For years, a Pompano Beach summer meant one axis: A1A, the sand, and whatever bar happened to be closest to your beach chair. The city's cultural life sat two miles inland, and the two worlds rarely spoke to each other in the same evening.
That is finally changing this season. The beachfront is getting its first meaningful upgrade in a decade, Old Town has become a legitimate Friday-night destination, and the drive between them has stopped feeling like a commute between two different cities. If you already live here, the practical implication is simple: your summer calendar has more good options than it has ever had, and most of them are new since last July.
The Beachfront Isn't Just The Beach Anymore
Start at the pier. Construction has commenced on the new beach concession kiosk and public restrooms, with the facility anticipated to be completed in Spring 2026. That sounds like a municipal footnote until you read the menu plan: the concession will open daily, offering coffee, pastries, and sandwiches for breakfast, as well as Greek-themed food, hamburgers, hot dogs, and other affordable grab-and-go items throughout the day. Translation for anyone who has walked the sand at 7 a.m. wanting an espresso and finding nothing: the morning beach routine is about to get a lot more workable.
Six stories up, Pier 6 Rooftop sits perched six stories above the Atlantic as an oceanfront dining destination at 200 N Ocean Blvd. What has changed this year is the programming density. The venue has moved from a place you go for a drink to a place with a reason on the calendar most weeks:
- A Pilates class led by Kristen Segarra overlooking the coastline, followed by a complimentary mimosa
- Reggae on the Rooftop featuring a live performance by Brothers United Band
- Tropic Nights every Saturday with live DJ sessions spinning Latin hits and open-format beats
- The Pompano Beach Independence Day Fireworks Display viewed from the rooftop, with access from 7 to 11 p.m. on July 4 requiring a ticket reservation
The July 4 detail matters. General admission is $30 and includes a beer or grill item, and the space clears at 6 p.m. for wristbanded guests. If you have watched fireworks from the sand in a crowd of ten thousand people, the math on trading that for a rooftop with a hot dog is not complicated.
Old Town Is The Reason You Stay Out Past Ten
Two miles inland, the shift is bigger. Old Town is a historic area being revitalized through numerous City and CRA projects and programs to become the epicenter of dining and entertainment in Downtown Pompano Beach. That has been the pitch for years. What is new is that the pitch is now true.
Old Town Square, the first new mixed-use residential project, was completed in May 2024 with ground floor commercial space and 282 residential units. That is 282 households who now walk to dinner where nobody walked to dinner five years ago. The commercial anchors have followed, and the calendar has filled in around them.
First Fridays: Old Town Untapped
Every first Friday of the month, 6:00 to 10:00 PM, from October through May, at the Bailey Contemporary Arts Center and surrounding streets at 41 NE 1st Street. The 2025–26 season closes on June 5, 2026, with Making Faces, a blend of rock, reggae, and funk, so the July and August window is quiet, and then it starts again in October. If you have not been in a year, the layout has changed. The new street layout, expanded walkways, and neighborhood parking options make arriving and enjoying the event easier.
Third Fridays: The Backyard Jam
Old Town's Backyard, the second urban plaza, abuts the back of several buildings and was completed in April 2023. It is now the venue for the Backyard Jam Concert Series, located behind the Bailey Contemporary Arts Center. Third Fridays, not first, so you can actually do both in the same month.
The Fire Fountain, and Yes, It Is Real
Skeptical of civic marketing copy is a healthy default. But the focal point of Old Town is a central urban plaza with a Fire Fountain, the first of its kind in the United States, where fire literally explodes out of the water using German-developed technology. If you have out-of-town guests this summer and you are tired of driving them to Fort Lauderdale, this is now a legitimate answer.
The Vault Is Coming
One of the newest additions on the way is The Vault in Old Town, an under-construction restaurant and bar owned by Jessica Spill-Chaples, occupying the old bank building at 61 NE 1st Street with a 1920s speakeasy design. The venue will display the original bank vault and be decorated with murals that depict the era and the Ashley Gang, who robbed the bank in 1924. That is a specific, weird, hyperlocal story built into the room. Watch for the opening announcement.
The center of gravity in Pompano is shifting. Ten years ago, a Friday night meant beach or bust. Now it means picking between a rooftop over the Atlantic and a block party in a district that did not functionally exist in 2019.
Where To Actually Eat This Week
The dining lineup that has settled into Old Town is small but real. Odd Breed Wild Ales, across from BaCA, is a small brewery and tasting bar that focuses on barrel-aged wild ales, with small batches shipped to subscribers around the country. South Bar & Kitchen brings an infusion of creole and cajun flavors to Southern classics. Both are walkable to Untapped.
On the water, Miraggio Italian Grill opened for dinner on Atlantic Boulevard steps from the Intracoastal Waterway, with a menu of fresh seafood, wood-oven pizzas, and house-made pastas alongside an extensive cocktail and wine list. It is the closest thing Pompano has to a proper Intracoastal date-night restaurant that did not exist two years ago.
The Rest of the Summer, In One Look
Marquee dates worth putting on the fridge:
- June 13: 25th Annual Blues & Sweet Potato Pie Festival, a Juneteenth Celebration, from 1 PM at 1580 NW 3rd Ave
- July 4: Independence Day fireworks from the pier area, viewable from the beach or from Pier 6 Rooftop with a ticket
- July 11: The City's annual tree giveaway at the City Nursery, 1190 NE 3rd Ave
- July 16: Men At Work with Toad the Wet Sprocket and Shonen Knife at the Pompano Beach Amphitheater, and Colin Hay separately that same night
- October 3: The 2026–27 Old Town Untapped season resumes, first Friday, 6 to 10 PM
- October 26: Cake at the Pompano Beach Amphitheater
For the longer view on the fall, Beyond The Beatles arrives at the Cultural Center on October 9 and The Wilburys tribute follows on October 23, and Jazz Fest Pompano Beach, which celebrated its fifth anniversary in 2026, returns to the sand just south of the Fisher Family Pier for its next edition. Save the calendar space now.
What This Means If You Own Here
Two things are quietly happening at once. The public infrastructure on the beach is being upgraded for the first time in a long while. And a walkable, programmed downtown has finally materialized inland, anchored by the Bailey Contemporary Arts building that houses art studios, galleries, and an open social area for monthly music, literature, and art events, three functioning plazas, and a growing tenant list. Neither of these is a marketing narrative. They are physical projects with completion dates and programming schedules attached.
If you have been here five years or more, you already know the version of Pompano that was mostly a beach town with a quiet interior. The next version has two centers, and the second one is finally worth the drive back after dinner.
If you are thinking about how this shift is showing up in home values, block by block, that is a conversation worth having in person. Alexa Soto works this coastline every week, and the pattern of what is drawing offers and where has changed noticeably in the last twelve months. Let's Connect.
