"You're invited to The Victorian's funeral." That is how the Eventbrite listing for The Victorian's Final Halloween opens. It is Saturday, October 31, from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. at 2640 Main St. The venue promises a haunted house, DJs and its "FINAL NIGHT EVER." Admission is 21+ with valid ID, tickets are limited, and all sales are final.
The joke works because the closing is real. The paperwork behind it says more about Main Street's next few years than the party does. The City of Santa Monica owns the 1892 house in Heritage Square, so the lease that replaces The Victorian is a public document with public terms. One of those terms moves the Sunday Farmers Market off its parking lot and onto Main Street as a weekly open-street event. The street's busiest night spot is closing, and the deal that replaces it puts a weekly daytime Sunday in writing.
The same operators, a different clock
The Victorian is not losing its operators. Garner Gerson and Adir Tal, the Santa Monica hospitality operators behind it, went to the city in late 2025 with a proposal to drop the late-night model. City staff reworked the lease, and the City Council approved it unanimously on March 24. The property will reopen as The Santa Monican, a family membership club. Planned features include a pool, a spa and fitness center, a family and youth facility, a coffee bistro, and a restaurant and bar, with gardens and gathering space on the grounds.
In the city's October 9 announcement, City Manager Oliver Chi said the operators "shared that their nightlife model had run its course at The Victorian, and that families were what Main Street needed next." The same release lists the public benefits Mayor Caroline Torosis says the city wrote into the lease:
"Up to 20% of memberships will be free for qualifying Santa Monica residents, the lawn and public parking will stay open to everyone, and the Sunday Farmers Market will remain."
The release says those free scholarship memberships may go to families, educators and small business owners. The operators also plan seasonal events with the city and community groups, including free summer barbecues, Santa Monica Snow Days and holiday celebrations. The timeline is long. Renovation is expected to start in late 2026 and the club is targeted to open in mid-2028. The operators will announce membership details and pricing in the coming months.
This means the building at the center of the Sunday market will sit under renovation for well over a year. The street becomes the obvious place for the market to go.
Main Street has already tested the car-free Sunday twice
The open-street market has two trial runs behind it, and each one used a different stretch of Main Street.
| Sunday, Aug. 23 | Sunday, Oct. 18 | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing | First Ocean Park Farmers Market on Main Street | Main Street Block Party + Day of the Dog |
| Stretch | Ocean Park Boulevard to Hill Street | Pier Avenue to Pacific Street |
| Street closed | 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. | 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. |
| Program | Market 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., more than a dozen food vendors, live music, DJ, chalk art, kids' zone, after-party on the Heritage lawn until 7 p.m. | Farmers Market on the street, Day of the Dog noon to 5 p.m., live music, Ashland Hill beer garden 1 to 6 p.m., kids' corner |
For the August pilot, the Ocean Park Association said the Main Street Entertainment Zone would be active. Adults could buy drinks from participating Main Street businesses and carry them on the street. Afterward the market went back to its usual spot. The association's August 27 update said it would return to the Victorian parking lot that week.
The October block party had much more on it. The association listed dog surfing, pup yoga and more than 100 pet exhibitors from Day of the Dog. The WRX offered free fitness classes at 2215 Main St. The Pump Station hosted musical story time with Books & Cookies. Ina Bakes Studio and Santa Monica Travel & Tourism served a community cake at the Main Street Stage at Pier Avenue to mark 100 years of Route 66.
The two trials suggest two different products. The August pilot was a weekly market on the street. The October event was a festival that pulled the market into it. The lease commits to the first, and the closure hours show why. A Sunday that ends by mid-afternoon is easier to repeat every week than one that keeps the street shut until 10 p.m.
The newest storefronts keep daytime hours
The Victorian's closing is the loudest change, but it fits a pattern already visible along the street. The city's release lists Main Street's recent openings, and most of them serve people who are out before dinner. From north to south:
- Santa Monica Market, 2015 Main St. New owners added a full deli counter this summer.
- Punch Bowl Juice & Smoothie, 2218 Main St. Recently opened.
- Met Her at a Bar, 2651 Main St. This all-day café from restaurateurs Mindy and Vinny Kinne opened in August. It is across the street from The Victorian and is the couple's first Santa Monica location.
- Nameless, 2810 Main St. The Victorian's operators plan to reopen it after it closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. No date has been given.
- Bar Fortuna, 2917 Main St. An all-day wine bar from the team behind Crudo e Nudo.
- Circle Bar, 2926 Main St. A Main Street fixture since 1949. It reopened in May under new local ownership after nearly three years dark.
Met Her at a Bar's posted hours fit the Sunday-market crowd. On its locations page, the café opens at 8 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday and at 10 a.m. on weekdays. The kitchen closes daily from 2:30 to 4 p.m., but the bar and small-bites menu stay open during that break. The café's own site lists Belgian waffles and La Colombe coffee.
Bar Fortuna is the latest addition to the list. L.A. Magazine reported it was set to open October 21 as Brian Bornemann's casual, Italian-inspired neighborhood bar. The menu includes Negronis, spritzes, a California and Italian wine list curated by JD Plotnick, house-made pasta and market-sourced vegetables. Jose Morales is chef de cuisine and Noah Castellanos runs the bar. Market-sourced vegetables are a natural fit a few blocks from a farmers market that may soon fill the street every Sunday.
The city ties this run of openings to Council actions in March. Those actions eliminated the $1,000-per-seat fee for new restaurants and set up a $3 million economic development fund. At the same March 24 meeting, the Council approved The Santa Monican lease and adopted the Realignment Plan update, which names Main Street among the commercial corridors it prioritizes.
Still unannounced or in flux
Some parts of the shift are still blank or moving the other way.
- The weekly start date. The city's release gives no start date for the weekly open-street market, and no blocks, hours or vendor plan have been published. Until one is announced, the Main Street Farmers Market runs on its regular Sunday schedule. Visit Santa Monica lists November 8 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
- Openings past their estimates. The Main Street Association still lists La Diperie at 2441 Main St. as "Coming Soon" with an "End of Summer 2026" estimate. It lists Chez Luna Adoption Cafe at 2929 Main St. the same way, with a "Summer 2026" estimate. La Diperie is taking the storefront Holey Grail Donuts left earlier this year.
- A closure. The Main Street Starbucks closed in late September. The Ocean Park Association reported it was part of a company plan to close about 250 coffeehouses across North America.
- The parking lots. The same association reported that no projects have been formally proposed for the Main Street parking lots. It plans an in-depth discussion of the lots' history and the city's options at its November 9 meeting.
This weekend and the weeks after
Saturday, October 31, has two Halloween events at opposite ends of the city. From 2 to 5 p.m., the Montana Avenue merchants host their Halloween Walk with trick-or-treating, activities and merchant sales along the avenue. That night from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., The Victorian holds its last event as a nightclub at 2640 Main St. The next morning is the first Sunday market since the club closed. The Ocean Park Association meets about the Main Street lots on November 9.
If you own a Main Street property or live nearby and want to know how a weekly car-free Sunday and a family membership club might affect your block, Gary Glass Estates can talk it through with you privately. Request a Private Showing.
