The northwest end of the Third Street Promenade has become the testing ground for a new form of public entertainment. Blending augmented reality with real-world interaction, a mixed-reality experience known as Dream Park is drawing families, tourists and gamers to the northern end of the shopping district, with its creators hoping to help revitalize foot traffic and reignite interest in the area’s underused spaces.
“We've been running it actually since January,” said Aidan Wolf, creator of Dream Park. “We were based in Santa Monica and just trialing it out with people on Third Street Promenade, bringing in thousands and thousands of players.”
Dream Park, first prototyped at events in the Arts District and other sites around Los Angeles, uses Meta Quest headsets to transform the street into an interactive playground. The technology overlays digital gameplay onto the physical environment, allowing users to remain aware of their surroundings while collecting virtual stars, battling cannonball-firing moles or chasing small creatures called “Jubos.”
“We still really believe that the real world is a place worth playing,” said Wolf, who grew up in the small town of Granby, Connecticut. “And I’d love it if this next generation coming up, who’s maybe more so on their phone and on the video games, can kind of see again the beauty in the world around them.”
A typical session lasts 30 minutes, though many players stay longer. The current game map is confined to a single block of the Promenade, but Wolf said the goal is to expand the active zone and eventually add new experiences. So far, the installation has drawn thousands of players using a limited number of headsets supplied by the nearby Two Bit Circus pop-up arcade.
Two Bit Circus reopened in Santa Monica earlier this year after shuttering its flagship downtown location. The Promenade outpost includes retro arcade cabinets, group game stations and immersive digital attractions. It also serves as a launch site for Dream Park, charging $10 per session.
Wolf confirmed that Dream Park is now available daily, with headset rentals offered by Two Bit Circus during regular hours. Players who own a Meta Quest headset will soon be able to access the experience through a downloadable app, allowing them to bring their device from home and connect to a dedicated access point installed on site.
“What’s really special about this access point versus what we were doing before is now people will be able to bring their headsets from home, a headset that they would usually only use in their own living room and now they can actually play outside in public with other people,” Wolf said.
Wolf also emphasized Dream Park’s ability to support local businesses. One cantina near the installation features in-game characters wearing sombreros to match the restaurant’s theme. He sees potential for broader integration in schools, retail and tourism. “Businesses themselves can end up being involved in the attractions,” he said, adding that even product-level partnerships are possible.
As for safety, Wolf said the system is designed with public interaction in mind. Players hold the headset to their face rather than strapping it on, maintaining awareness of their surroundings. “This was done completely in consideration of these scenarios and safety,” he said. “People use their phones while doing all kinds of things. So that’s our big safety feature built in.”
Wolf declined to weigh in on the city’s proposal to allow all-day public drinking on the Promenade, but said his team will stay alert to changing dynamics. “Just like I would consider any type of recreation or sports, we would stay vigilant and conscious of people’s ability to have fun safely,” he said.
Dream Park plans to introduce new themed experiences throughout the summer, including a sci-fi spaceport, a wizarding quest with wands and dragons and an obstacle course challenge. Wolf compared the model to a cinema rotating different films, with users able to choose between adventures.
Weekly Saturday events from 1 to 4pm will offer a group experience, though the system remains open daily. While Wolf’s company is now based in San Francisco, he said his team maintains close ties to Santa Monica and hopes to make the installation a long-term fixture.
“We just want to test it first to make sure people really like this and a part of the Promenade that they might not care [about], we’re using too much,” he said.
With more content in development and continued public interest, Wolf sees Dream Park as part of a larger shift in how technology can activate public space. “This is a way of ushering in this kind of new reality that we’re all maybe read about or aware about,” he said. “We see this as a permanent thing.”