Every summer in Marina del Rey looks busy from the outside. Boats, bikes, a hotel or two hosting something. What is different this year is that if you already live here, the calendar has finally settled into a rhythm you can hold in your head without pulling up a phone. Wednesday belongs to the sailors. Saturday and Sunday afternoons belong to Fisherman's Village. Saturday nights belong to Burton Chace Park. The rest of the week has quietly filled in with new places to eat and shop that were not here last June.
That is the argument of this post. Not that there is more happening, but that the happening is legible. A resident can plan a week around it without checking a listings site, and the new businesses that opened this year have slotted into the gaps the free programming does not cover.
Wednesday is the sailing night
The Sunset Series Regatta has been running out of Marina del Rey since 1964, and it is back on its usual schedule every Wednesday from April 15 through September 2, 2026. Up to seventy-five sailboats race across eight classes in twenty-one scheduled races over the season. You do not need to be on a boat to watch it. Anywhere along the main channel with a view west, from the North Jetty to the walkways at Chace Park, puts you in front of the fleet as it turns for home in the last hour of daylight.
If you have out-of-town guests in the summer and want to show them something that is genuinely a Marina institution and not a tourist itinerary item, this is the answer that costs nothing.
Weekend afternoons at Fisherman's Village
Fisherman's Village at 13723 Fiji Way relaunched its Summer Music Series with a two-day Grand Kickoff on May 30 and 31, 2026, which also marked the opening of the new Historical Society space on-site. Since then, live music has played every Saturday and Sunday afternoon, generally 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., and admission is free.
The lineup rotates through oldies, doo-wop, salsa, zydeco, surf, country rock, and reggae. July includes Ohio Trio Band on the 11th, Jimbo Ross and the Bodacious Band on the 12th, Henry Benavides bringing salsa, merengue, cumbia, and bolero on the 18th, U.S. 99 on the 19th, and Lizzy B and the Hive covering the women of rock and roll on the 25th. On-site parking is available for a small fee and fills up, so the Marina del Rey WaterBus is a better move if you are coming from anywhere with a dock nearby. The WaterBus runs on select days between June 19 and Labor Day, September 7, 2026, at one dollar per person, cash only.
The reason this matters for residents is timing. Fisherman's Village concerts end at 5:00 p.m. You can walk out of one and have two full hours before the Saturday evening program at Chace Park starts. That is the shape of a Marina Saturday now.
Saturday nights at Burton Chace Park
The Marina del Rey Summer Concert Series at Burton Chace Park runs six Saturday evenings, July 11 through August 15, 2026, presented by the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors. Shows start at 7:00 p.m., admission is free, and seating is first-come, first-served until capacity. Bring low-back chairs and a jacket. The marine layer at Chace Park after sundown is real.
| Date | Act |
|---|---|
| Saturday, July 11 | Marina del Rey Symphony, Encanto in Concert Live to Film |
| Saturday, July 18 | Los Lobos |
| Saturday, July 25 | TBA |
| Saturday, August 1 | Marina del Rey Symphony, Video Game Music |
| Saturday, August 8 | Monsieur Periné |
| Saturday, August 15 | D Smoke and Carl Thomas |
The programming is not filler. Los Lobos is a headline booking. Monsieur Periné is a Latin Grammy act. D Smoke is an Inglewood rapper with real national reach. A resident who has been half-tuned-out to the Chace Park series for a few summers should look at this lineup and reconsider.
After August 15, the park does not go quiet. Movie Nights at Burton Chace Park take over on select Saturdays from August 22 through September 26, 2026, which extends the free-weekend-program season a full month past what most people assume it ends.
What the harbor added between last summer and this one
The parts of the week that free programming does not fill are the parts residents actually care about. This is where 2026 changed.
Three new places to eat opened around the harbor: STOA Wine Bar for curated pours, Café Cache for French bistro classics, and Paradise Bowls for açaí and pitaya. Each one solves a specific gap. STOA is the wine-by-the-glass option that did not really exist walkable from the docks. Café Cache is the sit-down weekday dinner that is not a hotel restaurant. Paradise Bowls is the post-bike, post-paddle stop that used to require a drive up to Venice.
At Waterside, the shopping center by Mother's Beach, Bluemercury and FP Movement both opened this year. That fills two categories, beauty and activewear, that residents were driving out of the neighborhood to shop. On the more distinctive end, Bitter Root Pottery Aqueous is a waterfront pottery studio now offering group and private classes.
If you paddle or want to start, Pro SUP Shop is running a limited-time monthly membership at ninety-nine dollars, which is meaningfully cheaper than paying per rental if you are going out more than three times a summer.
The hotels are worth walking into again
Locals often forget that Marina del Rey's hotel restaurants and bars are open to them. Three of the properties made changes this year that are worth knowing:
The Marina del Rey Marriott finished a property-wide renovation and added programming partnerships with Golden Wave Surf School for surf lessons and The Sun Cycle for guided coastal biking, both of which are open to non-guests. The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey brought in a new executive chef overseeing all food and beverage, and debuted three new pickleball courts. Jamaica Bay Inn, Tapestry Collection by Hilton completed a guestroom and meeting-space redesign and also welcomed a new executive chef.
Three new chefs in one summer at three walkable properties is the kind of quiet shift that is invisible unless you live here. If you have written off the hotel dining rooms based on a meal from two years ago, they are worth another look.
A cheat sheet for the rest of summer
Everything above condensed into the standing weekly items you can put on a calendar and forget:
- Every Wednesday, April 15 to September 2: Sunset Series Regatta on the main channel
- Every Saturday and Sunday afternoon, all summer: Free live music at Fisherman's Village, 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.
- Every Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., year-round: Farmers market at Mother's Beach
- Saturdays July 11 through August 15 at 7:00 p.m.: Free summer concerts at Burton Chace Park
- Select Saturdays August 22 to September 26: Free Movie Nights at Burton Chace Park
- Five select match days: Free 2026 World Cup outdoor watch parties at Burton Chace Park
- June 19 through September 7: WaterBus, one dollar per person, cash
The larger point
The change in Marina del Rey this year is not any one opening or any one concert. It is that the schedule reads like a neighborhood rather than a destination. Wednesday sailboats, weekend afternoons at Fiji Way, Saturday nights at Chace, a wine bar and a French cafe to catch the middle of the week, and hotel restaurants that are no longer running on old menus. If you have lived here for a while and let the summer calendar drift into background noise, 2026 is a good year to pay attention again.
Let's Connect
GlobalPoint works with Marina del Rey residents on everything from lease renewals to move-up purchases to off-market opportunities in the harbor's condo and townhome inventory. If your relationship with the neighborhood is shifting, whether that means going deeper into it or eventually stepping out of it, we would rather have that conversation before you need answers than after. Reach out when the timing is right for you.
