Last summer felt sleepy. This one does not. Between May and mid-June, Santa Monica absorbed two big-name burger openings, a bagel relocation, a Cape Cod raw bar in a beloved old space, and confirmation that Gott's Roadside is coming to Downtown. The city also rerouted its 4th of July Parade for the first time in years and dropped a summer program that runs from a new jazz festival in May to a car-free festival on July 19.
If you already live here, the useful frame isn't "what's new." It's where. Nearly every opening and every summer event this season is clustering on three corridors: Montana Avenue, Downtown and the Third Street Promenade, and Main Street through Ocean Park. Once you see that, the parade route reversal starts to make sense too.
The corridors, at a glance
| Corridor | New this season | What it says about the block |
|---|---|---|
| Montana Ave | The Win-Dow (930), Pop's Bagels (912), Bacio di Latte (1510) | Casual counter food layered onto an already-dense breakfast strip |
| Downtown / Promenade | Raising Cane's (Third & Santa Monica Blvd), Cotti Coffee (1353 Third St), Dragon Alley Coffee (312 Santa Monica Blvd), Gott's Roadside (later this summer), Bower at Colorado Center | National and international operators betting on Downtown foot traffic returning |
| Main St / Ocean Park | La Diperie (2441 Main), Westside Oyster Club (old Blue Plate Oysterette space), new Main Street parade route | Independent concepts and the parade itself pulling energy south |
Montana Avenue: an accidental carb capital
Two years ago, 912 Montana Ave. was B&T's Deli. It closed at the end of April 2025, and Pop's Bagels, which had been operating out of Brentwood, took the keys within weeks. Pop's is famous for its lines, its half-dozen pricing, and its lox and pastrami sandwiches on bagels a few writers have called fluffy and chewy in equal measure. Drop a pin there and walk a block in either direction: H&H Bagels sits one direction, Sam's Bagels sits the other. Montana between roughly 9th and 12th is now, functionally, a three-shop bagel row.
Then, on Tuesday, June 9, The Win-Dow opened its seventh Los Angeles-area location at 930 Montana, in the former Go Get Em Tiger coffee space. The 50-seat room was designed by the Klein Agency, with murals by Los Angeles artist KC Haxton. The signature smashburger launched in Venice in 2019 at $3.95 and now sits around $4.50, which is meaningful context on a street where a coffee and pastry easily clears $12. Co-owner Paul Hibler told What Now Los Angeles they were "very happy to join the Montana Avenue community."
A little farther east, at 1510 Montana next to Sogno Toscano, a second Santa Monica location of Italian gelato brand Bacio di Latte is coming in. So the Montana story this summer is not that a single restaurant opened. It is that the corridor is doubling down on quick, walkable, under-$15 counter food in a stretch that was, until recently, defined by table-service brunch and boutique retail.
Downtown and the Promenade: a bet on foot traffic
Mayor Caroline Torosis cut the ribbon at Raising Cane's on June 10, at the corner of Third Street and Santa Monica Boulevard. The chain is a Louisiana import, but the interior tips its hat locally: disco-ball surfboards on the ceiling crafted by a local artisan, and murals nodding to the brand's origins. Torosis framed the opening as a marker in Downtown's rebuild, and the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, which represents more than 600 member businesses, echoed the read.
Cane's is one signal. The bigger pattern is who else is filing paperwork on the same few blocks:
- Cotti Coffee is opening its second Santa Monica location at 1353 Third Street Promenade. The brand launched in China in 2022 and now claims a presence in more than 30 countries.
- Dragon Alley Coffee Shop is moving into 312 Santa Monica Blvd.
- Sonia's Café is coming to 1260 15th St. at Arizona Ave.
- DOL Coffee House, the Vietnamese coffee specialist with a Gardena location, is taking the corner at 1231 Wilshire.
- Gott's Roadside, the Napa-born diner with the green chile and kimchi burgers, is opening in Downtown Santa Monica later this summer.
