"This is not a subdued museum," Dick Metz said on opening day at the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center's new downtown building. Metz is SHACC's 97-year-old founder. The center space holds up to 400 people. The exhibits there are portable so they can be moved aside, and a bar and restaurant are available for entertaining.
That design explains how residents get in. Admission is free, and regular hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Because the building also works as a venue, its event calendar decides which of those hours actually apply. October 2026 is the first month to show how that works.
A Former Variety Store Built to Clear Its Floor
The building went up in 1939. In the 1940s it was a Sprouse Reitz Co. store, and later a drug store. It covers 12,000 square feet between Broadway and Ocean Avenue. The Register reported in September 2026 that SHACC had closed escrow "less than a year ago in December." The team then gutted the building and replaced its floors and walls. Laurie Alter, owner of the furnishings company Tuvalu, did the design work.
The building fronts two streets, so it goes by two addresses. SHACC lists its main entrance and parking lot at 232 Ocean Avenue. The Orange County Register gives the address as 239 Broadway St. Both point to the same museum, and either one works in a map app.
The details inside make the venue role clear. Four wooden boards hang on either side of a flat screen 10 feet wide and 16 feet tall, which is meant for movies and live sports. On opening day it streamed the Lexus Trestles Pro. Metz described the space as a "historic hangout" that can host weddings and corporate meetings. He also hopes it can serve as a meeting place for teams and organizers during the LA28 Olympics. SHACC's own visitor page says it "closes early for special events," and that hours may change during private events.
The museum has already followed that rule once. On Saturday, October 3, SHACC closed at 5 p.m. instead of 6. The bigger change comes later this month.
October, Day by Day
SHACC had its ribbon-cutting on Friday, September 18, and opened to the public for the first time the next day. Its first full month looks like this:
- Tuesday, October 6 through Friday, October 16. Regular free hours, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with Monday, October 12, closed. This is the main stretch of free walk-in days before the festival.
- Friday, October 16, after dark. The Coast Film & Music Festival opens with a 7 p.m. screening, followed by an after-party at SHACC. SHACC lists a DJ set by Merlo Podlewski, with tickets sold through Coast Film Festival. SHACC lists the party as 9 to 10:30 p.m. The festival's ticketing page says it runs until 11 p.m.
- Saturday, October 17 through Sunday, October 25. SHACC is open only to Coast Film Festival ticket holders. On October 17, the museum hosts the Follow the Light Awards with photographer Chris Burkard from noon to 2 p.m. A Big Wednesday screening follows from 4:30 to 7 p.m. The festival runs from October 16 to 25 at venues across town, including the Rivian South Coast Theater at 162 S. Coast Highway.
- Sunday, October 25, in the parking lot. SHACC sells deaccessioned surfboards from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Members get in at 8:30 a.m.
- Tuesday, October 27 onward. Regular hours resume after the Monday closure.
- Thursday, October 29, evening. Photographer Jeff Divine holds a book launch in the SHACC Theater from 7 to 9:30 p.m.
SHACC's calendar currently runs through October 29 and lists nothing for November yet. For now, the free walk-in days this month fall on either side of the festival week.
What a Free Afternoon Covers
The free days are worth using because the permanent layout is designed to be walked in order. Surfboards line the outer walls and trace the sport from Hawaii through the shift from redwood and pine to balsa, foam and today's boards. Chris Mauro, a SHACC historian and former editor of Surfer magazine, called the outer loop "your time capsule," the Laguna Beach Independent reported. The center rows cover competition, surf shops and fashion, film and music, and waves and oceanography.
The featured exhibit is "PAE KA NALU: Catch the Wave," on Hawaiian surfing history. Two other exhibits, "1930s: The Race to Compete" and "Santa Cruz," are also on view. Mauro said he spent five years working with Hawaiian historians on the opening exhibit, which covers "the first 1,000 years" of surfing.
The collection's best-known pieces are surfboards linked to Duke Kahanamoku. Eight such boards are known, either made or ridden by him, and five of them are here. Two were shaped in Corona del Mar when Kahanamoku visited Southern California.
"These are the crown jewels. It would be like the Mona Lisa in the Louvre in Paris." Dick Metz, on the Kahanamoku boards
Filmmaker Greg MacGillivray, a Laguna Beach resident and SHACC board member, showed off the Stoke Machine on opening day. It is an interactive exhibit on 20 waves around the world, from Nazaré in Portugal to Lower Trestles, with a live cam and an explainer on what makes a good wave. An animation by surf artist Phil Roberts, "The Ocean People," plays on a nearby wall, and a separate exhibit covers surf filmmaking.
Upstairs is the part of the building most likely to bring residents back. It is a library and archive open to the public, with every issue of Surfer and Surfing magazines. Board member Randy Hild pulled out the first magazine article ever written about surfing, by Tom Blake in the May 1935 issue of National Geographic. Researchers have come from abroad to use the archive, including one who spent three weeks there working on a doctoral thesis.
The Board Sale Runs on Its Own Schedule
The October 25 sale falls inside the festival week but uses a different space with its own rules. It takes place in the parking lot at 232 Ocean Avenue. SHACC says it is the first time it has offered boards from its collection to the public, about 100 in all. Some are rare collector's pieces and others are "still ready to ride."
The half hour before the public opening goes to members. Annual memberships start at $50 for the Paipo level and step up through Alaia at $100, Kikoʻo at $150 and Olo at $250, to Heritage at $1,000. SHACC is currently promoting "Founding Member" signups, but its membership page does not list a separate price for that level. For anyone who wants first pick of the boards, the October 25 sale is the clearest reason to join.
Getting There Without a Guaranteed Space
Metz said that "to have a parking lot in downtown Laguna, is beyond." The museum lists an on-site lot at the Ocean Avenue entrance, but its visitor page does not give fees, number of spaces or parking rules. Check before counting on a space during a festival weekend.
SHACC's visitor page lists trolley service as running Memorial Day to Labor Day, while Visit Laguna Beach says the city's free trolleys run year-round on a seasonal schedule. OCTA Route 1 stops at Broadway and PCH, two blocks east, and there are bike racks at the front entrance. The museum reports step-free access to its public galleries and theater, ADA restrooms on every floor, and says service animals are welcome.
The Village has had two openings in quick succession. One week after SHACC's ribbon-cutting, city officials dedicated the Forest Avenue Promenade on September 25. The promenade's new streetscape includes a kelp forest-inspired fountain. The First Thursdays Art Walk on November 5 runs from 6 to 9 p.m., with extended free trolley rides for Art Walk visitors.
The museum also has deep roots in this neighborhood. Metz first kept his collection in a small rented office above the Royal Hawaiian, next to Main Beach, in the 1990s. Board member Mark Christy noted that the new building is about 100 yards from where Metz's parents ran a burger shop.
If SHACC's new building has you thinking about how a Village property can serve more than one purpose, whether it's a home, a rental or an investment, Team Laguna has advised owners in this neighborhood for decades. We're glad to talk it through over coffee a block from the museum. Contact Us.
