Photo Credit: Matthew LeJune
Venice Beach gets primed for a massive new music festival with the two-day 1905 Fest due for fall 2027, featuring five stages and a dozen-plus bars.
Santa Monica’s inaugural Ocean Way Festival didn’t turn out this year, thanks to erosion of the beach caused by Hurricane Marie. However, another music festival has emerged on the horizon, set for fall 2027: Venice Beach’s 1905 Fest. The two-day event promises five music stages, over a dozen bars, and plenty of food vendors along the iconic Southern California coastline.
While Ocean Way was a project of Coachella organizer Goldenvoice, 1905 Fest is the brainchild of former BeachLife Festival Director Sam Meyers. Meyers says the festival pays tribute to Venice’s “colorful history” and is rooted in his interpretation of the vision the city was founded on: “having fun and building community.”
“Named for the year Venice was founded, 1905 Fest celebrates that legacy with a new two-day festival of music, art, and culture on its iconic coastline,” reads the festival’s website. “Welcoming longtime Venetians, new neighbors, old friends, and everyone in between to be part of its next chapter.”
Organizers say they are envisioning a free fan zone along a temporarily closed street, giving local businesses an opportunity to attract festivalgoers. A rendering map shows the grounds for the beachfront festival, centered around Windward Plaza near the famous Venice Skatepark and Boardwalk, extending onto the sand.
Santa Monica was forced to call off what would have been the inaugural Ocean Way Festival due to the erosion of the beach, thanks to heavy rain across Southern California over Labor Day weekend caused by Hurricane Marie.
“The surf stripped sand from the beach south of the pier, which would have required moving the safe shoreline setback for the festival 96 feet inland,” organizers explained at the time. “Runoff from the Pico-Kenter Storm Drain outfall cut through the southern end of the site, forcing the festival’s southern boundary to move around 500 feet to the north.”
Officials who assessed the sand conditions and emergency vehicle access determined that the loss of usable beach would prevent staff from building festival infrastructure to ensure the safety of attendees.
