The City of Santa Monica began repairs this week to the beach south of the Pier, where storm surf and drainage runoff from Hurricane Marie eroded the site of the inaugural Ocean Way Festival over Labor Day weekend, forcing the event's cancellation and prompting officials to accelerate preparations for a string of major events set to unfold on the city's shoreline over the next two years.
Public Works crews have started moving sand from other parts of the beach to the Pico-Kenter Storm Drain outfall area using a front loader and dump truck, regrading the site with a tractor and rake, and building a protective berm along the waterline ahead of an approaching king tide and full moon. Crews are also opening and maintaining the beach's five storm drains ahead of a forecast El Niño winter, and the city is coordinating with Los Angeles County and private contractors to bring in heavier equipment and is evaluating whether it will need to import additional sand.
"It is massively disappointing that coastal erosion caused by Hurricane Marie impacted our beach to such an extent that we could not safely host the Ocean Way Festival," City Manager Oliver Chi said. "Fortunately, the beach is open, the Pier never closed, and our focus now is on repairing the damage as soon as possible."
The repairs come as the city prepares to host ESPN's Super Bowl LXI coverage from the Pier beginning Feb. 8, 2027, ahead of the Feb. 14 game at SoFi Stadium; the return of the Ocean Way Festival with Goldenvoice in 2027; and a series of Olympic hospitality houses during the LA28 Games in 2028, with Club France and House of Switzerland already announced.
The inaugural Ocean Way Festival, a two-day beachfront event planned for Sept. 26-27 as a partnership between the city and Goldenvoice, the AEG Presents subsidiary behind Coachella and Stagecoach, was canceled after city officials determined the storm-damaged site could no longer safely support the festival's infrastructure or crowd capacity. The event had been billed as the cultural centerpiece of the city's $60 million Realignment Plan, intended to boost tourism as the city struggles to pull out of a prolonged fiscal decline. Both the city and Goldenvoice have committed to relaunching the festival in 2027.
The damage stemmed from two separate impacts. Storm surf stripped sand from the beach south of the Pier, pushing the high-tide line 96 feet inland of the festival's planned fire lane — a production road that anchored every other element of the site plan, including the western gates, beach club structures, viewing areas and stage. Separately, stormwater discharged through the Pico-Kenter Storm Drain outfall cut a channel across the southern end of the site, undermining a beach access ramp and forcing the festival's planned entrance area roughly 500 feet to the north.
City staff spent Sept. 8 and 9 evaluating sand conditions, emergency access, construction needs, crowd circulation, tides and the extended forecast, and considered shrinking or relocating the festival footprint, regrading the sand or delaying load-in. None proved viable, and the city notified Goldenvoice on Sept. 11 that the event could not proceed. Officials note the damage is difficult to see at low tide on a beach as wide as Santa Monica's, and maintain both the beach and Pier remain open and safe for everyday use.
The erosion was one piece of broader damage Hurricane Marie inflicted across the Los Angeles County coastline. The storm, an Eastern Pacific hurricane that peaked at Category 2 strength roughly 100 miles offshore, never threatened landfall in California; instead, a long-period south swell combined with elevated Labor Day tides to produce high surf. In Malibu, waves undermined a beachfront property on Sea Level Drive, opening a sinkhole roughly 25 to 30 feet deep and forcing evacuations and red-tagging of 31 homes on the private road. On the Long Beach Peninsula, surf overtopped emergency sand berms, compromising a seawall, destroying sections of the boardwalk and prompting evacuation of about 20 oceanfront homes. Seal Beach saw parking lots flooded near its pier, and the coastal rail corridor through San Clemente was closed for several days after high tides damaged track. Los Angeles County lifeguards logged 457 water rescues over the holiday weekend, and no deaths were directly attributed to the storm.
City officials and scientists say the repair work is also a hedge against a bigger threat now approaching the coast: a coastally trapped Kelvin wave, a broad, slow-moving rise in sea level linked to a developing El Niño, expected to reach the Los Angeles area in early October. Experts said it could raise coastal sea levels by 6 to 12 inches for several months. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center has put the odds of a "very strong" El Niño this winter above 90%.
The wave itself is unlikely to cause flooding on its own, but scientists warn its effects could compound when it overlaps with California's highest tides of the year — king tides forecast for Nov. 24-26, Dec. 23-25 and Jan. 21-22 — as well as future storms. With Marie having already stripped protective sand from beaches between Malibu and Orange County, officials say the coastline, including the stretch south of the Santa Monica Pier, will have less buffer against whatever arrives next.