Most residents are still waiting for a ribbon-cutting. They picture a Saturday in late 2026 with a 175-foot Ferris wheel spinning over the harbor, the amphitheater lit up, and a permanent San Pedro Fish Market building drawing a line down Harbor Boulevard. That day is coming. It is not the day the waterfront reopened.
The waterfront reopened last October, quietly, and it has been adding pieces every month since. If you live here, the useful question is no longer when but where to go this weekend while the rest of the county is still checking construction updates.
What's actually on the promenade right now
The most visible return is the San Pedro Fish Market. After two years of serving the World Famous Shrimp Tray out of a temporary parking lot setup during the Port of Los Angeles renovation, the Fish Market opened the New Landing in October 2025 — an expanded, 1,500-seat oceanside deck at 706 S. Harbor Blvd. Hours run 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and until 10 p.m. on weekends. This is still not the permanent home. The Market is currently operating in what developers call its final temporary location before moving into a permanent 55,000-square-foot building targeted for late 2026.
Further along the promenade, San Pedro Ocean Sports is now open at West Harbor, bringing stand up paddle boards, kayaks, hydro bikes and jet ski rentals to the LA Waterfront. On the water, Harbor Breeze Cruises offers harbor cruises and seasonal whale watching excursions, including aboard El Escudo, its new 350-passenger parallel hybrid vessel. The Los Angeles Maritime Institute runs year-round youth programs, monthly Sunset Sails, and welcomes volunteers as a nonprofit — more at lamitopsail.org. Catalina Tea Bar is stationed on the promenade daily, serving flavored teas, spiritless margaritas, zero-alcohol beers, chicken wings, and tacos.
That is enough to program a full afternoon without any of the tenants that have not opened yet.
The World Cup flipped a switch most people missed
For four days in July, the developers ran a test. West Harbor opened for soccer fans to watch the remaining four games of the 2026 World Cup, starting with the France vs. Spain semifinal. The redevelopment of the former Ports O'Call Village, demolished in 2018, is still under construction, but an outdoor portion was briefly converted into a World Cup fan zone with games on a giant screen, soccer-inspired activities, drinks, a live DJ, and pop-ups from future restaurant tenants.
The bigger deal, if you live here, was what the fan zone forced open. As West Harbor communications director Alan Johnson told CBS, "It's the first time that the promenade, which is about a mile long, is activated, and the public is able to really walk the entire length, see what we're doing, see the Central Park area, which is done." A mile of continuous waterfront walk, from the Fish Market down past Central Park, is now on the table for the first time in nearly a decade.
What is open, what is coming, and when
Now open | Opening this summer/fall | Late 2026 and beyond |
|---|---|---|
San Pedro Fish Market New Landing (temporary) | Building A restaurants: Mike Hess Brewing, Tacos El Franc, Glass Box, Paraná Empanadas, LoZio Pizza, Freska Bar | Permanent 55,000 sq ft San Pedro Fish Market building |
Harbor Breeze Cruises (El Escudo hybrid) | Amphitheater soft events | 6,200-seat amphitheater full concert season (2027) |
San Pedro Ocean Sports | Rolling tenant openings through year-end | 175-foot observation wheel and rides |
LAMI tall ship sunset sails | ||
Catalina Tea Bar | ||
Trani's Dockside Station | ||
The Majestic (Harbor View House) |
The six restaurant concepts announced in December are the most concrete short-term additions. West Harbor announced six new dining and beverage concepts as part of the $500 million redevelopment, slated to debut ahead of the project's 2026 opening across more than 10,000 square feet of newly leased space. Headliners include Mike Hess Brewing, making its Los Angeles debut with an expanded seaside concept that also introduces Mike Hess Distilling, anchoring a large beer garden overlooking the harbor, and inside the Food Collective, Tacos El Franc, a Tijuana taqueria recognized by The Michelin Guide and featured on Netflix's Taco Chronicles, making its LA debut with handmade tortillas and fillings like adobada, suadero, and lengua. Glass Box brings a high-concept Asian menu with sushi, sashimi, Taiwanese beef noodle soup, and steak fried rice, alongside Paraná Empanadas and LoZio Pizza from local pizzaiolo Marco Aromatario.
The majority of restaurants and entertainment venues in Building A, a 73,000-square-foot structure now complete, are expected to open in summer 2026, with remaining tenants launching on a rolling basis through the end of the year.
Downtown quietly filled in around the construction fence
The story locals will find more interesting is not West Harbor itself. It is what happened on the blocks just uphill while everyone was watching the port.
The Trani family, whose restaurant presence in San Pedro spans 100 years, opened Trani's Dockside Station in the former Immigration Station of the Port of Los Angeles, a seafood-forward California cuisine restaurant with a raw bar, wood fire grill, craft cocktails, and a wine list. A generation of the same family opened The Majestic last December inside the restored Harbor View House, a Mediterranean Revival landmark. The building's history is worth knowing: the space spent decades as a state-run mental health facility, and the original gymnasium still gleams with polished floors and a sloped running track around the upper perimeter, while in the old boiler room downstairs workers are building a speakeasy with a 30-foot library bar.
The Majestic sits a few blocks from the harbor and San Pedro Plaza Park, designed as a restaurant and cultural venue that will host live music including outdoor amplified performances with up to 24 special events annually — a milestone the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce has called significant for downtown's growth.
And residential construction is following. The Trammell Crow Company's Jules development, an 8-story, 281-unit building at 625 S. Beacon St., began construction in early 2026, with ground-floor retail space in discussions for a restaurant or café. That is one block from the waterfront. Behind it, Alan Johnson of Jerico Development noted approximately 5,000 multifamily units in design, construction, or permitting in and around downtown San Pedro as of mid-2025.
What's actually on the summer calendar
While the tenant openings roll out, the Port has already built the summer around what is here. From the Port of Los Angeles announcement in June:
- July 4 — The 76th Annual John Olguin Fireworks Extravaganza, with a Cabrillo Beach Boosters VIP party at the Plaza at Cabrillo Way Marina from 5 to 8 p.m. and a free public fireworks display over Cabrillo Beach at 9 p.m.
- July 10 and 11 — Shakespeare by the Sea returns for two nights of free outdoor MacBeth at the Point Fermin Park bandshell, starting at 7 p.m.
- August 15 — San Pedro Pride 2026 at AltaSea, free, 4 to 10 p.m.
- September 26 — Free Harbor Boat Tours of the Port of Los Angeles departing from Downtown Harbor between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., including one pet-friendly tour and one Spanish-language tour.
And a standing invitation the whole summer: the 1st Thursday Art Walk in downtown San Pedro, with open galleries and food from 5 to 9 p.m., mostly between 4th and 7th Streets from Pacific Ave. to Palos Verdes St., plus the propane-powered trolleys that run free Thursday through Sunday.
Why phased matters
The developers built their bet into the lease terms. As of the December 2025 tenant announcements, roughly 80 percent of West Harbor's operators are family businesses, and about 30 to 40 percent come from San Diego — coastal operators with the experience to thrive near water. They are not trying to open on one day. They are trying to open like a neighborhood, which is why the promenade has quietly been useful for months while headlines waited on the wheel.
If you live in San Pedro, the practical implication is small and specific. The regulars who claim their favorite harbor cruise time, their walk from the Fish Market deck down to Central Park, their bench at Point Fermin during Shakespeare week, and their table at The Majestic will be the ones who did it this summer, not the ones who waited for the press conference.
Show up. The waterfront is already yours.
If you're weighing what all of this means for your home, your street, or a future move within San Pedro, Carmody Real Estate is watching the waterfront closely and happy to talk it through. Contact Us when you're ready.
