9 Best Downtowns In Southern California

Small scale, big center. Southern California’s strongest downtowns aren’t built on height or hype; they simply have stories to tell, things to see, and experiences to remember.

The filter is strict: intact blocks, active civic rooms (depots, theaters, museums), and independent places that open early and close late. What follows is a coast-to-canyons list where geography and daily life share an address, and where the landmark isn’t a backdrop, it’s the neighbor.

Laguna Beach

Laguna Beach was founded as an artists’ colony in the early 1900s, and traces of that identity remain deeply embedded in its downtown layout. The town has more than 100 public art installations within its city limits, murals, sculptures, reliefs, many of them concentrated within walking distance of the beach. Forest Avenue is its visual anchor: a brick-lined pedestrian-friendly street where galleries like Sue Greenwood Fine Art exhibit West Coast contemporary work in restored early 20th-century buildings. Just a few blocks west, the white façade of the Laguna Art Museum houses one of the state’s oldest collections of California-only art.

Across Pacific Coast Highway, Heisler Park runs along a bluff above the shoreline, offering direct access to tidepools, sculptures, and native gardens. North Gallery Row, Zinc Café serves as a longstanding local breakfast and lunch spot with shaded patio seating and a modest art bookstore inside. A short walk south, Main Beach marks the convergence of ocean and town with its curved boardwalk, volleyball courts, and historic lifeguard tower.

San Juan Capistrano

San Juan Capistrano is one of the oldest towns in California, first established around Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776. It is the only mission in the state where swallows famously return each spring, a migration pattern that still draws visitors. The downtown core grew around the mission walls and preserved many of its early structures. Los Rios Street, considered the oldest residential street in California, runs just across the train tracks and contains original adobe and Victorian-era homes now operating as cafes, shops, and galleries. Ramos House Café, located in an 1881 cottage with a garden patio, serves a fixed brunch menu with dishes like crab hash and rosemary cornbread.

The mission itself remains the centerpiece. Its Great Stone Church, partially ruined by the 1812 earthquake, stands as a national historic landmark. Inside the compound, there are preserved gardens, fountains, and the original Serra Chapel. Within walking distance, The Tea House on Los Rios offers multi-course afternoon tea service inside a restored turn-of-the-century home. The town's compact train station, still in active use, adds to its scale and walkability. Capistrano Depot, a 19th-century building next door, now houses Trevor’s at the Tracks, a restaurant built into the station’s original waiting room.

Claremont

Claremont was designed as a college town and remains centered around the seven Claremont Colleges, whose campuses sit within walking distance of downtown. This planning gives the town a consistent architectural character and a strong pedestrian orientation. The area known as Claremont Village contains brick storefronts, shaded sidewalks, and narrow alleys lined with bookstores, coffee shops, and small-scale theaters. Across the street, Some Crust Bakery operates out of a century-old building and is known for its custom ice cream sandwich counter.

The town has a strong horticultural identity. The California Botanic Garden, formerly Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, spans 86 acres and holds the largest collection of native California plants in the state. Within the village, the Claremont Museum of Art is located inside the town’s Spanish Revival train depot. The town’s layout, preserved tree canopy, and low signage ordinance keep commercial development visually restrained.

Sierra Madre

Sierra Madre is one of the only towns in Los Angeles County without a single traffic light, a reflection of its scale and self-contained geography at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains. The downtown forms a single compact loop along Sierra Madre Boulevard and Baldwin Avenue, anchored by Kersting Court, a central plaza with benches, a fountain, and unobstructed views of Mount Wilson. The Wistaria Vine, recognized as one of the largest flowering plants in the world, grows on a private residence a few blocks north and has been part of an annual festival since 1918.

Mary’s Market, located inside a canyon neighborhood, functions as both café and gathering spot and is reachable on foot via the Mount Wilson Trail. The trail begins just blocks from downtown and ascends directly into the foothills. Across the street, The Bottle Shop carries an extensive wine selection and hosts tasting events inside a wood-frame bungalow. Lizzie’s Trail Inn, preserved as a museum, sits at the edge of town and once operated as a boarding house for trail workers and summer visitors in the early 20th century.

Ojai

Ojai sits in a narrow valley encircled by the Topatopa Mountains and is one of the only towns in California where the entire skyline turns pink during sunset, a phenomenon known locally as the “Pink Moment.” The town has long attracted spiritual teachers, artists, and environmentalists, Jiddu Krishnamurti held annual talks here beginning in the 1920s, and his legacy remains present through the Krotona Institute and the Krishnamurti Library on McAndrew Road. The downtown core is organized along a single stretch of Ojai Avenue, marked by whitewashed arches and tilework installed after a fire in 1917 led to a complete redesign of the town center in Spanish Colonial Revival style.

