If you last walked the block behind the depot in 2022, you saw an old Ito Nursery lot, a few historic barns, and a downtown whose culinary identity ran from Swallow's Inn to El Adobe to Ramos House Cafe. Everything else was a place you passed through on the way to Dana Point. Summer 2026 is the first season where that sentence is no longer true.
The thesis is simple. Between River Street and Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano has quietly grown a second downtown. It sits inside the oldest neighborhood in California, keeps the barn-and-water-tower silhouette locals recognize, and now anchors most of the weeknight routine that used to require a drive to Dana Point or Laguna. For anyone who already lives here, the practical question is no longer whether the new blocks are worth visiting. It is which tenants are actually open, what is coming next, and how to fit two overlapping concert calendars into one summer.
The block that used to be Ito Nursery
River Street Marketplace is a 60,000-square-foot destination in the heart of San Juan Capistrano, built in the Los Rios district, with elevated agrarian architecture broken up into smaller buildings around a central green, featuring dining concepts, curated retail, local art, a butcher, and a full bar and brewery. The City Council approved the project in 2019, and the development broke ground in early 2022 after Almquist purchased the land from Ito Nursery.
Here is where things actually stand as of this summer, sorted by what you can walk into today versus what is still rolling out.
Open and running:
- La Vaquera, the flagship restaurant, led by executive chef Aaron Zimmer with a ranchero-inspired menu of wood-fired dishes and hearty steakhouse favorites
- Finca by David Pratt, supporting regenerative farms such as The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano, with a lunch menu that divides into Greens ($16-$18), Farmer ($12-$17), and Rancher ($21-$29)
- Rodeo River Street food hall with Nom, Parana Empanadas, Shootz Hawaiian, Bred Hot Chicken, Kozan Teahouse, and Hudson's Cookies
- Capo Leisure House from Capistrano Brewing Co., with craft beer, cocktails, an all-California wine list, a 40-foot bar, fire pit, and retractable doors
- Retail: Tecovas for handmade Western boots, Wildfire Mercantile for upscale Western lifestyle, a local Free People, Shop Common Thread with brands like Z Supply, Pistola and Varley, Salt Optics, May Martin jewelry, Seager, Hobie Surf Shop, Toes on the Nose, Studio Pilates, and Pick Me Floral Boutique
Still landing:
- Italian cuisine by Pastalia, The Sushi Stand and Kebab Craft coming soon
- Capas, a Baja-inspired ceviche concept from chef Michael Campbell, with locally caught fish, smoked queso tacos, seasonal agua fresca slushies, house-smoked carnitas, and birria
- Rowan for elevated basics
Why the tenant mix is the story, not the square footage
If you look at what Almquist did not do, the strategy comes into focus. There is no global name or mass-market brand at River Street Marketplace. Developer Dan Almquist set the stage with indie entrepreneurs and old souls with new ideas to radiate a distinct local sensibility, an uncommon strategy that assures these small-town enterprises will share in the project's success.
That choice is the reason the marketplace reads as an extension of Los Rios rather than a lifestyle center parachuted in from Irvine. Almquist's same firm is behind River Street Marketplace, Rodeo 39 Public Market in Stanton, Rodeo X in Ontario, and Rodeo 72 Public Market in Riverside, and the pattern in each is a curated food hall paired with regional retail. For residents, the second-order effect is more useful than any single opening. Nearby operators benefit from the same foot traffic, which is why the marketplace's location near the main entry off River Street acts as a natural extension of downtown, supporting nearby businesses like Mayfield Restaurant and Bloom Restaurant + Bar.
What is coming next on Camino Capistrano
The build-out is not finished. Forster Restaurant will be part of a larger mixed-use project at 31872 Camino Capistrano, with plans approved by the city's Design Review Committee in early July, on a 3.17-acre site that will feature a 4,294-square-foot restaurant with a dining patio and bar, alongside new apartments, a 3,500-square-foot clubhouse, resort-style pool, and a 3,100-square-foot fitness center. Named Forster, it pays homage to the land's heritage; the site was once home to a property built by Marco Forster, which operated as the Las Rosas Hotel and Restaurant.