- Bower Santa Monica, a 6,500-square-foot surf-inspired all-day concept from restaurateur Dave Harper and New School Hospitality, is opening at the Colorado Center office campus. The name comes from Fairy Bower, a surf break at Manly Beach in Australia.
The read is not that any one of these will define Downtown. It is that six operators, most with existing brands, decided within a single planning window that this section of the city was worth the buildout. That is not usually how a corridor behaves when nobody expects the crowds back.
Main Street and Ocean Park: the south end pulls its weight
At 2441 Main St., Holey Grail Donuts closed, and a notice on the door names La Diperie as the next tenant. La Diperie was founded in Montreal in 2014, has more than 65 stores across Canada and Florida, and specializes in dipped ice cream with more than 20 toppings. This will be its first West Coast location.
A few blocks toward the beach, the old Blue Plate Oysterette space has become Westside Oyster Club, a raw bar from the team behind The Albright on the Pier. The room reads Cape Cod: white tile, nautical trim, chowder in bread bowls, lobster rolls with housemade chips, oysters raw or grilled or fried.
The interesting thing about Main Street this summer isn't only the openings. It's that the 4th of July Parade is now walking straight through it in the opposite direction.
The 2026 parade will begin at Marine Street and travel north on Main Street, concluding at Pico Boulevard, the opposite of the traditional southbound route. Participants stage at Beach Parking Lot 5 South, and the parade steps off at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, July 4.
The reversal was coordinated with the City to funnel spectators north toward Pulse in the Park, a free World Cup-themed post-parade festival running 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Tongva Park with live music, food vendors, pop-up shops, family activities, and an enclosed beer garden. The grand marshal is Dr. Walid "Wally" Ghurabi, medical director of the Nethercutt Emergency Center at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center for more than 40 years. His selection ties the event to the medical center's 100th anniversary. The theme this year celebrates the arts, produced by the Ocean Park Association.
Read as geography, the change is a deliberate stitch between Ocean Park, Main Street, and Downtown. The parade delivers a crowd to Tongva Park at lunchtime. From Tongva Park, most of the openings above are a short walk or a short ride.
Your calendar for the next few weekends
The city's summer program is packed enough that a couple of dates are worth writing down now:
- Saturday, July 4, 9:30 a.m. Santa Monica 4th of July Parade, north on Main Street from Marine to Pico. Pulse in the Park at Tongva Park follows.
- Sunday, July 5. Independence Celebration and Drone Light Show, a free community event with live music and a drone show honoring the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
- Fridays through summer. DJ Set Fridays at The Whaler and Live Music Fridays at The Surfing Fox on the Promenade.
- Saturday, July 11. Santa Monica Block Fest Vol. V, three blocks of the Promenade turned over to electronic music, food, and a night market.
- Sunday, July 19. A citywide car-free festival stretching from the Promenade and Metro E Line stations across to Ocean Park Blvd., Colorado, Arizona, and the Pier.
- Wednesdays and Saturdays. Downtown Farmers Markets, still the most reliable weekly anchor.
- All summer. FIFA World Cup 2026 watch parties and activations across the city, from the first U.S. match through the final whistle.
The Palisades Will Rogers Fourth of July 5K/10K, presented by Providence Saint John's Health Center, is also returning to its traditional course through Will Rogers State Historic Park for its 49th running after relocating to Venice Beach in 2025 during fire recovery. Worth mentioning if you had it on the calendar last year and lost track of where it landed.
What to take from all of this
A season of scattered openings usually reads like noise. This one reads like a plan. Montana is tightening around casual, walkable counter food. Downtown is being underwritten by operators who are willing to sign long leases on the Promenade again. Main Street is quietly picking up the independents. And the parade itself has been redrawn to move people between these zones on the busiest day of the summer.
If you have lived here for a while, the practical version of this is simple. The block you know changed while you weren't looking, and the weekend you have been meaning to spend on the other side of Wilshire is worth planning now, before the crowds figure it out.
If your read on Santa Monica ever turns from "where should we eat" to "what is our block actually worth right now," Megan Whalen has been paying attention to these same corridors for more than two decades. Let's connect.
