Driftwood Kitchen and The Deck Close as Pacific Edge Redevelopment Begins
Two of Laguna Beach’s signature oceanfront restaurants served their final meals after Labor Day, ending about a decade of service to clear the way for a long-planned resort redevelopment.
Two of Laguna Beach’s most recognizable oceanfront restaurants closed their doors in September. Driftwood Kitchen and its sister restaurant, The Deck, served their final meals after Labor Day, following about a decade of service on the sand at 647 South Coast Highway.
The owners were quick to say the closures were not about the business. In a farewell message, Driftwood Kitchen wrote: "Over the past decade, we’ve seen more than 50 restaurants in Laguna close for financial reasons, we want to emphasize that is not the case here," making clear that the restaurants were displaced by a real estate decision, not by red ink.
The restaurants were built by business partners John Nye and Chef Rainer Schwarz, the duo behind Public Kitchen and Bar at the Hollywood Roosevelt in Los Angeles. They opened The Deck first, added its bungalows playground, and later built the larger Driftwood Kitchen in a historically protected building. Nye marked the final day of operation on Sept. 8 with a private thank-you party for employees, according to local reporting.
The properties sit on a larger parcel that includes the Pacific Edge Hotel, where a long-planned redevelopment is now commencing. The result is expected to be a new luxury resort catering to high-end travelers, arriving in about three years, the New York Post reported.
The approved project would substantially renovate the 93-year-old hotel property while retaining 136 hotel rooms and updating public areas, restaurant and pool facilities, according to local coverage of the entitlements. A multi-level automated parking garage with room for roughly 220 vehicles is part of the plan.
The Laguna Beach Planning Commission approved the modified project last November, and the city’s construction staging plan originally called for demolition and parking garage excavation to begin right after Labor Day. A proposal to stage workers and equipment at the Laguna Terrace lot in South Laguna was pared back by the commission to a parking-only use after a lengthy hearing.
Reaction from regulars has been raw. One local commenter called the loss "Another charming, vintage, coastal Orange County icon being bulldozed and replaced with some monstrosity," while others argued the town is trading its casual coastal character for corporate resort polish.
For the local dining economy, the closure removes two high-volume oceanfront rooms that were still viable businesses, a reminder that in Laguna Beach, restaurant turnover is not always about restaurant economics. Sometimes the building itself is the business.
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