For five years, Toast on the Coast happened at Roessler Point, the bluff-top perch in Lower Malaga Cove that has hosted the event since at least 2021. This Saturday, September 26, from 4 to 9 p.m., it happens somewhere else: the Malaga Cove District Lawn at 300 Paseo del Mar, described by organizers as "just steps from the previous location." A few hundred feet of separation, but it marks the first time in the event's run that Palos Verdes Estates' largest outdoor festival isn't anchored to the same patch of grass.
The move isn't cosmetic. It's a response to a problem the old site couldn't solve: the event kept selling out, and Roessler Point kept being the same size.
Off the Point, Onto the Lawn
Toast on the Coast has drifted around the calendar before settling into its current late-September slot. In 2021 it ran on a Saturday in November, from noon to 5 p.m. In 2022 it moved to an October 1 afternoon, 2 to 6 p.m., with food service cutting off at 5 and bars closing at 6. The 2024 edition ran October 5, same afternoon format. This year it's an evening event, 4 to 9 p.m., which is the first time the festival has stretched into the dark with lighting and a headlining band rather than closing out while the sun was still up.
The venue change follows the same logic. A local guide to the event's late-summer run-up put it plainly: the larger footprint at the District Lawn exists to fix "the choke points that made past years feel oversubscribed." That's a specific, useful detail for anyone who's tried to get near the bar during last year's silent auction and given up.
The historic setting at Roessler Point isn't gone from the story. Organizers still describe the new lawn as an extension of that same stretch of coastline, and the event keeps its identity as a Malaga Cove institution. What's changed is capacity, not character.
What the Ticket Buys This Year
The price of admission moved too, and by more than you'd expect from a few hundred extra feet of lawn.
| 2022 to 2024 | 2026 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Admission | $150 | $195 | +30% |
| VIP Lounge | $250 | $295 | +18% |
| Private Cabana (10) | $4,000 | $4,500 | +12.5% |
General admission held flat at $150 across three consecutive years before jumping to $195 this year, a 30 percent increase in a single cycle. VIP moved up 18 percent. The cabana tier, the most expensive ticket and the one bought by the fewest people, rose the least in percentage terms. The scaling isn't uniform, and the biggest jump landed on the ticket that most families actually buy.
What that ticket includes hasn't shrunk to match. Every tier still covers unlimited food and beverage tastings from local restaurants, wineries, and breweries, a live and silent auction, a paddle raise, and this year's lineup of Juice Boxx Heroes, Shabingus, and headliner Saved by the 90s. Past years have leaned on the same formula of cover bands and local acts. The 2023 event featured headliner The Trip alongside a student rock band called Ruby and the Thorns and dance performances from both Palos Verdes High School and Peninsula High School, with food from more than 30 vendors including The Depot, Locale90, Dragonfly Thai, and Avenue Italy. The format is consistent even as the price and the footprint aren't.
Why the Price Had to Move Too
The price of the ticket is easier to understand once you know what the proceeds support.
Every dollar from Toast on the Coast goes to the Peninsula Education Foundation, which has operated for more than 46 years to support all 17 schools in the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District, serving more than 10,000 students. PEF funds are not for the abstract idea of "education." They pay for specific line items: elementary music and PE teachers, library aides, school counselors, STEM programs, teacher grants, student wellness initiatives, and college and career readiness support. These are positions that in many California districts come out of the general operating budget, not out of a September wine and food festival.
PEF's own materials for this year's event make the funding logic explicit. PVPUSD is, in their framing, a top-performing district that receives comparatively less state funding per student than districts like Palo Alto and La Cañada, which draw on substantially greater local property tax revenue. The gap between "high-performing" and "well-funded" is the gap PEF exists to close, and Toast on the Coast is one of the ways the community contributes to that work.
Set against that context, the $45 increase in general admission goes to the same place as the rest of the proceeds, the Peninsula Education Foundation's support for all 17 schools. The event is one source of that support alongside the foundation's other giving, and attendees who buy a ticket, bid at the auction, or join the paddle raise each add to it.
Getting There Saturday
The practical details for this year:
The Malaga Cove District Lawn sits at 300 Paseo del Mar, Palos Verdes Estates, 90274. On-site parking is limited, and organizers are asking attendees not to park in the surrounding neighborhood. The two options are ride-share or the PV Transit shuttle, which runs from both Palos Verdes High School and Peninsula High School starting at 3:30 p.m. and continuing until 9:30 p.m., well past the event's 9 p.m. close.
Tickets, when available, are sold through the official Toast on the Coast site, which also carries the Peninsula Education Foundation's breakdown of where the money goes. Both are useful if you want the details straight from the source rather than secondhand.
The lawn is new this year, and the Peninsula Education Foundation's work across the 17 schools has continued for more than 46 years.
If Saturday's turnout on the Malaga Cove lawn has you curious what your own Palos Verdes Estates home is worth in today's market, Steinbeck Homes offers a confidential home valuation.