The wider blueprint is bigger than one restaurant. In June 2023, the City Council initiated a study to amend the El Camino Specific Plan to allow for the proposed Forster & El Camino Real mixed-use project, consisting of 95 market-rate apartment units, a restaurant and fitness center on the former Kimpton site, as well as a performing arts center proposed for a portion of city-owned Historic Town Center Park. Read alongside the Paseo Adelanto plans, downtown alone is seeing the addition of over 300 new housing units within just a few blocks. The Mission continues to anchor the historic side of the ledger, and in 2026, the United States will celebrate its 250th anniversary, and Mission San Juan Capistrano, the birthplace of Orange County, will also mark the milestone.
The Heritage Barbecue barn, quietly
One update most locals want in plain language. The proposed barn expansion will allow Heritage Barbecue, which first opened in 2020, to offer longer hours and seated dinner service while continuing to show off the history of downtown San Juan Capistrano, with additional seating, cold storage, and preparation space. The nearly 2,000 square-foot barn structure would be partially constructed from materials taken from an existing historic-era barn originally built in 1880 with wood planks and a wood shingle roof, referred to as the Garage Barn, an accessory structure on the City's Inventory of Historic Cultural Landmarks and the National Register of Historic Places. A Michelin Bib Gourmand pitmaster and a preserved 1880 barn is a fair summary of how this town negotiates change.
Two summer calendars, one downtown
The other reason the block matters this year is scheduling. Two concert series overlap this summer, and each one sets up the other.
| Series | Where | When | 2026 detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Juan Summer Nites | Historic Town Center Park, 31525 El Camino Real | Select Wednesdays, 6-8 p.m. | The Big Rock Show, Wednesday July 15, 2026 |
| Music Under the Stars | Mission San Juan Capistrano | Saturday evenings, gates 5:15, music 6:15-9:15 | Saturday July 11, 2026, The Long Run: Experience the Eagles, with Fortunate Son: Greatest CCR Tribute |
Summer Nites is free, family friendly, with live music, dancing, food trucks, beer and wine, a business expo, and a free trolley 4:00-10:00 p.m., guests bring a low-back lawn chair or blanket, pets not permitted. The chamber beer garden is where the block's newer operators quietly show up, with Tap Truck OC pouring Docent Brewing and Capo Leisure House on rotation, and wines by Rancho Capistrano Winery and Native Hands Wine. Music Under the Stars is the ticketed counterpart, a fundraiser that hosts a sold-out audience of 1,500 guests per concert.
A weeknight built around the new downtown
The point of laying these out together is that a summer Wednesday now has a shape it did not have three years ago. Park once. Walk the loop between the depot, River Street Marketplace, and HTC Park. A working template:
- Early. A pilates class at Studio Pilates, or errands through Wildfire Mercantile and Salt Optics before the sun drops
- Dinner. Rodeo River Street if you want the food hall option, La Vaquera or Finca if you want a table, Heritage Barbecue if the wait works
- 6 p.m. Walk to Historic Town Center Park for Summer Nites. The trolley loops if you parked closer to Los Rios
- After. Capo Leisure House for a nightcap, or the Mission on a Saturday for Music Under the Stars
None of that itinerary was available on foot in 2022.
What all of this means if you already own here
You are watching a downtown re-anchor in real time. San Juan Capistrano is planning a string of new developments that range from a new business park, a performing arts center and a proposed 70-room hotel, with about 16 projects expected to come to life within the next few years. The building boom comes as the city is expected to benefit from the 2028 Summer Olympics, which plans to host the surfing competition in nearby San Clemente. The pace is deliberate, the tenants are mostly regional, and the historic fabric is being reused rather than replaced. For a homeowner, that combination is the version of growth easiest to live next to.
If you would like to talk through what the downtown build-out means for your specific street or your long-term plans, the team at Vasi Vangelos knows this stretch of South Orange County block by block. Let's Connect.
