"The most important thing is a room full of people having a good time," chef Patrick Powell told Eater LA ahead of Stiletto's October 21 debut. Stiletto's dining room is at 3200 Airport Avenue, inside a restored 1940s administrative building at Santa Monica Airport. A bakery in the same building has had 45-minute lines since early October.
The City of Santa Monica still has the airport closing at midnight on December 31, 2028. Even so, the busiest new rooms on the Westside this month opened beside a working runway. Earlier park plans proposed moving Airport Park into a new sports district. On October 7, the Planning Commission recommended keeping it where it is. The bakery line, the dog park and the galleries along this street are now part of the case for what the park keeps.
One Building, Two Openings in Three Weeks
Restaurateur Sean Martin took over the building in 2022, Eater LA reported, and opened Matilda's there first. The bakery is named after his daughter. It sells roughly 3,000 pastries a week, and on October 12 it posted an Instagram apology to everyone who had stood in line during the first weeks.
The kitchen is led by founding baker Francois Pied and lead baker Abel Pulsifer, who came from Brooklyn's Radio Bakery. Flour comes from Hayden Flour Mills. Pastry dough ferments for at least 18 hours, and the butter, ham and cheese, almond and pain au chocolat croissants take four days. The butter tasting menu covers eight styles, among them Échiré from the Loire Valley and a Paysan Breton studded with hand-harvested Guérande salt. Coffee and matcha come from Caffè Luxxe. The dining room covers 1,800 square feet, and a 1,000-square-foot terrace adds outdoor seating. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Stiletto opened next door on October 21 under Ireland-born chef Patrick Powell, who has cooked at Chiltern Firehouse and One Club Row in London. Powell calls it a modern steakhouse. Local markets supply 70 percent of the produce, delivered twice a week. The steaks are a New York strip and a bone-in rib-eye from Rosewood Ranch in Texas, and the menu opens with a Matilda's baguette and butter. The main room seats 100 and the marble bar seats another 38. The bar carries a martini list and a burger served only there, which suits a neighbor dropping in on a weeknight. Hours aren't printed yet, so reservations go through Stiletto's own site.
The restaurant takes its name from the Douglas X-3 Stiletto jet. The only X-3 ever built is on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.
One timing detail matters here. Stiletto's 80-seat outdoor terrace is due in summer 2027. That leaves about a year and a half of service on the terrace before the City's closure date.
What Already Surrounds 3200 Airport Avenue
The two openings fill out a campus that already gives a resident reasons to visit five days a week. Most of the places below are within a few hundred feet of each other.
| Place | Address | When it's open |
|---|---|---|
| Matilda's | 3200 Airport Ave. | Wed–Sun, 7 a.m.–3 p.m. |
| Stiletto | 3200 Airport Ave. | Dinner by reservation |
| The Cloverfield | 3300 Airport Ave. | Wed–Fri noon–10 p.m.; Sat 10 a.m.–10 p.m.; Sun 10 a.m.–9 p.m. |
| Museum of Flying | 3100 Airport Ave. | Thu–Sun, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; free parking |
| Studios 3026 at the Airport Arts Center | 3026 Airport Ave. | Galleries Thu–Sun, noon–5 p.m. |
| Airport Park and dog park | 3201 Airport Ave. | Park 6 a.m.–11 p.m.; dog park weekdays 7:30 a.m.–8:30 p.m., weekends 8:30 a.m.–8:30 p.m. |
| Antique & Vintage Market | 3233 Donald Douglas Loop S | First and fourth Sundays, 7 a.m.–3 p.m.; $5 |
The Cloverfield sits at the address that was the Spitfire Grill for three decades. The Santa Monica Daily Press reported the sale in 2019. Airport Park has a turf sports field, a playground, a picnic and barbecue area and restrooms. Its dog park closes for maintenance on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 9:30 to 11:30.
