A San Clemente Summer Notebook: North Beach Wakes Up, Del Mar Turns Over, and the Trail Waits

For most of the last thirty years, a San Clemente summer had a predictable center of gravity. You parked near the pier, walked up Avenida Del Mar for dinner, and drove past the dark marquee of the old Miramar Theatre without a second thought. Summer 2026 has quietly rearranged that map. The building at 1720 N. El Camino Real is the loudest corner of town again, three of Del Mar's most visible storefronts are trading hands at once, and the Beach Trail that used to stitch all of it together is only half walkable while the railroad wall goes in. If you live here, the shape of a Friday night is different this year than it was last year, and it is worth knowing where the pieces landed.

North Beach has a center again

The Miramar Food Hall opened June 18 inside the restored 1938 theatre-and-bowling-alley complex, a 12,600-square-foot space with fifteen food vendors, an indoor bar, an outdoor bar, ocean views, and patio seating. That is a bigger number of concepts under one roof than downtown San Clemente has ever offered in a single building, and it lands on a block that has been dark since the complex closed in the early 1990s.

The building itself matters. The 1938 Spanish Colonial Revival gem had been closed for over three decades, its art deco marquee dark and its seats empty. The original bowling alley structure from 1947 was dismantled and reconstructed for the food hall, incorporating many of the original materials, and some of the wood from the bowling lanes was used to build the indoor bar. The theatre side has a second life too. The Miramar Event Center will be operated by Wedgewood Weddings, which will host weddings and private events at the location and is expected to open this fall.

The vendor list is worth memorizing because a lot of it is new to the city:

• MOTO Pizza — Seattle-based, making its "odd pizza" in the food hall as the chain's first permanent location outside Washington state, combining Detroit, New York, and Roman styles with Filipino influences
• Hen Haus — a new woman- and family-owned concept from Thyda Sieng of the acclaimed but now closed Fire Bird Nashville Hot Chicken in Long Beach
• The Pita — a Middle Eastern shawarma and gyro concept from the husband and wife owners of San Clemente's Rocket Fizz soda pop and candy shop
• Immersion Coffee Co. — formerly the Manivela coffee truck, with existing locations in Little Italy and La Jolla
• El Puerto Street Tacos, Sidelines Sandwiches, Cosmos Burger, Graciously Thai, Norigiri, RolledUp SC, La Vida, Lobster Lab, and It's Allll Rice round out the lineup

Food vendors are expected to operate daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., while the bars will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Parking around the block is metered and tight, so most locals are walking in from the North Beach lot.

Avenida Del Mar's next three tenants

Del Mar has never turned over three storefronts this visible in one summer. If you have watched the same restaurants sit in the same spaces for a decade, this is the season to pay attention.

214 Avenida Del Mar — Coastal Cowboy. The project is led by Jake Fitch, a local resident and owner of Platinum X Construction, a commercial general contracting firm specializing in hospitality with more than 300 restaurants built. The 2,000-square-foot space is in its second round of city permitting, and Fitch anticipates construction permits approved in the next few weeks with doors tentatively open on August 1.

Zov's on Del Mar. Zov's Restaurant Group is preparing to open its first San Clemente location on Avenida Del Mar as early as spring 2026, bringing the California-Mediterranean brand founded in 1987 by Chef Zov Karamardian, with existing restaurants in Tustin, Newport Coast, and Irvine. The company has owned the building for several years and is converting the downtown space into what CEO Armen Karamardian describes as a "coastal, light, bright" restaurant with indoor-outdoor dining, a large bar, and an upstairs private dining space overlooking Del Mar.

201 Avenida Del Mar — Broken Yolk Café. The San Diego-based breakfast and brunch franchise, first opened in 1979, announced on June 23 that a multi-unit operator is transforming 201 Avenida Del Mar into a new location. It will be the brand's 30th site in Southern California. Late 2026 is the target.

Three things stand out. First, all three concepts are dinner-and-breakfast operators rather than the coffee-and-boutique mix that has defined Del Mar for a while, which will change how the sidewalk feels in the morning. Second, Zov's is a first-mover: a Tustin institution choosing Del Mar for its coastal debut is a signal about where the chef-driven crowd thinks San Clemente is heading. Third, none of these are opening at the same time, so the street will feel like it is under construction from midsummer through the end of the year.

The Beach Trail is half walkable

The single most useful piece of information for a resident this summer is which segments of the trail are open and which are not.

The Orange County Transportation Authority, coordinating with Metrolink, is constructing a 1,400-foot-long catchment wall on the bluff side of the tracks at Mariposa Point, extending from the El Portal beach access point to Linda Lane. As part of the Coastal Rail Emergency Project, the San Clemente Beach Trail is being restored and is expected to reopen to the public upon project completion in Summer 2026.

Progress is real. As of June 17, 2026, Phase I has been completed, including repair and restoration of the slope beneath Casa Romantica, and Phase II to repair the amenities at the top of the slope is in a review and application phase with next steps being review and approval by the Coastal Commission, final design review and approval by the City Council, permits, and construction.

Access in the meantime:

• The trail is closed from the North Beach parking lot to El Portal during work hours but reopens at the end of each workday and is open on Sundays
• The segment from El Portal to Linda Lane is closed until project completion
• The public can still access the beach using the El Portal beach underpass and the Linda Lane beach underpass
• The Mariposa underpass is closed, and beach access at Dije Court and El Portal are temporarily closed for public safety

The new configuration is worth understanding because it is not a return to the old trail. The new elevated trail will be constructed adjacent to the railroad tracks, providing unobstructed coastal views, and will include a retaining wall with fencing designed to blend with the existing coastal landscape. If you have been walking the same route out of North Beach for twenty years, the finished version will look different when it reopens.

The pier still owns July

While the trail is on pause, the pier is doing more of the summer's heavy lifting. Two things anchor the calendar.

The 48th annual Ocean Festival lands July 18 and 19 at the pier. The free family-friendly event runs from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and features lifeguard competitions, the Pier Bowl Classic Surf Competition, a pancake breakfast, the Great Rubber Duck Race, an Ocean Art Show, the Beach Break Kids Club, the Woodies Classic Car Show, and live music. A free shuttle runs from San Clemente High School at 700 Avenida Pico on both Saturday and Sunday from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the free Summer Trolley runs from the Outlets at 101 W. Avenida Vista Hermosa from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. The pier lots fill fast, so the shuttle is the play.

The other anchor is the free Summer Beach Concert Series, which is worth clipping to your fridge:

The Ole Hanson Beach Club also hosts the series' sunset symphony performance. Pier concerts run 6 to 8 p.m. with live music from 6 p.m. to sunset, at 622 Avenida Del Mar, free of charge.

What this reorganization means for a normal Friday night

Take the three shifts together and the summer has a specific new shape. North Beach has an actual dinner-and-drinks anchor for the first time in a generation, so an evening that used to require walking Del Mar can now start at Miramar and end at the pier. Del Mar itself is in transition, which means some of your regular spots have new neighbors and some quiet storefronts are about to get loud. The Beach Trail, the connective tissue that made walking between all of it easy, is running at half capacity, so a lot of trips are shorter and more car-based than they were a year ago.

That is a real change to how the town moves in July, and it is the kind of thing you only notice if you live here.

If you are thinking about selling this year and want to talk through how the North Beach shift and Del Mar turnover are landing on values along the coastal corridor, Emily Sells OC is happy to walk the neighborhood with you. Request a Free Home Consultation whenever you are ready.