Good morning. Last blast of July: the Fair’s deep-fried machine is humming, the sand south of the HB pier is a small city, and on Sunday somebody gets carried up that beach as a champion. August, already? Coffee up. ☕

This week in OC: on Friday — July 31 — the big white ballroom next to the San Clemente pier turns 89. It opened July 31, 1937, with 5,000 people at the party. Most of us drive past it without knowing what it was. Full story below.

In today’s Buzz:

— Kevin

Championship Sunday: the US Open of Surfing crowns its winners this weekend. Nine days of contest come down to Sunday, August 2 on the south side of the HB pier — finals heats all morning, then the winners get chaired up the beach with the trophies, a scene that’s played out on that exact stretch of sand since 1959. It’s the biggest surf event on earth, it’s in our backyard, and watching it costs exactly nothing.

If you only go once, go Sunday morning. Get there early, walk the athlete area and vendor village, plant yourself near the pier, and watch the best surfers alive trade heats until someone’s getting carried.

One change this year: the beach concerts moved to a ticketed sunset Music Stage — Real Estate plays Friday (July 31) and Local Natives + Arcy Drive close it out Saturday (Aug 1), tickets from $69. The surfing stays free.

More: usopenofsurfing.com

Forward this to the friend who swears they could’ve gone pro.

Things worth leaving the house for (Fri July 31 – Sun Aug 2):

🏄 US Open of Surfing — finals weekend (Huntington Beach). The anchor (see above). Sunday = trophies. Free. → usopenofsurfing.com

🎤 The Fair’s big music weekend (Pacific Amphitheatre, Costa Mesa). Three straight nights: Nile Rodgers & CHIC Friday (7:30pm), The Fab Four Beatles tribute Saturday (8pm), and Nelly with Too $hort Sunday (6:30pm). Concert tickets get you into the Fair that day. (Tickets/$) → pacamp.com

🎸 Surf Guitar 101 Festival — Fri–Sun (Garden Grove Elks Lodge). The 17th year of all-things-surf-rock: reverb-drenched instrumental bands from around the world, the same weekend the US Open runs. Deep-cut OC and proudly so. → surfguitar101.com

🎶 San Clemente Beach Concert — Thursday July 30, 6pm–sunset (SC Pier). Free country night with The Pistol Blonde at the foot of the pier. Bring a low chair; dinner plan below. → sanclemente.gov

🎨 Laguna’s art festivals — all weekend (Laguna Beach). Sawdust, Festival of Arts / Pageant of the Masters, and Art-A-Fair, all still running all summer. The reliable great night out. → visitlagunabeach.com

(Double-check times before you go — events move.)

Free movie night: The Wild Robot — Friday, Laguna Niguel Regional Park. OC Parks’ Sunset Cinema, free with free parking, food trucks on site, movie at sundown. This one’s an actual great film — bring the blanket and every kid you have. → ocparks.com

Finals Sunday with kids = free grandstand. Same play as last week, better stakes: free entry, the best surfers alive, and a trophy ceremony on the sand. Go morning-early, wagon + snacks, out before the crush.

OC Fair, weekday mode (week 3). Kids 5 and under free, 6–12 are $9, and Wed/Thu late morning is the calm window. Livestock barns → one ride → funnel cake → victory. Bonus: Centennial Farm is free year-round if you just want the animals without the Fair. → ocfair.com

Fashion Island. Telefèric Barcelona — the Barcelona-born, family-run tapas and pintxos restaurant — opens its first OC location at Fashion Island this August, taking over the old Hopdoddy space. Spanish garden patio, gin tonics, jamón. Days away. → fashionisland.com

Pop-ular demand. The Kickstand Soda Shop — Newport’s original “dirty soda” shop on the Balboa Peninsula — is bringing its custom soda mixes to Huntington Beach, landing near Main Street soon. The 2026-est trend in OC officially has a second beach city. → kickstandsoda.com

The Fisherman’s Restaurant & Bar — on the San Clemente Pier. Since San Clemente gets the spotlight this week: it’s one of the only restaurants in OC literally on a pier — waves under the floorboards, clam chowder, sunset tables. The Thursday move: free beach concert at the foot of the pier at 6, then slide upstairs for dinner above the water. The whole newsletter in one photo. → thefishermansrestaurant.com

(beachhead spotlight #7)

San Clemente gets the spotlight — the Spanish Village by the Sea that became the surf industry’s hometown:

Next issue: back up the coast for round two.

Market pulse (late July 2026): OC’s active inventory just hit a new 2026 high — 5,165 listings — while average days-on-market held at 60.

Supply keeps outpacing demand, which means buyers are getting selective and sellers are re-learning the word “concession.” The median single-family sale price is still sitting around $1.58M countywide. → ocrealestateinc.com

The wild one (with a twist): it’s NOT for sale. La Casa Pacifica — Nixon’s “Western White House” — turned 100 this month. The Spanish Revival compound on the bluff at Cotton’s Point was built in 1926 by San Clemente co-founder H.H. Cotton; Nixon bought it in 1969 and ran the country from it — Brezhnev slept here during the 1973 summit. Allergan founder Gavin Herbert bought it from the Nixons in 1980 and has kept the gardens immaculate for 46 years. Over the years it’s been listed for as much as $75 million — 5.45 acres, 450 feet of private ocean frontage over one of the best waves in the state — but on July 11 the Herberts threw a 130-guest centennial party with a promise: preserve it. In this market, the wildest thing a trophy property can do is stay in the family. → nixonfoundation.org

(angle this week: Then & Now)

The Casino San Clemente — the big white ballroom that refuses to die.

At the bottom of Avenida Del Mar, right by the pier, there’s a gleaming white Spanish building most people drive past without knowing what it was: the Casino San Clemente, built in just six weeks in 1937 as the dance hall of Ole Hanson’s dream town.

No gambling — “casino” in the old sense — just a grand ballroom where big bands played six nights a week while the Depression raged outside. Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney both passed through. It opened on July 31, 1937, with 5,000 people at the party — which means it turns 89 this Friday.

It’s been a big-band hall, a community rental, and nearly a teardown more than once, sliding into disrepair before a full restoration brought it back in 2010.

Now: it’s one of OC’s prettiest wedding and event venues — same white walls, same ocean light, same original oak dance floor. Then: swing bands. Now: first dances. Same floor. → thecasinosc.com

Now you: what OC building do YOU remember being something totally different? Hit reply — best one gets featured next week.

That’s the week. Watch somebody get chaired up the sand on Sunday, and give the ballroom a nod if you’re in San Clemente on Friday — 89 years old and still throwing parties.

Three tiny favors:

1. Hit reply with the OC building you remember being something totally different — I’m collecting them for Remember When.

2. Refer 2 friends with your link below and I’ll send you the OC Insider’s Guide (free). It’s genuinely good.

3. Forward this to the friend who’s been to the US Open every year but has never once watched a heat.

See you next week.

— Kevin

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