Santa Monica Airport's 1940s Terminal Is Serving Croissants Now, While the City Draws the Park That Comes Next

By the 1970s, the original terminal at Clover Field had been divided into small commercial office suites and leased out one by one. Dropped ceilings and partition walls hid the building's original character. This October, the same 16,500-square-foot wood-framed building at 3200 Airport Avenue had people lining up outside it for croissants. Eater LA reported that some waits ran 45 minutes.

That line is a good place to start thinking about the airport's future. The city is asking residents to react to a draft plan for a park across all 192 acres once flights stop in 2028. Large parts of the campus already work as public space. There's a restored terminal, an open lot that hosts craft fairs, a park with two dog runs, a museum and a working studio building. A weekend spent on the airport side of town is the closest thing to a test drive of what's being planned.

A Building the City Had Already Sketched

In 2021, the City of Santa Monica hired John Wyka Architecture to study a renovation of the terminal. The concept called for taking out the non-load-bearing walls and the dropped ceiling to bring back the wood roof structure and the building's high, naturally lit volume. The study's plans imagined loft-style creative offices for one or two tenants, in keeping with the artists and small firms that fill the rest of the campus.

Restaurateur Sean Martin took over the building in 2022, according to Eater LA. Matilda's now occupies it, and Martin opened Stiletto beside it at the same address. Four years later, the site of the airport's early administration and aircraft maintenance is open to anyone who walks in from morning until night.

Morning at Matilda's, Dinner at Stiletto

Matilda's, named for Martin's daughter, opened in early October. Eater reports it usually sells more than 3,000 pastries a week. Founding baker Francois Pied left a career making social campaigns for brands like Apple and Taco Bell. He brought on Abel Pulsifer, formerly of Brooklyn's Radio Bakery, as lead baker. The flour comes from Hayden Flour Mills, which works with ancient and forgotten grains. The pastry dough ferments for at least 18 hours, and the filled croissants take four days.

The case holds sausage rolls, brioche, chocolate chip cookies, ham and Comté sandwiches and rotating seasonal Danishes. One Danish takes after shakshuka, with a béchamel-pepper base and jammy eggs. The butter tasting is the unusual part: eight butters served with your choice of bread. They include Paysan Breton made with hand-harvested Guérande salt, Échiré from the Loire Valley, a goat butter and a plant-based version built on fermented cashew. Coffee and matcha come from Caffè Luxxe. The dining room covers 1,800 square feet, and a 1,000-square-foot terrace sits outside it.

Pied told Eater LA the turnout caught him off guard. "I was not expecting this level of commitment from people to stand in line," he said. On October 12, the bakery posted an apology on Instagram and thanked everyone who had waited. Matilda's is open Wednesday through Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

When the bakery closes, Stiletto picks up the evenings. Martin opened it on October 21 with Ireland-born chef Patrick Powell, whose résumé includes Chiltern Firehouse and One Club Row in London, Made By Magazine reported. The kitchen cooks over live fire and gets about 70 percent of its produce from local farmers markets. Eater LA lists bluefin tuna with melon and mint, barbecued leek with crab and hazelnut, and Comté gougères filled with Comté custard. Powell compares the gougères to cinema nacho cheese, and he means it as praise. The menu opens with a Matilda's baguette and butter, carried over from the bakery next door.

The dining room has tall ceilings and 100 seats, and the marble bar adds 38 more. The bar has a dedicated martini list, Guinness on draft and a burger you can only order there. An 80-seat terrace is scheduled for summer 2027. Powell told Eater he hopes neighbors will "drop in to regularly for a martini and a bar-exclusive burger or a full sit-down dinner."

The Name Points Next Door

Stiletto is named for the Douglas X-3 Stiletto jet at the neighboring Museum of Flying. The museum grew out of the Douglas Museum and Library. The name ties the restaurant to the rest of the campus, which has been public-facing for years. The city describes the airport grounds as home to art studios, event venues, a restaurant, a theater and a city park. The city also lists an interim open space that hosts bimonthly antique markets and is open for residents to use.

Here's how a full day on the airport side of town fits together:

City Cultural Affairs supports Studios 3026, and Community Arts Resources manages it. Visitors can see work by local and international artists, come to open studios and sign up for public workshops. Airport Park covers four acres. It has a synthetic turf field, a playground, picnic tables with barbecue grills and an off-leash area divided for large and small dogs. On weekdays the dog park opens at 7:30 a.m. It closes for maintenance from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays.

This Weekend the Open Space Fills Up

The Interim Open Space gets its busiest weekend of the season on Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and 8. The winter edition of Renegade Craft Fair sets up at 3233 Donald Douglas Loop South from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. Visit Santa Monica expects more than 275 artists and independent makers. The fair runs outdoors rain or shine, with a suggested $5 contribution at the gate.

Since Matilda's opens at 7, a pastry before the gates open at 10 is easy to fit in. The museum opens at 10 as well, and the Studios 3026 galleries open at noon. One morning covers bakery, aircraft, makers and painters without leaving the airport.

The Plan Asks What Should Stay Like This

The Great Park would be built on the same ground. On October 17, the Santa Monica Airport Conversion Project showed its Draft Illustrative Master Plan at Memorial Park Gymnasium. Santa Monica Next reported that hundreds came to see it. The draft divides the 192 acres into eight districts that mix habitat restoration, sports, recreation, arts, culture and community gathering space. The project site says the plan builds on three years of community input. Following City Council direction from July 8, 2025, it leaves out any use that would need a public vote under Measure LC.

People have taken part at scale before. The Phase 3B survey, which ran from February to April, collected more than 4,200 responses on where districts should go and what they should hold, the city said. Mayor Caroline Torosis said in that release, "The airport land belongs to the people of Santa Monica, and its future should be decided by them." Phase 4 is the fourth of five phases, and it also starts the recommendations on phasing, implementation and cost.

The Phase 4 survey is open through Sunday, December 6, 2026. A Spanish-language version is also available. The project site lists draft dates for the plan's next round at city boards and commissions. Times will be confirmed closer to each meeting:

1. Commission on Sustainability, Environmental Justice, and the Environment, November 16
2. Planning Commission, November 18
3. Recreation & Parks Commission, November 19
4. Airport Commission, November 23

The Santa Monica Daily Press also called the November 18 Planning Commission date tentative. In June, the city announced a $10 million state grant from Proposition 4, with part of it going to feasibility work and environmental review.

We love a building that spent decades as office suites and came back as a place the public can use. If the airport's 1940s terminal is your kind of story, the Jose Prats team would be glad to show you the character homes nearby with histories of their own. Discover character homes and schedule a showing.