Dick Metz helped cut the ribbon on the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center's new home in a building he could practically see from his childhood. "My dad owned a bar and a restaurant where the grass is right in front of a lifeguard tower," the museum's founder told Stu News Laguna at the opening. "So I literally grew up right across the street from here."
For nearly three decades the museum sat in the hills of an industrial area of San Clemente, about 2.5 miles from the coast, according to the Orange County Register. Now it fills a 12,000-square-foot building between Broadway and Ocean Avenue that was built in the 1940s for the Sprouse Reitz Co. and later became a drugstore. Admission is free. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday.
Three weeks after opening, the museum is about to do the other job it moved downtown for. From October 17 through 25, SHACC's own site says it is open only to Coast Film & Music Festival ticket holders. Downtown Laguna gained a museum and an event venue in the same room, and for the next two weeks the venue gets priority.
A Room Too Big for a Shop
The building's size is what made the deal work. Councilmember Sue Kempf put it plainly at the opening. "This is an ideal situation for this space because it's so big that it wasn't attractive to a lot of different types of businesses as is," she told Stu News Laguna. The renovation kept the original high ceiling and added whitewashed walls and new flooring, and Kempf predicted, "It's going to be a hangout place for a lot of people."
SHACC is already set up for that. Its site advertises private events and warns that hours can change while it hosts them. Its public entrance and parking lot are on the Ocean Avenue side at 232 Ocean Ave. The museum still asks for mailed checks to go to 239 Broadway. Board member Mark Christy, who helped broker the purchase, told the Register that the "planets aligned" to land an empty building big enough for the collection, about 100 yards from where Metz's parents ran their burger shop. The paper reported that escrow closed last December, and the sale of the San Clemente building helped pay for the move.
A big open room a block from Main Beach is exactly what a film festival needs, and that's how SHACC's first October calendar filled up.
Four Open Days Before the Ticket-Only Window
Monday, October 12 is a closed day. That leaves Tuesday, October 13 through Friday, October 16 as the last ordinary public days before the ticket-only window starts on Saturday. The collection is large enough that it rewards going in with a plan.
- The Kahanamoku boards. More than 800 surfboards hang in the building, and five are connected to Duke Kahanamoku. Metz said Kahanamoku made or rode eight known boards in his lifetime. One is at the Smithsonian, one is in Australia and one is in Waikiki. "These are the crown jewels of the surfing world," he told Stu News Laguna.
- The Stoke Machine. This interactive exhibit covers 20 waves around the world, from Nazaré in Portugal to Lower Trestles down the road, with a live cam, a geography lesson and an explainer titled "why is the wave so sick?" Board member and filmmaker Greg MacGillivray showed it off at the opening.
- "The Ocean People." This animation by surf artist Phil Roberts plays on a wall and traces surfing's origins in Hawaiian culture.
- The filmmaking room. A whole exhibit covers surf film, including relics from MacGillivray's early career. A nearby display follows wool bathing suits through to modern boardshorts.
- The rotating exhibits. The current list names "PAE KA NALU: Catch the Wave," "1930s: The Race to Compete" and "Santa Cruz," shown alongside a permanent collection organized into four historical eras.
The board racks along the outside walls are arranged as a timeline. "The outline is the evolution, starting here and going around," Metz told Stu News Laguna, pointing to his own redwood board, which weighs 109 pounds.
Festival Week Inside the Museum
The Coast Film & Music Festival runs October 16 through 25. SHACC is one of its listed venues, along with the Festival of Arts and Irvine Bowl, the Forum Theater, the Laguna Beach Cultural Arts Center, Hobie Surf Shop and the Rivian South Coast Theater. The films in the museum are the reason it closes to walk-ins.
| Date | At SHACC |
|---|---|
| Fri., Oct. 16 | Opening-night SurfFilmMusic after-party, following the screening at Rivian South Coast Theater |
| Sat., Oct. 17 | Follow the Light Awards with Chris Burkard, plus a "Big Wednesday" screening |
| Sun., Oct. 18 | Mariachi Matters with Anthony Small |
| Tue., Oct. 20 | "Snake River" |
| Thu., Oct. 22 | Land and Sea Mixer with Protect Our Winters and Surfrider |
| Fri., Oct. 23 | "The Lost Cache" and "Remaining Native" |
| Sat., Oct. 24 | A conversation with Cory Richards and "The Cycle of Love" |
| Sun., Oct. 25 | Surfboard sale |
"Big Wednesday" in a room full of the boards that came out of that era is the screening that best fits the building. A surfboard sale on the last day of a week when the museum's walls are lined with historic boards is an easy one to circle too.
You need a ticket to get in. The festival sells single tickets as well as passes. The Opening Weekend pass is $200, the All Film pass is $400 and the All Access pass is $750, and reservations are generally required. The festival pages reviewed didn't list single-film prices.
Where Else Festival Week Goes
The rest of the festival lands in places Laguna residents already know. Hobie Night is Tuesday, October 20 at 6 p.m. at Hobie Surf Shop, with surf music by Par Avion and a program of surf and ocean films. That pairing works on its own terms. The Register reported that SHACC's executive director is a son of Hobie Alter, and he told the paper that being "downtown a block from the ocean" felt like "where it should be."
Closing weekend moves up to the Irvine Bowl:
- Friday, October 23, 6:30 p.m. Rainbow Body with Nicki Bluhm, opening performance by Ignacio Maria Gomez and Garth Stevenson
- Saturday, October 24, 6:30 p.m. Ben Harper, with G. Love, Donovan Frankenreiter and Lily Meola
- Sunday, October 25, 7 p.m. Amos Lee, with the same three supporting acts
The festival's general guidance gives 6:30 p.m. as the start time for Bowl concerts, while the Sunday listing says 7 p.m. Check your ticket before Sunday. A concert ticket also gets you into the Festival of Arts that day. Festival of Arts doors open at 3 p.m. and Irvine Bowl doors at 5:30 p.m. The Closing Weekend pass, at $450, includes a concert.
When the Museum Is Free Again
SHACC is closed on Mondays, so the first ordinary free day after the festival is Tuesday, October 27. Two days later, on October 29, the museum hosts a book launch for surf photographer Jeff Divine. SHACC's current events list ends with that date.
November has its own thread. Metz told Stu News Laguna the museum's walls show how surfing shaped "our culture, clothes, music, food." About a mile south, the Festival of Arts' foaSOUTH gallery opened "Substance and Sustenance: Food as Art" on October 12 inside Active Culture at 1006 S. Coast Highway. It runs through January 25, 2027, according to Stu News Laguna. The Laguna Beach Independent reported a public reception on Thursday, November 5. That reception falls on the same night as November's First Thursdays Art Walk, which is free and held on the first Thursday of every month. Then the Sawdust Art Festival's Winter Fantasy runs five weekends from November 20 to December 20, open Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
If you plan to keep coming back, SHACC's memberships start at the $50 Paipo level and go up to the $1,000 Heritage level. Members get discounts on event tickets, exhibit openings and merchandise, and the higher tiers add reciprocal museum entry and VIP events. SHACC's site notes that hours can change for special and private events, so check What's On before visiting.
The bigger dates are further out. Stu News noted that the opening lands just ahead of Laguna Beach's 2027 Centennial and the 2028 Olympic Games, when the surfing competition is expected at nearby Trestles.
High | Corkett follows how new landmarks like SHACC settle into downtown Laguna Beach and change the blocks around them. If you're thinking about a home within walking distance of Broadway and Main Beach, we offer confidential consultations.
