17th Street Is Trading Its Originals for Second Locations. Here's Where to Find Them Now.

Baycrest Caps & Corks at 333 E. 17th St. has been closed since March 31. Down the block, the A-frame that held The Country Club, and the Pierce Street Annex for decades before that, has been dark since Mother's Day. The windows at 428 E. 17th still carry Playa Mesa's look, but the restaurant served its last meal in early August. If you live in Newport Heights, 17th Street is your nearest strip for coffee, a quick dinner, or a bottle on the way to a friend's house. This fall it has more papered windows than it has had in years.

The names going into those spaces share one trait. Almost every incoming tenant already has a location somewhere else in Orange County or Southern California, and several are a short drive from Newport Heights. The strip is losing places that existed only on 17th Street and gaining satellites of brands you can already visit. That shift also makes the waiting easier to manage.

The Block, Address by Address

Here is where each storefront stands as of late October 2026, based on the most recent local reporting and the businesses' own websites.

Four of the departures had long runs on this block. Of the five incoming concepts, four are brands that already operate elsewhere.

What Left Had Years on This Block

Santa Monica Seafood went first. WhatNow Orange County reported that it closed in February 2025 after nearly 30 years in the community.

Baycrest Caps & Corks followed this spring. The Daily Pilot reported that the bottle shop, open since 1952 and run by one Costa Mesa family for its last 28 years, closed on March 31 after a new property owner chose not to continue the lease. No replacement tenant has been announced for 333 E. 17th St.

The Country Club served its last night on Sunday, May 10. According to Back Bay Buzz, the owners said the building's historic liquor license, which limited the room to guests 21 and over, no longer fit their plans. They are switching to an all-ages license and building out a family-friendly concept. Their sign-off was "This isn't goodbye forever, just a pause as we prepare for what's next." The building's own story goes back further: Back Bay Buzz notes that the remodel kept the A-frame roofline that stood over the Pierce Street Annex for decades.

Then Playa Mesa. The Orange County Register reported that its owners announced the closure on Aug. 1 after eight years on 17th Street and gave no reason. Playa Mesa and The Country Club came from the same Newport Beach hospitality group, and the Register confirmed that the group's third 17th Street spot, Wild Goose, is still open. One small detail for anyone checking online: The Country Club's website still points guests to Playa Mesa as a sister restaurant.

The reasons vary: a lease that wasn't renewed, a licensing change, and one closure with no explanation. All four had spent at least eight years on East 17th Street, and Baycrest and Santa Monica Seafood had been there for decades.

What's Coming Already Has an Address You Can Drive To

Zov's is taking 428 E. 17th St. The Orange County Business Journal reported on Aug. 27 that this will be the family-run Mediterranean restaurant's fifth Orange County location, with an opening planned for late 2026. Chef Zov Karamardian founded it in 1987, and three generations of the family now run it. The other four locations are in Tustin, Irvine, Newport Coast and San Clemente.

Bear Flag Fish Co. is moving into the former Santa Monica Seafood space at 154 E. 17th St. The Newport Beach seafood counter was founded in 2007 by Thomas "Thos" Carson, and before this announcement it had three Southern California locations: Newport Peninsula, Crystal Cove, and Huntington Beach. The Bear Flag locations page lists Costa Mesa as "coming soon" without a date. WhatNow reported in October 2025 that Bear Flag was working with the city on approvals for the space, which means the project has been in the works for about a year.

Erewhon has the largest footprint and the longest timeline. The Business Journal reported in April that the grocer will take over a 20,092-square-foot warehouse at 140 E. 17th St., between Bear Flag and The Harp Inn. It will be Erewhon's first Orange County store, and the company's website gives September 2027 as the opening. The Register's May update repeated the September 2027 target and identified the building as the former T-Shirts Warehouse.

Sourdough & Co., the sandwich, soup and salad chain, has a Costa Mesa page marked "coming soon." Its E. 17th St. page gives the address as 299 E. 17th St. A second company page lists 259 E. 17th Street, so the exact storefront isn't settled publicly yet.

The Country Club's replacement is the exception. It comes from the same owners and goes into the same building, but nothing has been announced about its name or opening date.

Getting Them Before They Get Here

Most of the incoming brands already operate somewhere nearby, so you don't have to wait for 17th Street to try them. Here's where each one is open today.

1. Zov's. The Newport Coast location is the closest. The Tustin flagship at the Enderle Center is also open. The Business Journal reports that the center is being razed and rebranded as Campo on 17th, and that Zov's will stay open during construction. That's Tustin's own 17th Street, not Costa Mesa's.
2. Bear Flag Fish Co. The Newport Peninsula and Crystal Cove counters are both open now.
3. Wild Goose. It's still open on 17th Street, so the old Lounge Group block isn't completely dark.
4. Erewhon. There's no Orange County store until the Costa Mesa opening. The company has called 140 E. 17th St. its first one in the county.

A bottle shop that ran for more than six decades and a former Pierce Street Annex night out don't have stand-ins. Neither one has another location to visit.

The Calendar Between Now and September 2027

From a reader's date of Oct. 22, 2026, each gap on the block looks like this:

• Baycrest, 333 E. 17th St.: Closed for almost seven months, with no announced tenant.
• The Country Club: Dark for more than five months, with an unnamed all-ages concept still to come.
• Bear Flag, 154 E. 17th St.: A year since WhatNow reported it in city review, and still "coming soon."
• Zov's, 428 E. 17th St.: Targeting late 2026, which leaves about ten weeks in the year.
• Erewhon, 140 E. 17th St.: About eleven months to the September 2027 target.

Zov's is the only one with a public target before the end of 2026. Every date above is a company target or a reported plan, not a confirmed opening, and any of them can move.

Until the 428 E. 17th St. location opens, the closest Zov's is the one in Newport Coast.

Storefronts between tenants and homes between owners have the same problem: the space has to make a strong first impression before anyone has a reason to walk in. If you're thinking about how your Newport Heights home will come across to the next buyer, Cassie French and the Classy AF Interiors team can help with that. Request a free home valuation & staging plan, and we'll put together a plan for making your place show its best when it's time to list.