BeachLife Festival returns to Redondo Beach the first week of May, and right at the center of it is a space with a pretty good story behind it.

A stretch of waterfront that sat dark for years is back. Two restaurants once filled it, then the pandemic shut both down. The city owned the property and wanted to bring it back to life, but the right idea hadn't shown up yet.

Then Allen Sanford walked in.

Sanford had already been running the BeachLife Concert Series in the adjacent parking lot and along the beach front. He knew the neighborhood, knew the energy, and had a clear picture of what this space could become: a public restaurant and a members-only social club built around the soul of South Bay surf culture. Not a concept pulled off a mood board, but a real place with an art room, event spaces, a spot for intimate live music, and rooms where members could bring clients or just hang with neighbors.

The job of bringing that picture to life fell to SFJones Architects.

It was not a clean project. The buildings were in rough shape and the budget was tight, with a hard target to open before the next concert series. The team started by getting honest about the gap between expectations and reality, documenting existing conditions, putting together a full design presentation for Allen to take to investors and partners, and bringing in kitchen consultants and engineers to satisfy both the operators' needs and city approvals.

But once the foundation was set, the fun began.

The location had serious bones. Sitting right on the beach with sweeping views of the coastline, the space lent itself to a whole range of experiences. The design approach was to orchestrate those experiences through a series of surf culture vignettes, moving from intimate corners to large gathering spaces and letting the setting do a lot of the work.

Some of the highlights: surfboards float in the roof rafters of the main club space. The music room is outfitted with antique amplifiers built for small, intimate gigs. The VIP room is accessible through a hidden bookcase door. Outside, there are multiple spaces ranging from open patios with 180 degree views of the beach to tucked-away landscaped gardens, all served by two outdoor bars set up to handle the energy of a full event.

What came out of all that is the California Surf Club, sitting right at the heart of the BeachLife footprint. During the festival, the club opens to performers and VIP guests. The rest of the year, it belongs to the neighborhood it was built for.

A city-owned property that went dark came back as something with real identity and a reason to exist beyond just filling a vacancy. It took a founder with a vision, a tight deadline, a challenged budget, and a team that was genuinely excited to see it all come together.

The festival is almost here. Come see what we’ve built.