Orange County Performing Arts
Center (OCPAC)

The largest performing arts complex in the region, OCPAC consists of four stages: the 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall, the 250-seat Founders Hall, the 2,000-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, and the 500-seat Samueli Theater.

OCPAC presents a wide range of performing arts, including touring Broadway shows, jazz and cabaret music, classical music, and dance. It is most acclaimed for its dance lineup, which includes everything from classical ballet (the American Ballet Theatre comes every year) to hip-hop to flamenco. The complex is also well known for its classical music shows and serves as home to the Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, the Opera Pacific, and the Pacific Chorale. 

Most performances at OCPAC are staged Thursday through Saturday evenings, with matinee shows on Saturdays and Sundays. The calendar of events is released each year in the spring.

Primary box office hours are 10 a.m.–6 p.m. daily, and each venue opens its box office one-and-a-half hours before a performance. Before purchasing tickets, check OCPAC's website and access Seat Buddy, their interactive program that shows your view of the stage from each seat in the house.

For ticket holders heading to Segerstrom Hall and Founders Hall, paid parking is available at the Center Tower Parking Structure, adjacent to Segerstrom Hall on Sunflower Avenue between Avenue of the Arts and Park Center Drive. For those heading to the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and Samueli Theater, paid parking is available at the Plaza Tower Parking Structure, which is across Park Center Drive from the Westin South Coast Plaza.

Dining

Leatherby’s Café Rouge, on the lobby level of the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, is the latest entry from Joachim Splichal’s Patina Group. The upscale restaurant serves dinner only, a variety of fish and meat dishes prepared with fresh seasonal ingredients.

One of Orange County’s best sushi restaurants, Hamamori, sits on the top floor of the Crate & Barrel/Macy’s Home Store wing of South Coast Plaza, off Bear Street. Executive chef James Hamamori, who helmed L.A.’s Asakuma for several years, serves up delicious sushi, but those who don’t eat fish shouldn’t be put off. Two of the best items on the menu, the okaki-crusted jumbo asparagus and the lamb chops (an occasional special), have never seen the ocean.

Just a couple of blocks away on Sunflower Avenue in South Coast Plaza Village, Royal Khyber offers great North Indian cuisine, including tandoori chicken tikka, vegetable khorma, and a variety of naan breads.