Young’s Beach Shack is back at Salt Creek.
It’s not the same camp where the Young brothers, decades ago, would charge beachgoers to enjoy the Dana Point stretch of sand and surf. Instead, the new beachside concession stand that opened Tuesday, Feb. 21, offers a vamped-up eating option for all visitors right on the sand.
“This morning, we had a crowd ready to go,” Chief Operating Officer Kurt Bjorkman said. “When we opened the windows and had people waiting for us, it was super special.”
The team behind Young’s Beach Shack are no strangers to Orange County’s coastal culinary scene, they already transformed the concession at Aliso Creek beach in south Laguna Beach and operate The Ranch, which is inland across Pacific Coast Highway.
The Salt Creek renovation has been in the works for nearly a year and is a stone’s throw from the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel.
The new addition to Orange County’s beach fare offerings follows a trend of savvy operators revamping out-of-date concessions to take advantage of their prime location on, or steps, from the sand, with innovative and higher-quality food offerings that become a draw for both locals and tourists.
A few nights before the official opening, Bjorkman said he soaked in the sunset scene during a “quality control” beer tasting, with surfers, paragliders, beachgoers and Catalina Island in the backdrop.
“You cannot sit there and not be awed by the specialness of everything you see,” he said. “It’s such an iconic place for everyone.”
Like its sister concession, Lost Pier Café opened in 2018 that gives a nod to a pier structure that once stood at Aliso Creek, the operators said they wanted to tap into Salt Creek’s storied past.
They learned of the Young brothers, who would charge a quarter – and later a buck – for entry to the beach back in the 1930s. Sometimes, a case of beer would suffice.
No one quite knows what happened to the Young brothers, Bjorkman said, but some tidbits…
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