Bart’s Books, an open-air bookstore built around a live oak tree, operates entirely without a front door and is located a few blocks off the main strip. Libbey Park, in the center of downtown, includes a shaded pergola, tennis courts, and the Libbey Bowl concert venue. The Ojai Valley Museum, housed in the town’s former Catholic church, displays local Chumash artifacts and rotating art exhibitions. Beacon Coffee, set inside an industrial space near Montgomery Street, roasts on-site and sources directly from family farms.

Carpinteria

Carpinteria is one of the few beach towns in Southern California where working farms, surf breaks, and a one-street downtown coexist within walking distance. It’s also home to the world’s largest avocado processing facility and the annual California Avocado Festival. Linden Avenue functions as the town’s commercial spine, ending at the sand near Carpinteria State Beach. This stretch includes the Alcazar Theatre, a 1928 single-screen venue still in operation. Just inland, The Worker Bee Café serves breakfast and lunch inside a small Craftsman building with outdoor seating under ficus trees.

The Carpinteria Valley Museum of History, run by the local historical society, is located a block off Linden and includes exhibits on the Chumash people, early Spanish settlers, and the town’s agricultural past. At the far end of the beach, the Carpinteria Tar Pits, one of only five natural asphalt lakes in the world, remain partially exposed and marked by walking paths and interpretive signs. Island Brewing Company operates a tasting room just beside the train tracks with open views of the Santa Ynez Mountains.

Solvang

Solvang was founded in 1911 by Danish-American educators seeking to establish a cultural enclave. Unlike towns that adopted themed architecture for tourism, Solvang’s Danish character was foundational and later expanded by civic design in the 1940s. The downtown area replicates the layout of a European village, with half-timbered façades, stork murals, and windmills installed along Copenhagen Drive and Alisal Road. Danish-language street signs remain in use. The town is also home to a full-scale replica of Copenhagen’s Round Tower, which stands near the Solvang Book Loft and Hans Christian Andersen Museum.

Olsen’s Danish Village Bakery has operated in the same location for over 50 years and continues to produce æbleskiver, kringles, and marzipan logs from family recipes. The Elverhøj Museum of History & Art occupies a former private home constructed in Scandinavian style and documents the settlement history and local arts movement. Solvang Festival Theater, an open-air venue set behind downtown, stages performances from June through September and draws regional talent. Bit O’ Denmark, one of the first restaurants in town, occupies a former Lutheran church built in 1911 and serves traditional smørrebrød, frikadeller, and pickled herring.

Coronado

Coronado occupies a narrow peninsula connected to the mainland by a tombolo and accessed via the San Diego-Coronado Bridge or by ferry. The town is defined by its axial symmetry, with the Hotel del Coronado on the ocean side and the Ferry Landing Marketplace facing the bay. Orange Avenue runs through the center, lined with low buildings, mission-style banks, independent shops, and civic landmarks. Spreckels Park, in the middle of town, holds weekly concerts during summer and is bordered by historic residences built between 1900 and 1930.

The Hotel del Coronado, opened in 1888, is one of the last surviving examples of American wooden Victorian beach resorts and occupies an entire oceanfront block. It has hosted presidents, royalty, and film productions, including Some Like It Hot. Clayton’s Coffee Shop on Orange Avenue maintains a 1940s interior and curbside pie window. The Coronado Historical Association operates a museum and archive in a former bank building with rotating exhibitions on naval history, local architecture, and the bridge’s construction. Coronado Brewing Company runs a restaurant and tasting room on Orange, serving house-brewed beers since 1996.

Avalon

Avalon is the only incorporated city on California’s Channel Islands and occupies a narrow coastal plain backed by steep ridgelines. The town’s harbor, Crescent Bay, is shaped in a near-perfect semicircle and forms a natural amphitheater facing east. For most of the 20th century, Avalon was controlled by the Wrigley family, who restricted automobile use and developed the town around pedestrian pathways and tiled staircases. Golf carts remain the dominant form of transportation. The harborfront promenade, Crescent Avenue, is lined with Mediterranean-style facades and contains open-air cafés, souvenir shops, and civic buildings trimmed with Catalina tile.

The Catalina Casino, built in 1929 by William Wrigley Jr., occupies the northern tip of the bay and includes a circular ballroom and the Avalon Theatre, which retains its original Art Deco murals and ceiling stenciling. The Catalina Island Museum moved in 2016 to a purpose-built space on Metropole Avenue and displays materials from the Tongva people, early resort marketing, and Wrigley’s development plans. Pancake Cottage, located on Pebbly Beach Road, overlooks the harbor and has served breakfast since the 1970s. Wrigley Memorial and Botanic Garden, at the head of Avalon Canyon, preserves island-endemic plant species and includes a terraced memorial constructed from local rock, tile, and crushed seashell concrete.

Together, these nine centers show why Southern California’s strongest downtowns thrive at small scale: intact blocks, height limits, depots and theaters, and immediate contact with coast, canyon, or valley. Mission walls face rail platforms, tidepools sit beside galleries, college quads back bookstores, and a harbor serves as the promenade. They operate daily, linking civic rooms, independent businesses, and parks within a few blocks—places built for residents first, rewarding visitors year-round.