At 2nd & PCH, Each New Arrival Took a Different Part of the Day

On the Marina Drive side of 2nd & PCH, the space that used to be Noble Rotisserie now serves juice and coffee. Inside the center, the former Tocaya space is lined up for a Vietnamese restaurant from Fountain Valley. Upstairs, a dining room that closed earlier this year is serving dinner until midnight again.

All three changes came between late August and early October, and none of them competes with the others. Each one covers a different part of the day. For anyone living in Belmont Shore, Naples or around the Colorado Lagoon, that turns the center at the corner of 2nd Street and Pacific Coast Highway into a place you can use at 8 a.m., at lunch, and again after 10 p.m.

Mornings start on the Marina Drive side

Pura Vida Miami opened its first Long Beach location in August at 6460 E. Pacific Coast Hwy., Suite 125. It's a wellness cafe from Omer and Jennifer Horev, and Longbeachize reported the opening on Aug. 20. Long Beach is the brand's fourth California location, after Malibu, Beverly Hills and Costa Mesa.

According to the same report, the idea is simple. Coffee, light breakfast, juices and healthier options, in a room comfortable enough to come back to every day.

If you miss Noble Rotisserie, it didn't leave. Owner Sidney Price told Longbeachize that Noble is "still right here at 2nd & PCH," in a smaller space a few steps away. So the morning cafe moved in and the rotisserie kept its regulars.

Midday belongs to a Little Saigon landmark

Brodard by the Shore takes over the old Tocaya space at 6480 E. Pacific Coast Hwy., Suite 100. It announced an Oct. 1 opening with hours of 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Opening dates can slip, so check the Brodard page on the 2nd & PCH site before you plan a lunch around it.

For those who don't make the drive to Orange County, here's some background. Diane Dang and her daughters opened Brodard in Fountain Valley in 1996. Its best-known dish is the nem nướng cuốn, a rice-paper roll with fresh herbs, vegetables, a sheet of crisp egg-roll skin and a grilled pork patty. The kitchen makes thousands a day. The Los Angeles Times named Brodard one of California's best restaurants. The menu also includes bánh khọt tôm, small rice cakes topped with shrimp.

Longbeachize's opening coverage places Brodard on a short but growing list of traditional Vietnamese spots in the city, alongside Sesame Dinette and Pickle Banh Mi. Its 11 a.m. start fills the gap between a morning juice and dinner.

After 5 p.m., The Bungalow Kitchen takes over

The Bungalow closed earlier this year. Owner Brent Bolthouse brought it back as The Bungalow Kitchen, with a September reopening date and a new menu from chef Eric Samaniego. Samaniego is best known for more than a decade at Michael's on Naples. According to Longbeachize, the menu is built on seasonal California produce, organic and regeneratively sourced ingredients, French technique and Italian influence.

The Bungalow Kitchen's own site now says it's open. The center lists it at 6420 E. Pacific Coast Hwy., Suite 200, serving dinner Wednesday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to midnight and Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m. Weekend brunch, happy hour, wine dinners and seasonal events are expected to follow later.

That midnight close on four nights a week is what finishes the day at the center.

The day at 2nd & PCH, by the clock

Put the hours side by side and each place is built around a different part of the day, even where the hours overlap. Rowan, an ear-piercing and hypoallergenic jewelry studio, is now open at Suite 107. Its piercings are done by licensed nurses, and it fills the daytime errand hours in between.

Brodard's 9 p.m. close leaves room for a second stop, and The Bungalow Kitchen covers the late hours on Wednesday through Sunday. Mondays and Tuesdays, the center winds down earlier.

Getting there just got easier from the north

The other big change this fall is a road. Colorado Street, on the north edge of the Colorado Lagoon project, has reopened to cars and bikes. Longbeachize reported the reopening on Oct. 1. The area had been closed since November 2022, and the streets were last promised to reopen by the end of 2024 before an asbestos discovery pushed things back.

The reopening matters for the trip to 2nd & PCH. Colorado Street lets drivers reach Pacific Coast Highway or Studebaker by way of Loynes Drive instead of 7th Street.

Here's what's open and what isn't right now:

• Open: Colorado Street, including a new bridge over the spot where the lagoon meets the new tidal channel.
• Still closed: Eliot Street on the south side, where the channel meets Marine Stadium. A second bridge is planned there.
• Still under construction: The tidal channel through Marina Vista Park, plus the landscaping and pathway for the new green space between the lagoon and Marine Stadium.

If you live near the work zone and felt light vibrations recently, Longbeachize says those came from sheet piles being installed at the south end of the lagoon and the north tip of Marine Stadium. The project's cost has grown from $26.3 million to $32.5 million since the contractor was chosen in November 2022. When it's finished, the water channels will look much like they did before development cut the lagoon off from Marine Stadium.

From the center, the calendar moves down 2nd Street

2nd & PCH covers the hours. The fall's big dates happen a short walk west, on 2nd Street through Belmont Shore. Here they are in order, starting with Halloween:

1. Saturday, Oct. 31: Trick-or-Treat on 2nd Street, 4 to 6 p.m., listed on the Belmont Shore Business Association events calendar.
2. Saturday, Nov. 28: Small Business Saturday, "Shop the Shore," from 8 a.m. to 9:59 p.m., with free parking all day.
3. Saturday, Dec. 5: The 42nd Belmont Shore Christmas Parade, 6 to 9 p.m., heading east on 2nd Street from Quincy Avenue to Bayshore Avenue.

A new shop is aiming for that last date. Sugar 'N Spice, the Balboa Island sweet shop with roots back to 1945, is coming to 5269 E. 2nd St. in the former European Wax Center space. Its hand-dipped frozen bananas are making the move, and its Balboa Bar will be sold here as the Belmont Bar. No opening date has been set. Longbeachize reports the hope is to open in time for the parade.

"We love that Balboa Bars are becoming Belmont Bars, starting a whole new tradition right here in Belmont Shore," Heather Kern, who heads the Belmont Shore Business Association, told Longbeachize. The shop began as Dot & Bob Candies on Balboa Island's Marine Avenue and took the Sugar 'N Spice name in 1959.

Further out, one more change is coming to the PCH stretch. Chef Jason Witzl is taking over the former Picarelli's space at 6204 E. Pacific Coast Hwy. with an American comfort-food restaurant called Gigi's. Longbeachize reported a target of the first quarter of 2027, which puts it after this fall's calendar.

If you're hosting family for the holidays or showing out-of-town guests around the southeast side this season, I'm happy to share more about this corner of Long Beach in English or Spanish. Let's connect. Reach out to Karina Chavez anytime, even if you just want a neighbor's take on which of these new spots to try first.