the harbor rebuild enters its last phase. Whale watching and the Catalina Express stay open from temporary trailers. danapointharbor.com
Dana Point Harbor, photo Don Ramey Logan (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Sunday
💀 5 to 9 p.m.: free community Día de los Muertos celebration at the Heritage Museum of OC in Santa Ana. heritagemuseumoc.org
🎭 Final curtain: The Outsiders closes at Segerstrom. (Tickets) scfta.org
👨👩👧 OC WITH KIDS
Knott's Spooky Farm, the daytime, no-scare version, runs Thursday through Sunday through Oct. 31. Last weekend for trick-or-treating in Ghost Town.
Bella Terra's Boo Bash, Saturday 1 to 5 p.m., is the easy, contained candy run.
Calvary San Clemente's Harvest Festival, Saturday 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., if you're south-county.
Which OC neighborhood goes all-out for trick-or-treating? Hit reply with your pick.
🆕 NEW & NOTABLE
Skewer this: Torikizoku, the yakitori chain with nearly 700 locations across Japan, picked downtown Anaheim's Center Street Promenade for its first U.S. fast-casual, to-go concept. It opened Oct. 2 with chicken teriyaki bowls, curry, ramen and skewers, joining Okayama Kobo Bakery and Craft by Smoke and Fire on the promenade. The company's first U.S. dine-in spot landed in Torrance earlier; Anaheim is the next step of the push. ocbj.com
🍽️ EAT / DRINK
Pete's Spookeasy at Pete's Sunset Grille, Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach. If your Halloween plan is a costume and one good cocktail while the kids burn off the candy, the hotel's poolside grill goes full spooky Saturday evening. Come as you are; leave before the sugar hangover. westliferealty.com
📍 TODAY IN… SAN CLEMENTE
The Spanish Village by the Sea, home of a president's getaway. A few things worth knowing:
It was a planned dream: former Seattle mayor Ole Hanson bought 2,000 acres in 1925 and designed a red-roofed Spanish village from scratch, pier and parks included. achp.gov
It kept the plan: incorporated in 1928, now about 66,000 residents, and the city still claims "the world's best climate," with roughly 300 days of sunshine a year. sanclemente.gov
A president lived here: Nixon's Western White House, La Casa Pacifica, sits behind the gates at Cottons Point. More on that below.
The surf is world-class: Trestles, at the south end of town, is one of the best waves on the mainland.
Coming up: San Clemente turns 100 in 2028.
Next issue: where should we go next? Reply and vote.
🏡 HOME OF THE WEEK
The market: the fall slowdown keeps slowing. The latest weekly OC Housing Report from Orange County Real Estate, Inc. (dated Oct. 19) shows pending sales at a five-year October low and the time it takes to sell drifting up, to a median of 47 days. Nationally, single-family inventory keeps climbing. Translation: buyers have more to look at and more time to think. ocrealestateinc.com
The listing: 20 Harbor Island, Newport Beach. $59 million for a circa-1937 classic on Harbor Island, the gated speck in the middle of Newport Harbor, listed for the first time in more than 70 years. Six bedrooms, 3,600 square feet, on two 50-foot lots with 100 feet of bay frontage over the harbor's turning basin. The private dock fits several boats up to 78 feet and could be reconfigured for a 100-footer. One of the two lots is available separately for $29.5 million, if the whole thing is a stretch. Photos and details on the listing page → coldwellbankerhomes.com
🌐 THE OC INTERNET
⏪ REMEMBER WHEN
OC Famous: the Western White House. La Casa Pacifica was built in 1926 for Hamilton Cotton, a founding financier of San Clemente and a Democratic donor who entertained FDR there, and it was modeled on a country home in San Sebastián, Spain. In 1969, his first year in office, Richard Nixon bought the blufftop estate, and the press quickly dubbed it the Western White House. Leonid Brezhnev came through in June 1973. When Nixon resigned in August 1974, the helicopter took him straight to San Clemente, and he wrote his memoirs behind those gates before selling in 1980. The house is still there, still private, at the south end of town. nixonlibrary.gov
Hit reply with your favorite OC memory. The older, the better.
👋 THAT'S THE BUZZ
Two things before you go:
Forward this to the friend who swears they're "keeping Halloween low-key this year" and then answers the door in a full inflatable T-Rex.
Hit reply with your best trick-or-treat neighborhood.
Want your OC business in front of these readers? Reply to this email.
— Kevin