Despite gray morning skies along the coast, restrictions on alcohol at most beaches and budget-busting gas prices, San Diego County residents celebrated a joyful Fourth of July with Main Street parades and beach-side barbecues.
A ban on alcohol at most of the county's beaches kept things quieter than last year at San Diego's Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach and Mission Beach – but caused crowds to swell at Silver Strand State Beach south of Coronado, where drinking is still permitted. Beach-goers, many of whom endured the morning fog, were rewarded with sunshine by the afternoon.
The parking lots at Silver Strand were full by 7:45 a.m., and rangers stood at the entrance, turning away cars. Izell Gunner, who supervises the rangers, said that as far as he knows, that's the earliest the lots were ever closed.
“Usually, the lots aren't full until 10 a.m.,” Gunner said.
Beach-goers began arriving on foot before midnight Thursday, carrying picnic supplies past the closed gates of the parking lot so they could claim prime spots. When the gates opened at 6 a.m., a long line of cars was waiting to get in.
“Everyone told me I was crazy to come at midnight, but we got the first fire pit and our car was the first into the lot,” said Ralph Bonnett, a Chula Vista children's counselor.
Gunner estimated that by midmorning, up to 15,000 people were on the beach, and a steady stream of people continued to arrive by foot and bicycle.
Gunner said there were probably two reasons for the crowds: high gas prices, which caused locals to stay close to home during the three-day weekend, and the alcohol ban at other beaches.
Everett Hinojosa of Chula Vista, who celebrated his 21st birthday last Fourth of July with a beer bash at Pacific Beach, was at Silver Strand this year, chugging beer with friends from a funnel-shaped “beer bong.”
“I liked Pacific Beach because it was a little bit further from my home, so the atmosphere was different, but here you can drink beer,” Hinojosa said.
One of his friends, Chula Vista recreation worker Terris Davis, ticked off the reasons he prefers Pacific Beach: better surf, younger atmosphere, free parking (if you're lucky enough to get in early), beach-side restaurants. But as far as he was concerned, the ability to drink beer at Silver Strand outweighed all other factors.
Meanwhile at Pacific Beach, the alcohol ban wasn't completely effective. One cluster of San Diego State University students happily drank beer out of opaque water bottles. They complained that it was “ridiculous” that they couldn't legally drink on the beach when other people were drinking at bars and going down to the beach drunk.
Other college students took inflatable rafts onto Mission Bay and drank there to circumvent the ban.
Though little hard data were available yesterday, some law enforcement agencies said there were few citations or arrests for drinking on the beach.
San Diego police won't release statistics until next week, but spokeswoman Mo'nica Muñoz said that as of yesterday afternoon there were only a couple drunk-in-public arrests and a few smoking tickets issued. Munoz described the scene at San Diego beaches as a “night-and-day difference” from last Fourth of July.
“It's very quiet,” she said.
San Diego lifeguards estimated that 586,000 people thronged the city's beaches yesterday. Crowds were down about 20 percent from last year at Ocean Beach and about one-third lower at Pacific Beach, Lt. Greg Buchanan said.
Quiet was also the watchword for San Diego County sheriff's deputies patrolling North County beaches.
A spokesman at the Encinitas sheriff's station said the only wrinkle was from beach-goers who had buried two kegs at a Del Mar beach Thursday night, hoping patrolling officers wouldn't notice yesterday. One man was ticketed in that incident, and police confiscated the kegs.
At the Oceanside pier, revelers barbecued on the sand and splashed in the waves. About 2 p.m., a rock band called Illicit Behavior played tunes in the band shell for a jubilant crowd.
Oceanside resident Ed Swenton seemed to enjoy the group's rendition of “L.A. Woman” by The Doors. He said crowds and steep gas prices prompted him to stay close to home with his niece, Ana Wall, 19, who was visiting from Rochester, N.Y.
“We didn't go up to Disneyland because of this, or L.A.,” Swenton said. “I live four miles from here. This is the place to be.”
Away from the beaches, the holiday was a day of parades and flag-waving, followed by fireworks in the nighttime sky. In Julian, both sides of the town's main thoroughfare were lined with people watching the 15th annual Independence Day Parade. The celebration began with military plane flyovers, Dixieland music and mock historic gunbattles.
Chuck Preble of Julian marched down Main Street dressed as a Revolutionary War officer, wearing a wool coat, tricorn hat and high black boots.
“I like being part of the fun,” said Preble, a freelance writer who has lived in Julian for 18 years. He said he often gets into character by yelling, “Down with the British!” and stirring up the crowd.
Later, he and a group of other re-enactors donned Civil War uniforms and fired muskets.
Parade-goer Chris Haney of Monterey said the re-enactments were among his favorite moments of the celebration. He had been visiting relatives in Ramona for several days and decided to take in Julian's small-town atmosphere.
“It's quite quaint,” Haney said.
His cousin, Kara Haney of Hollister, said she wouldn't let high gas prices stop her from enjoying the day with her Ramona relatives and her son, Adam, 3. She said the holiday holds special significance in her family: Her father and brother served in the Army.
“If I have to pay $10 a gallon to celebrate, I will,” she said.
Around noon, an ear-splitting cannon blast marked the start of the parade, which honored Julian's hometown heroes, including the Friends of the Library and American Legion Post 468.
“This is kind of classical Americana,” Patrick Kara of Escondido said.
