Simply stroll down Los Angeles’ iconic Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, and it’s easy to see why the once-thriving shopping and dining area is in trouble. There are a ton of vacant retail and restaurant spaces, and few people can be seen walking around or sitting in the oversized Adirondack chairs that line the three-block, car-free stretch. Some spots that used to house major retailers have since been taken over by gimmicky Instagram installations, and — despite being just blocks from the ocean — there’s little sense that tourism is coming back any time soon.

That is, unless the city of Santa Monica steps in. Officials there have recently come up with a plan to revitalize the area, and it involves booze. According to KNX News, the city has proposed allowing open alcohol consumption every day from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. in designated areas along the Third Street Promenade. The dramatic change would mean that anyone over 21 would be able to walk freely up and down the once-iconic promenade, drink in hand, at practically any hour of the day.

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“City staff had initially recommended a one-year pilot program to allow open alcohol consumption on the Promenade during at least three ‘special events,’” according to KNX News. “But this week, City Council told staff to develop a more ambitious plan that would allow public drinking from 8 a.m. until 2 a.m. seven days a week.”

Tourists, locals and anyone else who would like to participate would be given a wristband to drink within the “entertainment zone,” with clear boundaries (and signage) drawn of where the zone ends. Unlike, say, Las Vegas or New Orleans, open alcohol container areas are exceedingly rare in California and are almost always tied to specific events.

The promenade possibility is not unlike other efforts across California to drive late-night business. In April, San Francisco Assemblymember Matt Haney and state Sen. Scott Wiener reintroduced a measure to allow some restaurants and bars in California to serve alcohol until 4 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and state holidays in lieu of the current 2 a.m. closing time. The measure would apply specifically to “hospitality zones,” which are defined as walkable nightlife hubs that are close to public transportation. (Similar measures in recent years have failed.)

Drumming up more business for the Third Street Promenade is an important part of Santa Monica’s long-term plan, particularly as the region begins to ramp up ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, 2027 Super Bowl and 2028 Summer Olympics, all of which will be hosted in Los Angeles. The area is also still recovering from January’s devastating Palisades Fire, which burned nearly 7,000 structures just north of and into Santa Monica. Palisades Charter High School, which was heavily damaged in the fire, has been relocated temporarily to a shuttered former Sears location just south of the Third Street Promenade for the rest of the school year.

Thankfully, there are some glimmers of hope for the retail corridor, which dates back to the 1960s: Din Tai Fung, the popular Taiwanese restaurant chain famous for its xiao long bao soup dumplings, recently opened a sweeping, over 10,000-square-foot location on the top floor of Santa Monica Place, the outdoor mall that anchors the lower end of the promenade. And Barnes & Noble, the bookstore whose prominent location on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard closed in 2018, opened a new, albeit smaller, outpost on the promenade in 2024.

If the open consumption plan is approved, it could go into effect as early as June, just in time for summer tourist season (and when drinking a margarita a few blocks from the beach may sound like a great idea to many).