"Whaler family, we need you."
The Venice Whaler posted that line in an Instagram story in mid-October. The 82-year-old bar and grill said it would "temporarily" stop selling alcohol while it keeps serving burgers and pizza, and it asked the neighborhood to keep coming in, Yo! Venice reported. The restaurant hasn't said why. Its sister location, the Santa Monica Whaler, has announced no changes.
It's a small story, but it fits the season. Venice's biggest events of the year have each moved to 2027. Until they return, the late-fall calendar depends on a canal association close to its 50th anniversary, a merchant group that holds a food-truck night on the first Friday of every month, and restaurants that rely on regulars.
Everything big has moved to 2027
You can see the pattern by lining up the season's three largest Venice items.
| Item | Where it stands | Expected |
|---|---|---|
| Abbot Kinney Festival | Planned Sept. 27 return canceled | 2027 |
| Venice Art Crawl | Next crawl announced for the following year | 2027 |
| Soho House Venice | Two-story members club near Abbot Kinney | Summer 2027 |
According to Yo! Venice, organizers of the Abbot Kinney Festival called off the Sept. 27 return. That extends a hiatus that has already lasted several years. The Venice Art Crawl says its next crawl will be in 2027. The Westside Current reports that Soho House expects to open its fifth Los Angeles club, steps from Abbot Kinney Boulevard, in summer 2027. The plans include a rooftop terrace for drinks and dining, a communal contrast-therapy suite with a hammam, sauna and cold plunge, and a new food and drink program called "House Goods."
The festival is waiting on a rebuilt organization, and Soho House on a club that has yet to open. Until they arrive, the season belongs to the groups that keep running events with or without a headliner.
Why the festival wants more neighbors first
The festival's explanation is the most useful part of the story. Its leaders said that putting on an event that properly reflects the neighborhood's creative spirit takes broader local participation and a stronger organizational foundation, according to Yo! Venice. Their plan for that foundation is to form a Community Advisory Board, starting in October, to bring neighborhood perspectives into the design of future events, with a target return in 2027. Residents who want to take part can write to [email protected].
In practice, the festival is rebuilding to look more like the small groups that are carrying this fall. The Art Crawl took a similar route. Instead of a fall crawl, it held a networking mixer on Oct. 15 at Ōwa Venice, 1635 Abbot Kinney Blvd. Admission was $10 for Venice Chamber members and $15 for everyone else, and the mixer was billed as a place for artists, gallery owners and creative entrepreneurs to meet.
The organizers who stayed on schedule
Before any of these events, there were the canals. The Venice Canals Association says it has served the community for 49 years. Its events page bills the Jan. 25, 2027, annual meeting as a 50th-anniversary celebration and says all are welcome. The association's history goes beyond parties. In 1986, the Los Angeles Times reported that the canal association was helping organize a restoration of the waterways, with local property owners supporting an assessment district to pay for it. The association's canal history dates the City's major restoration to 1991 through 1993.
The group that pushed for dredged, rebuilt canals still runs the costume party at Linnie Canal Park. These are the dates on the neighborhood-run calendar, in order:
- Canalloween, Saturday, Oct. 31, 5 to 6 p.m., Linnie Canal Park. The association describes a costume party with pizza and music that focuses on kids and families but is open to everyone.
- First Friday on Abbot Kinney, Friday, Nov. 6, 5 to 9:30 p.m. The Abbot Kinney Boulevard merchant association vets and invites the food trucks, assigns each one a spot, and posts the list every month. Portable restrooms are on Palms Blvd. The event runs on the first Friday of every month, and the October edition took place on Oct. 2.
- The Holiday Toy Drive at Linnie Canal Park, in December. The association's events page lists the drive for Dec. 6, from 2 to 5 p.m., with Santa from 4 to 5. It doesn't print a year beside that date, so confirm the 2026 date on venicecanals.org before you go. At a past drive, held with the LAFD's Drive Through with Santa, the association reported collecting more than 500 toys for the Fire Department's Spark of Love campaign.
- The Holiday Boat Parade, in December. The same page lists "Dec 13, 4pm onward" with no year and invites anyone to decorate a boat and join. Check the association's site for the 2026 date. In its coverage of a past parade, Venice Paparazzi said the tradition dates to 1983. It suggested starting where the Eastern and Carroll canals meet and walking the bridges, including the one it called the "Judges Bridge."
- The annual meeting and 50th anniversary, Monday, Jan. 25, 2027.
The Venice Chamber of Commerce runs another December event, the Venice Sign lighting at Windward and Pacific avenues. The 14th lighting took place Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, from 6 to 9 p.m. The Santa Monica Daily Press described it as a free event with live entertainment, food, vendors and photos with Santa. The Chamber's Venice Sign page is where the 2026 date will appear.
None of these events depends on a sponsor tent or a street closure the size of the festival's. A canal park, a boulevard and its trucks, and a sign over Windward are enough.
The restaurants are part of the same calendar
Venice's dining rooms follow the same pattern as its events. Over the past few months, the news on Abbot Kinney has been about places returning, not places arriving.
The Tasting Kitchen reopened July 16 at 1633 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Eater LA reported. It is next door to Ōwa, where the Art Crawl's community held its fall mixer, so those two addresses hosted much of this autumn's activity on the boulevard.
The Whaler's appeal fits here too. It has been on the beach for 82 years. When it lost one of a restaurant's main sources of income, it didn't run a promotion. It asked its regulars to come in. As Yo! Venice noted, restaurants earn much of their profit from alcohol, so the appeal is a straightforward request to keep the staff working and the doors open. The Venice Whaler's page is the place to check before you go.
The one new arrival announced for this season is still only an address. Yo! Venice reported in July that Sticky Rice plans to open at 523 Rose Ave., in the space Cinque Terre West left, with no Venice opening date yet. Like Soho House and the festival, it's a future item. The places open now are the established ones.
What the next three months look like
The season starts with a kids' costume party on Linnie Canal at 5 p.m. on Oct. 31. Six days later, the trucks line Abbot Kinney on Nov. 6. December brings the canal association's toy drive and boat parade, along with the Chamber's sign lighting on Windward once it sets a date. Then, on Jan. 25, 2027, the association that helped get the canals restored gathers to mark 50 years, the same year the festival, the Art Crawl and Soho House plan to return.
The festival plans to set up its Community Advisory Board starting in October, and it is asking community members who want to get involved to write to [email protected].
At Smith & Berg Property Group, we spend our weeks on the Westside's streets and canals as well as on its listings. If you'd like to talk about how Venice's blocks, from the canals to Rose Avenue, are changing ahead of 2027, Contact Us.