New Business
The Holidays
225 Avenida Calafia
760.707.9141
www.theholidaysca.com
Compiled by Katherine Nowicki
Nature lovers who struggle with the hassle of camping are in luck. The Holidays, a nostalgic camping experience located within San Clemente State Beach, is set to open on Aug. 1.
Inspired by a 2012 magazine article that featured vintage campers, guests at The Holidays stay in fully-stocked 1960s vintage trailers.

“We provide linens, towels, dishwasher, silverware, soap, coffee, shampoo and games like horseshoes and bocce ball,” owner Andrew Bryan Jones said. “People just need to bring clothes and food.”
Owners Jones and Kellen Bann Ausdal have almost a decade of experience in the hotel and hospitality industry, and The Holidays is the first business either of them has owned.
Jones and Ausdal chose the Holidays’ location for its proximity to the beach.
“We hope to generate awareness of state parks,” Jones said.
The campers are set up in a circular area so everyone keeps their privacy, but meeting new people is also encouraged. Each trailer has its own fire pit and grill, and there is a communal fire pit as well. Owners refer to The Holidays as community camping.
“My wife and I have young kids and so we know how difficult and involved packing is,” Jones said. “We hope to attract people like us with young children as well as people looking for an out-of-the-box experience.
“I really don’t think there’s anything like us,” Jones added. “The trailers are unique, but they’re a small part of the experience. It’s about sitting around a campfire with your family, creating new friendships and creating lifelong memories.”
New Business
The Yurt
201 Calle de los Molinos
949.382.5537
www.theyurtsc.com
Compiled by Katherine Nowicki
Community space The Yurt celebrated its grand opening with its first art show on July 17. Curated by Suzanne Walsh of Ashes in Orange Peels, this show is the first of The Yurt’s quarterly art shows.
Run by curators Cole Bowen, Jess Lea and Amber Materna, The Yurt hosts workshops and events and offers selected goods from artists and professionals in the fields of jewelry, healing, clairvoyance, ceramics, music, woodworking, curating, weaving, photography, perfumes, culinary arts, design, herbal cultivation, fabrics and publishing.

“Our main focus is to create something really authentic and community-based, so essentially a safe space for everyone to come together regardless of their race, class or orientation that really focuses on healing or nourishing themselves as a whole and just being a truly authentic space for the community,” Materna said. “We’re operating on a shoestring budget. There are no investors; we’re all people of the community.”
The Yurt also works closely with the local yoga community and businesses.
“We hope to be a hub for the community,” Bowen said. “We focus a lot on just showcasing the art we know, such as the kinds our friends are creating.”
In addition, supporting local businesses is important, The Yurt curators said.
“We’ve noticed competition between businesses, and ideally we would like to be an example and try to just spread good intentions and dissolve the competition,” Bowen said.
Applications for vendors and artists are available on The Yurt’s website.
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