If you've only clocked one thing about Placentia turning 100 this year, it's probably December. The city has been building toward a Birthday Celebration and Tree Lighting on December 5, and it reads like the kind of date you circle on a calendar and forget about until the week arrives.
The centennial is also visible in ordinary weeks: a taco shop's purple lighting scheme and a two-brewery Old Town beer scene with its own calendar. The area has also seen a Golden Avenue bridge closure and has a planned streetscape project.
The Golden Avenue Bridge Closure
The city's own notices confirmed the Golden Avenue Bridge closure, in both directions, ran through Friday, September 11. It's a $6 million project, funded through Measure U, the federal Highway Bridge Program, and Congressionally Directed Spending, and it's replacing the existing structure with a two-lane bridge that adds sidewalks, bike lanes, a striped median, and improved drainage.
If you drive Golden Avenue, you've felt this for months. The closure was one of the infrastructure changes affecting the area.
What Comes Next Costs More and Touches More Blocks
In the same season sits a bigger project aimed squarely at Old Town itself. The city has confirmed a roughly $10 million streetscape overhaul for the Placentia Old Town area, funded through the Placentia Enhanced Infrastructure Financing District, with construction anticipated to begin in fall 2026. The scope covers new landscaping, lighting, signage, roadway rehabilitation, and improved pedestrian accessibility along the same blocks where the city's centennial businesses are currently hanging bunting.
The projects fall within Placentia's centennial year. As the city marks its first hundred years, it is also planning an Old Town streetscape overhaul.
A Centennial Program Running Throughout the Year
The centennial program also reaches into local businesses.
Placentia has been recruiting local restaurants, bakeries, cafes, breweries, and shops to build centennial specials into their regular operations all year, whether that's a themed dessert, limited packaging with the 100-year logo, or a recurring "Centennial Saturdays" promotion. Participating businesses display a Centennial Partner decal, and the city has asked residents to tag their visits with the hashtag #Placentia100.
You've probably already walked past evidence of this without registering it. TacosWay, the Old Town taco spot, has been lit in the city's centennial purple as part of the program, with staff photographed in Centennial-branded shirts serving customers under the glow. That's not a one-night float in a parade. It's a taco order on a Tuesday, dressed in a milestone you didn't know was showing up on your receipt.
Old Town's Beer Scene Runs on Its Own Clock
Old Town's beer scene is part of the neighborhood activity alongside the centennial program.
Broken Timbers Brewing, which built its original following in Anaheim, operates a second taproom in Old Town Placentia at 116 W Santa Fe Ave, near surrounding condos, apartments, and restaurants. As reported by WhatNow, co-owner Heide Mahnke described the fit this way:
"We're excited to share our relaxing, friendly atmosphere with the people of Placentia and beyond."
A short walk away sits The Bruery, the barrel-aged specialist on Dunn Way known for high-gravity releases like Black Tuesday, whose patio has become one of the more reliable weekend gathering spots in the district. Neither taproom opened as part of the centennial program; both are part of Old Town's beer scene and operate on their own schedules.
What's Actually Still on the Calendar
Strip away what's already happened this year, the January gala and the summer concert series among them, and here's what's left between now and the year's formal close:
| Event | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Library Local History Lecture Series | October 21, 2026 | Third installment of the year, hosted by Placentia Library District |
| Birthday Celebration and Tree Lighting | December 5, 2026 | The city's official centennial bookend |
The October lecture is worth more attention than it usually gets. It's the kind of event that draws the residents who actually remember the versions of Placentia that came before the current one, and a room full of that institutional memory is a genuinely rare thing to sit in on, centennial or not.
A Centennial Year of Celebration and Construction
Placentia's centennial year includes both a city celebration and changes to Old Town. The Birthday Celebration in December will mark the milestone, while the streetscape project is anticipated to begin this fall along the same blocks where a taco shop is glowing purple and two breweries keep pouring pints on their own independent schedule.
The bridge closure ran through Friday, September 11. The larger Old Town streetscape project is another part of the neighborhood looking toward its next hundred years while it's still finishing the party for the first hundred.
If you're the kind of resident who tracks these shifts, from a Friday night on Santa Fe Avenue to a streetscape project that's about to reroute your usual walk to dinner, you already understand Placentia better than most people writing about it from the outside. That's exactly the read Daniel Gray brings to conversations about this community, centennial year or not. If you ever want to talk through what's changing in Old Town or anywhere else in Placentia, reach out. Let's Connect.
