California is celebrating its 175th anniversary of statehood on September 9th, 2025
Ocean Institute is hosting its 41st Maritime Festival Friday, Sept. 12th – Sunday, Sept. 14th at the Dana Point Harbor with live music, local vendors, food trucks, kids’ activities, sailor reenactors, marine life exhibits, and visiting tall ships. We are celebrating Dana Point’s maritime history with pirate shows aboard the Spirit of Dana Point at 10:15 am and 1:15 pm. Reserve tickets to participate in the reenacting cannon battles with a crew who wears period clothing and sings shanty songs.
Book of the Month
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson is a classic adventure novel about young Jim Hawkins, who discovers a pirate’s map that leads to buried treasure. He joins a voyage aboard the Hispaniola with a crew that includes Long John Silver, who secretly leads a band of mutineers. As the journey unfolds, Jim faces danger, betrayal, and moral dilemmas while navigating the wilds of Treasure Island. Ultimately, through courage and quick thinking, Jim helps foil the pirates’ plans, secures the treasure, and returns home wiser, marking his coming-of-age story filled with adventure. Did you know that a 1920s version of Treasure Island was filmed at Crystal Cove? This early silent Hollywood film is now presumed lost.
From the Archive
The Pilgrim was once docked in the Dana Point harbor. It was a replica of a tall ship based off of Richard Henry Dana, Jr. journey mentioned in his novel Two Years Before the Mast. Read his story and explore the historic city of Dana Point. |
Artist of the Month
Sandstone Gallery is proud to announce Toni Danchik as the guest artist for September. Living along the coast of Southern California has been a wonderful source of inspiration for Toni’s beautiful paintings. Her show will feature familiar coastal sights – birds on the beach, sunsets, children building sand castles, dog walkers in the park, the beautiful land and seascapes – all scenes that bring Toni great joy and fulfillment. Many will know Toni from her years of exhibiting in the Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach, and the California Art Club Gold Medal Show. Toni’s show titled, “Stories from the Shore” runs from September 2nd-28th. Attend Art Walk on September 4th from 5 – 8pm. Join us for the collectors and friends event on September 13th from 5-8pm.
Events
The California Preservation Foundation announces the 4th Annual Doors Open California, offering exclusive behind-the-scenes tours of historic places statewide. More than 70 sites on weekends in the month of September are planned for Doors Open 2025. You’ll find sites organized by weekend in September (please note that select events in a region may not always correspond to its weekend, so it’s helpful to look at all weekends). With your registration, you have access to as many as you can attend!
Ohana Festival | Sept 26–28, 2025 | Dana Point
A beautiful weekend of music. 35+ performances across three stages featuring a variety of acts across different genres in the beautiful Doheny State Beach.
Casa Romantica has a remarkable founder history of Ole Hanson who resided in this Spanish Revival styled house. Ole was once was the once mayor of Seattle. He pioneered in the creation of community. The house is open to the public with docent-led tours available upon request. Casa Romantica is hosting Free Family Sundays: All About History on September 7th from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm. Don’t miss the current and upcoming art exhibitions. Keeping Up Appearances by Ashley V. Blalock is on view June 27 through September 7, 2025. The Studio: Elaine Twiss is on view June 10 through September 7. The Studio: Fay Wyles will be on view September 18 through November 23. Dreamscapes and Dream States by Christopher Allwine will be on view September 26 through November 16.
Harboring Community: Ships of the 20th Century in Southern California
June 23 – September 29, 2025
The Festival of Arts invites the public to its latest off-site exhibit at foaSouth, Harboring Community: Ships of the 20th Century in Southern California. Featuring several never-before-exhibited works from the Festival of Arts Permanent Art Collection, this exhibit explores Southern California’s enduring connection to the sea through paintings of boats, harbors, and coastal life. Spanning over a century, the collection showcases a range of artistic styles from early California Impressionists to contemporary Festival artists highlighting how maritime subjects have inspired reflection, industry, and community across generations.
Habitat: Making the California Environment
September 20, 2025 – January 10, 2026
In a first-time feature at Langson IMCA, the exhibition also includes a newly commissioned sound work, Landscape Hocket (Orange County). This immersive audio installation draws on early 20th-century California landscape paintings from the IMCA collection—specifically, coastal works by Curtis Chamberlain and Frederick Melville DuMond. Using field recordings, electromagnetic and subsonic audio capture, and sonified plant data, the piece listens to the original sites of these paintings more than a century later. The result is a layered sonic portrait that traces the evolution of these landscapes’ soundscapes and ecologies over time.
27th Annual Laguna Beach Plein Air Painting Invitational will take place from October 4th to 12th, 2025. This highly anticipated event will see 30 of the nation’s top award-winning plein air artists transform Laguna Beach into a vibrant outdoor studio, competing for prestigious prizes while capturing the town’s iconic beauty on canvas. Throughout the week, art enthusiasts and the public will have unparalleled opportunities to engage directly with the artists and the creative process. Attend the Collectors Gala pARTy on Saturday, October 11th, at the Laguna Festival of Arts.