A 76-year community afternoon at Simon Meadow — more than two dozen local organizations running free craft tables, performances, and family activities at the corner of Sunset and Temescal Canyon.
Holiday Ho!Ho!Ho! is one of the longest-running community traditions on the Westside — a 76-year Pacific Palisades afternoon at Simon Meadow, held the second Saturday of December each year. The day is free, fully community-built, and unusual in scale: more than twenty-five local organizations, schools, clubs, and faith groups set up activity tables across the meadow, each running its own piece of the program.
The afternoon fills every corner of Simon Meadow with crafts, live performances, photos with Santa, and family-friendly games, with a snowfall experience newer to the program in recent years. The Lowe Family YMCA Christmas Tree Lot runs through the same corner, so families often combine picking up a tree with the afternoon’s activities.
The event sits at a meaningful corner of the community — the Sunset / Temescal Canyon intersection that has anchored Pacific Palisades’ civic calendar for generations. Through the hardest seasons the neighborhood has weathered, the gathering has held its place on the calendar — valued as much for the resilience and togetherness it represents as for the crafts, carols, and Santa photos themselves.
Simon Meadow sits at the northeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Temescal Canyon Road in Pacific Palisades — the meadow is an open green space leased to the Lowe Family YMCA. From PCH, Temescal Canyon runs north to Sunset; the meadow is on the right at the intersection. From Palisades Village, head east on Sunset about a half-mile.
A tight afternoon window on the second Saturday of December – check the official page for this year’s hours. Arrive in the first hour for the full table-by-table experience.
Yes — the afternoon, the activity tables, the performances, the snowfall experience, and the photo opportunities are all free. Each participating organization runs its own table, all complimentary. Christmas trees at the adjacent YMCA lot are paid separately.
Yes — the program is built around younger children. Craft tables, photos with Santa, performances scaled to younger audiences, and the snowfall experience all sit at a pace and scale comfortable for preschool-through-elementary kids. Stroller-friendly across the meadow’s grass surface; the meadow is large enough that the crowd disperses across the corner.
The community continued the tradition through and after the fire — Ho!Ho!Ho! returned to Simon Meadow with full programming, framed by participating organizations as a moment of gathering for a neighborhood working through rebuilding. The corner of Sunset and Temescal Canyon was unaffected, the meadow remains in active use, and the YMCA Christmas Tree Lot has continued operating. Check the local press in the weeks leading up to the event for any year-specific notes.
Simon Meadow is the open green space at the northeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Temescal Canyon Road — the gateway corner of Pacific Palisades for traffic arriving from Santa Monica along Pacific Coast Highway and Sunset. The meadow is leased to the Lowe Family YMCA and serves as the community’s December tree lot, but its larger role across seven and a half decades has been the gathering ground for Pacific Palisades’ civic life — fundraisers, community days, and the long-running Holiday Ho!Ho!Ho!. The corner is a short walk from Palisades Charter High School and a few blocks west of the village.
After the January 2025 fire, Palisades Village is set to reopen in August 2026 — and with its return, Pacific Palisades looks forward to the homecoming of its cherished holiday tree lighting: snowfall, Santa, and a towering plaza tree, a free family evening and a symbol of the community’s resilience.
Brian J. Cook
The official City of Santa Monica tree-lighting ceremony — performances by local ballet, choirs, and middle-school groups along Third Street Promenade, with Santa lighting the official city holiday tree.
Brian J. Cook
An open-air 8,000-square-foot downtown ice rink at 5th and Arizona — running mid-November through mid-January as Santa Monica’s signature winter tradition, two blocks from Third Street Promenade.
Brian J. Cook
The iconic Santa Monica Pier glows with a 55-foot Christmas tree atop the Ferris wheel, free Holiday Cheer on the Pier nights with marionettes and Santa visits, and a snowman-lit Pacific sky.
Brian J. Cook
Southern California’s holiday lights and festive outings are pure magic — but nothing compares to Santa Claus himself stepping through your own front door. House of Kringle brings a real-bearded, professionally trained Santa to homes and gatherings across SoCal for an intimate live visit your family will treasure for years.
Check Availability
Have a date in mind? Tell us when and where, and we’ll let you know whether Santa is open. House of Kringle brings a real-bearded Santa Claus to Live Visits and Group Experiences across Southern California, and December fills quickly, so the sooner you check, the better your odds of locking in your first choice.
This is a quick availability check, not a booking. Nothing is reserved and nothing is owed until we’ve confirmed your date and you’ve placed your retainer.