The antique market's own site describes its location as an "Interim Open Space." That label applies to most of the campus right now. Barker Hangar at 3021 Airport Avenue works the same way. It is a large event and production venue, and it hosted The Other Art Fair from September 24 to 27 this year.
A Saturday on the Campus, in Order
With these hours, a full Saturday on Airport Avenue works without moving the car:
- Matilda's at opening. Doors open at 7 a.m. Early arrival is the simplest answer to the lines Eater described.
- Airport Park mid-morning. The dog park opens at 8:30 a.m. on weekends, and the field and playground are across the street from the bakery.
- Museum of Flying at 10 a.m. It is open Thursday through Sunday at 3100 Airport Avenue, and parking is free.
- Studios 3026 after noon. The galleries open at noon and stay open until 5 p.m.
- Dinner at The Cloverfield or Stiletto. The Cloverfield serves until 10 p.m. on Saturdays. Stiletto takes reservations through its website.
On the first and fourth Sundays, the antique market can replace the park stop. It starts at 7 a.m., the same time Matilda's opens.
The Commission Wants the Plan to Keep What People Already Use
The City presented the draft Illustrative Master Plan at Memorial Park Gymnasium on October 17. This is Phase 4 of the five-phase Santa Monica Airport Conversion Project. The plan builds on a Phase 3B survey that ran from February to April and drew more than 4,200 responses. In the City's announcement, Mayor Caroline Torosis said, "The airport land belongs to the people of Santa Monica, and its future should be decided by them."
Santa Monica Next reported that the draft divides the 192-acre site into eight districts. An Immersive Nature district on the quieter western half would hold native habitat, urban forest and meadows, with a possible community farm. An Active Sports district on the eastern side would hold organized athletic fields. The Great Park Coalition puts the construction cost at nearly $2 billion. That figure is the coalition's estimate. City staff have not yet produced one, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press.
The recommendation most directly tied to this fall's loop came ten days before the unveiling. The plans under review proposed moving the 8-acre Airport Park into a new active sports area and remaking Clover Park as an 18-acre walking district called "The Stroll." At an October 7 study session, Planning Commission members backed a Recreation and Parks Commission letter that said Airport Park, with its dog run, playground, picnic area, restrooms and all-weather soccer field, should remain as is. The Santa Monica Daily Press reported that staff said removing Clover Park's fields isn't being considered now, although the fields could later move to a consolidated sports district as funding allows. That is a recommendation. Whether the dog park and playground across from Matilda's stay where they are is still being decided.
This phase follows the City Council's 6–1 vote on July 8, 2025, to study a park-centered scenario consistent with Measure LC. A competing motion to study housing and commercial development failed. According to the same Daily Press report, staff expected to choose an environmental review consultant by the end of October, with the review taking 12 to 18 months. The illustrative plan goes to City commissions in November and to the City Council in January.
Dates on the Airport Campus Between Now and December 6
- Friday, October 30, 5:30–7:30 p.m. Emerging-artists reception at Studios 3026.
- Sunday, November 1, 7 a.m.–3 p.m. Antique & Vintage Market, first-Sunday edition.
- Wednesdays, November 4, 11 and 18. Figure-drawing workshops at Studios 3026.
- November. The illustrative plan goes before City commissions.
- Sunday, November 22, 7 a.m.–3 p.m. Antique & Vintage Market, fourth-Sunday edition. November has no fifth Sunday this year.
- Sunday, December 6. Deadline for the Phase 4 public survey, which is linked from the Santa Monica Airport Conversion Project site.
The survey asks how the eight districts should feel to people standing in them. Anyone who has spent a morning between Matilda's, the dog park and the galleries has already walked the part of the site the Planning Commission has asked the City to keep.
Hannah Laird Estates follows the Santa Monica Airport conversion as each phase reaches the commissions and the City Council, including what the timeline means for the blocks around Airport Avenue. To talk through what the plan could mean for a Sunset Park or Ocean Park property, schedule a private consultation.
