Laguna Beach Hospitality Night 2021

Christmas lights. Guest | Michael Voroshnin

On Dec. 3 after dark, residents filled the streets of Downtown Laguna Beach to celebrate the holiday season. Hospitality Night is a holiday event hosted by the city of Laguna Beach every December and is a great way to spend a chilly night in the most beautiful beach city in southern California.

On Forest Avenue, businesses kept their doors late to welcome families in for great holiday deals, yummy food and wholesome holiday events. Forest was lined with festive lights and an old-fashioned car just for Santa Claus.

“My favorite part of Hospitality Night is seeing everyone from town come together,” said Jane from Laguna Beach. “I also love all the lights and decorations.”

Hospitality Night was packed full of performances by the Thurston Middle School Band, a ukulele band and much more live music all night long.

“My favorite performance was the ukulele band because it reminded me of my time living in Hawaii,” said Jared from Dana Point.

At around 5 p.m., the Laguna Beach Presbyterian Church began to serve tamales, cookies and other treats on the corner of Forest Avenue and Second Street to add even more to the event and to bring people together.

“I think grabbing some food at BJ’s or getting pizza from Slice and walking around, listening to music is my favorite way to spend Hospitality Night,” said Mike from Laguna Beach. 

Finally, around 6:15 p.m., Santa Claus quite literally came to town sitting in the passenger seat of a Jeep covered in multicolored lights. Children’s faces lit up at the sight of the car carrying the real-life Santa Claus, itching to meet him.

“I love when Santa pulls up to Forest. You can just see all of the kids around get super excited which brings me back to my childhood,” said Kelly from San Clemente.

After Santa arrived at the event, he lit up the grand Christmas tree at the Peppertree lot which was followed by cheers and a round of applause. Everyone was so joyous and children were eager to tell them their Christmas wishes later in the evening.

“Yeah, we bring our kids every year,” said Jennifer from Laguna Beach. “I prefer to come here with family because it’s been a tradition for us for a while.”

Hospitality Night is truly magic not only for children but for adults as well. Going into all of Forest’s stores that remain open during the event is also a nice way to get some holiday shopping out of the way and explore Downtown.

“You know what, I really like that store Art For The Soul,” said RJ from Aliso Viejo. “There’s a ton of cool gift ideas and cards and stuff in there.”

As the music continued until the very end of the event at 10 p.m. and the streets became less packed with families and friends, the night came to a close.

“This is my first time coming to Hospitality Night, and I’d love to come back next year if possible,” said Marianna from Huntington Beach.

Overall, this holiday event is rated 10 in my book and many other people’s as well. Hospitality Night in Laguna Beach was a great success as it brought a great amount of residents and visitors together for the holiday season.

“Hospitality Night is a 10 out of 10!” said John from Laguna Beach.

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