If you live inside the walking radius of the Circle, you already know the antique dealers and the Watson's counter. What is worth your attention this season is the quieter shift happening one storefront at a time. The Plaza is trading a few of its long-time tenants for owner-run hospitality concepts that could have easily gone to Irvine or Costa Mesa and chose Glassell Street instead. That is the story of 2026 in Old Towne, and it changes how you plan a Saturday.
The New Tenants Reshaping the Circle
The most visible arrival is Centro & Storico's second location, bringing family-owned Italian cuisine to the Plaza. The menu reads like a full-day operation rather than a lunch stop, with avocado toast and scrambles in the morning, then half- or full-size pastas, antipasti, secondi, and pizza for lunch and dinner, and beer and wine from Pozzuoli Family Winery on the pairing list. The eight panini options are built on focaccia baked in house, which is the kind of detail that tells you whether a place plans to stay.
A block over, Oak & Poppy has opened its first Orange County location and third overall, a piercing and jewelry studio built around a team that has worked together for more than 20 years. That is a specific kind of tenant to plant on the Plaza. It signals that landlords are underwriting personality-driven retail rather than another home-goods rotation.
The one to watch is Sabor y Ole' Fusion, which has filed with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for an on-sale beer and wine license at 109 S. Glassell Street, taking over the former Tabu Shabu space. The name suggests a concept blending Spanish and Latin-inspired flavors, though the menu has not been announced. What matters for residents is the address. Tabu Shabu was a regional chain footprint, and the ABC filing marks it flipping to an independent operator on one of the four streets that define the Circle.
Add to that Garrahan Hat Company, a handcrafted hat shop bringing traditional craftsmanship to the historic district, and the pattern is clear. Four independent, owner-operator concepts arriving in one calendar year is not a coincidence. It is the Plaza doubling down on the specialty-retail identity that made it worth the Metrolink stop in the first place.
The through-line: every one of these openings is single-location or small-chain, and every one of them chose to be part of a walkable historic district rather than an outdoor lifestyle mall.
The Labor Day Weekend Your Newer Neighbors Are Underestimating
Everyone who has lived here more than two summers has a Street Fair opinion. If you are hosting anyone visiting for the first time, here is what to actually tell them.
The 53rd Annual Orange International Street Fair runs Friday, September 4 from 5:00 to 10:00 pm, Saturday, September 5 from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm, and Sunday, September 6 from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm. This year's theme is "Circle The World." The details worth knowing:
- There is a $4 wristband fee for anyone drinking alcohol, sold at all four entrances at N/S Chapman and E/W Glassell.
- Eight stages run throughout the weekend, with 14 food ethnicities represented across America, Asia, Australia, Brazil, France, England, Germany, Greece, Lebanon, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Polynesia, and Switzerland.
- Permitted parking restrictions in Old Towne are suspended during the three-day event, which is the single most useful thing to tell a guest staying with you.
- On Irish Street, the Old Towne Preservation Association is again running its Guinness and bangers booth with live sets from The American Wake and Sligo Rags.
- Metrolink runs a Street Fair promotion, which is the low-friction option if you are staying past 8 pm.
The mistake most first-year residents make is trying to do all three days. The fair peaks in density Saturday afternoon. Drinking and smoking increases as the day goes on, and the earlier hours are the family-friendly window. If you want the food without the crowd, Friday 5 to 7 is the answer. If you want the music, Sunday afternoon is calmer than Saturday evening by a wide margin.
One more useful detail. The fair is operated by an all-volunteer 501(c)(4) board, and every dollar of profit routes to more than fifty non-profits serving Orange and its surrounding communities. That is the frame to give a guest who asks why the Circle looks like this on Labor Day and no other weekend.
The Weekly Cadence That Belongs to Residents
The fair gets the headlines. What actually makes living inside the historic district worthwhile is the rhythm that runs the other 51 weeks. A rough map of the current season:
| When | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
| Saturdays | Chapman University campus edge | Orange Home Grown Farmers and Artisans Market |
| Third Saturdays | Old Towne venue | Naranjita Flamenco's monthly Tablao shows, directed by Emmy winner Yaelisa with a rotating cast |
| Wednesday evenings, summer | Hart Park Bandshell | Free community concert series; bring blankets and chairs |
| Tuesdays | 1886 Brewing Company | Taco Tuesday, all day, with carne asada, pollo asado, potato, and charro bean |
| Monthly | Plaza Park | Community ukulele meet-up; the Orange Public Library will loan you an instrument with a card |
The Hart Park Bandshell lineup this summer has leaned into cover bands with clear identities. The Fenians close out the free run on August 5 with Celtic rock, following Retro Revolution on July 29. If you have not walked south down Glassell on a Wednesday evening yet, that is the sightline worth catching before the light shifts.
The farmers market and the ukulele circle are the two rituals I would recommend to anyone who bought inside the historic district in the last twelve months. Both put you on a first-name basis with the neighbors you will keep bumping into at the post office.
What to Put on the Calendar Next
The Plaza's fall and winter programming is already dated, which matters if you are trying to schedule family visits. Treats in the Streets falls on Thursday, October 29, 2026 from 4:00 to 7:00 pm, and the Christmas Market runs Sunday, December 6 from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, with the Tree Lighting and Christmas Program from 5:15 to 7:00 pm. Those two events plus Labor Day are the anchors of the Old Towne year. Everything else, including whether Sabor y Ole' has opened its doors by the holidays, works around them.
The reason all of this matters beyond a lifestyle roundup: the Plaza's tenant mix is what makes owning a home inside the historic district feel qualitatively different from owning one a mile outside it. When a new independent restaurant chooses 109 S. Glassell over a lease in a newer district, that is a signal about where the neighborhood's identity is heading, and it is a signal you can read a full quarter before it shows up in a market report. Old Towne Orange still contains the largest Nationally Registered Historic District in California. What has changed in 2026 is who is choosing to open a door inside it.
If you are thinking about how a home inside the historic district fits into your longer plans, or you want to talk through what a specific street feels like once you are in it, the team at Better Living SoCal knows this Plaza block by block. Talk with a Local Agent when you are ready.
