Laguna Beach Art Walk

What the Art Walk is

First Thursdays Art Walk is a monthly evening when member galleries across Laguna Beach stay open at night. The organizer, a nonprofit funded by member galleries, local art institutions, lodging businesses and the City of Laguna Beach, says it has run trolley service for the walk since 1998. It describes the walk as home to 40 galleries.

The hours are the same every month: the first Thursday, 6 to 9 p.m. Entry is free, and the organizer says that holds even when an individual gallery charges for its own ticketed event. Many galleries serve food and wine. Wine goes to guests 21 and older with ID, the organizer says.

Each month has its own program. Visit Laguna Beach lists gallery tours, artist demonstrations, live music and special installations, with special events that vary by month. For a given date, look at the participating gallery’s own website. Skidmore Contemporary Art, for example, has held artist receptions on Art Walk evenings, and Quorum Gallery and Sandstone Gallery list their 6 to 9 p.m. Art Walk hours on their sites.

Where it runs

The organizer places the walk up and down Coast Highway from Diamond Street to Myrtle Street, with the member directory listing galleries on Forest Avenue, Glenneyre Street, Ocean Avenue and Beach Street too. The gallery stretch of North Laguna and the downtown streets around the Village both sit inside that range. The directory, with addresses and websites, is at firstthursdaysartwalk.org. The galleries page explains the districts.

The Laguna Art Museum at 307 Cliff Drive offers free admission from 6 to 9 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month, according to the museum, which makes it a natural first or last stop.

Trolley, parking and getting around

The organizer says it provides extended free trolley rides for Art Walk visitors, and it points out that Laguna Beach’s free public trolleys run year-round, with schedules that vary by season. It posts no route or timetable for the extra rides, so ask the organizer before you count on one.

The city’s Coastal Route trolley follows Coast Highway between North Laguna and Heisler Park, downtown, South Laguna and Mission Hospital. On its non-summer schedule, from September 8, 2026 to June 25, 2027, the city runs it Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., so a Thursday ride ends as the Art Walk begins. The getting around guide has the full picture.

For parking, the organizer links a map of public lots and notes that street parking is available. The museum has no lot of its own, and its visit page lists metered spaces on Cliff Drive and Coast Highway. The parking guide covers lots, meters and residential permits.

Dinner before or after

The list below is a handful of restaurants near the walk, from the Laguna Beach Happy Hour directory, which carries each venue’s address and website. It is not a ranking, and it leaves out many others.

• Las Brisas, at 361 Cliff Drive, sits above Main Beach on the same street as the museum.
• Royal Hawaiian, at 331 N Coast Highway, and Truly Pizza, at 320 N Coast Highway, are both on the gallery stretch.
• 230 Forest Avenue is on Forest Avenue, near the galleries in the Village.
• Zinc Cafe & Market, at 350 Ocean Avenue, is a few doors from the Ocean Avenue gallery stops.
• Finney’s Crafthouse, at 340 S Coast Highway, occupies The White House building, where a restaurant opened in 1918.

Reservations, hours and menus are the restaurants’ own to set, so check each one’s page.

What to know

Galleries set their own door policies, so one may pour wine and the next may not.

Museum hours can shift on a given Art Walk night, with shorter free hours or some galleries closed. Check the museum’s visit page for the evening you plan to go.

Art Walk is separate from the summer festivals. For the Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters, the Sawdust Art Festival and Art-A-Fair, see the events guide. The performing arts page lists theater and music for other evenings, and the public art page covers sculpture you can see on the way.