For most of the last decade, if you lived in Pass Christian and someone asked where to meet, the answer was Davis Avenue. The market on Saturday, coffee somewhere near Second Street, a walk through War Memorial Park under the oaks, dinner at one of three or four rooms you already knew by heart. That spine held.
It is still the spine. But the gravity has shifted a few blocks west, and if you have been out of town for a season you will actually feel it when you come back. A stretch of West Scenic Drive that a year ago was a hotel, a bar, and some construction fencing has quietly become the second downtown, and it is changing what a locals' Saturday looks like.
The Block That Wasn't a Block a Year Ago
The through-line is the Nicaud Group, run by brothers Jourdan and Fields Nicaud, who grew up on the Coast after moving from Old Metairie. Their bet was that a contemporary-style waterfront resort called Pass Bungalows would anchor a cluster of restaurants, shops, and rentals on West Scenic, soft-launching its first 21 hotel rooms, a swimming pool and tiki bar, and a clothing shop on May 1. By early July all 36 hotel rooms were open, along with two in-house restaurants: Field's Italian and Mable's Ice Cream and Coffee Shop.
Around the resort, the tenants that have landed or are landing:
- Field's Italian and Mable's Ice Cream and Coffee Shop, both inside Pass Bungalows
- St. James Cheese Company, the New Orleans cheese shop and lunch spot, in its first out-of-state location at Pass Bungalows
- Nine Toes Brewing Company at 110 West Scenic Drive, next door
- Hotel Pass Christian and Bacchus on the Beach, both already anchoring the block before the buildout
If you have not walked that block since spring, walk it. The shift in foot traffic between four in the afternoon and eight at night is real, and it is the first time in years that a Pass Christian evening has felt like a choice between two districts rather than one.
What Nine Toes Actually Changed
Nine Toes is worth its own section because a brewery does something to a small downtown that a restaurant does not. It creates a place to linger without ordering a full meal, which changes how people plan a Saturday.
The opening happened this spring. The brewery is located at 110 West Scenic Drive in Pass Christian, and a ribbon cutting was held at noon Saturday, April 4. Head brewer Jimmy Sumpter, known for creating India pale ales, pilsners, and fruit sours during his time as head brewer at a Birmingham brewery, relocated to the Pass to build the Nine Toes lineup. The room is built for a mixed crowd: a golf simulator bay inside, a slide and a small hill for kids outside, and old-school video games in the pub.
The quote that stuck with me is from bar lead Christina Cuevas, who told WLOX that "Pass Christian needed a brewery; this is what everyone's been saying, this is the one thing that this town has been missing." That is not marketing language. That is the sound of a gap closing. For years the locals' pre-dinner drink required either Bacchus, a drive to Bay St. Louis, or your own porch. Now there is a third option two doors down from the resort.
Practical note if you have not been in yet: Nine Toes is open Monday from noon to 9, Tuesday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to midnight on Saturday, and Sunday noon to 9. Weeknights are the surprise. Tuesday mahjong and Wednesday trivia have pulled a regular crowd that did not exist as recently as March.
The September Additions
The block is not finished. Cat Island Coffee, already a local establishment in Pass Christian and Gulfport, is opening two new spots in Nicaud developments across the Coast in September, including a brunch-style restaurant in what is now Bacchus Bar. Which means the same West Scenic footprint is about to get a proper morning identity to match its evening one.
If you are keeping a running mental map, this is the piece that finally makes the block work seven days a week. Coffee and brunch at Cat Island in the morning, lunch at St. James Cheese, dinner at Field's, a beer at Nine Toes after. That is a full-day loop inside four hundred feet of sidewalk, which is a thing Pass Christian has never had before.
What Stays the Same, and Why That Matters More
The temptation with a piece like this is to declare the old downtown obsolete. It is not. The Saturday morning still starts where it has always started.
The Pass Christian Market is a year-round open air market providing fresh produce, prepared food, plants, and arts and crafts directly from producers, and it runs Saturdays at the harbor. The park is still where the calendar lives. Jazz in the Pass, Art in the Pass, Christmas in the Pass, and Paws in the Pass all still happen at War Memorial Park, and Art in the Pass draws roughly 100 artists and about 10,000 visitors from Pensacola to Baton Rouge when it returns in the spring.
Here is the loop that actually works right now for a resident with a free Saturday in August or September:
- Market at the harbor green space early, before the humidity finds you
- Walk Davis for whatever errand you were going to run anyway
- Cut west along Scenic under the oaks past the historic houses
- Late lunch or a cheese board at St. James, or an early beer at Nine Toes if the market wore you out
- Home for the hot part of the day
- Back out around six for dinner at Field's or a plate at Bacchus, depending on your mood
- A last pour at Nine Toes if the porch is full at home
Two years ago that loop ended at step three and picked back up at dinner somewhere you had eaten fifty times. The middle of the day is the part that changed.
The Longer Game a Block Away
The other reason this block matters to anyone who owns a house here: it is not just hospitality. The Nicauds are working on a separate development a block away called St. Paul Center, with 36 lots available for people to purchase and build homes on, plus a centralized pool, curated walking paths, and gardens, launching in March 2026 as an addition to their evolving commercial hub on West Scenic Drive.
A commercial anchor that pulls foot traffic and a residential development within walking distance of that anchor is the kind of pattern that shows up in property values years before it shows up in headlines. You do not need to be selling to notice it. You just need to know that the block a mile from your porch is doing something new, and that the something new has staying power because there is a resident base being built to support it.
The Historical Society Is Still Running Its Own Rhythm
One more thing, because it will matter more in the fall than it does right now. The Pass Christian Historical Society has a Monday luncheon with a speaker on September 28, 2026, and another on October 26, 2026, both at noon. Christmas in the Pass parade viewing is set for Friday, December 4, and the Holiday Membership Party is Monday, December 7. If you have lived here a while, you already know. If you moved in during the last two years, this is the calendar that runs underneath the restaurant openings and does not depend on them.
The Point, For Someone Who Already Lives Here
The story of Pass Christian this summer is not that a resort opened. Resorts open. The story is that a single stretch of West Scenic Drive now has enough density of independent operators, most of them under one ownership umbrella, to function as a second downtown without draining the first. The market still runs. The park still runs. Davis Avenue is still Davis Avenue. But the evening pull has moved a few blocks, and that changes small things about your week.
It changes where you take a friend visiting from out of state on their first night. It changes what you suggest when someone at work says they have never been over here. It changes whether the "one thing missing" complaint locals have been repeating for a decade is still true. It is not, as of April. It will be even less true by October.
If you have been meaning to walk that block and have not yet, this is the month.
If you're thinking about what your home might be worth as this end of town keeps building out, Prosper Realty is happy to give you a straight read on where your block sits in the current market. Get a Free Home Valuation whenever you're ready.
