Sizzling summer finale
Paul Clinton
With the sun blazing, beachgoers put a bow on summer by turning
out en masse at Corona del Mar State Beach for some Labor Day fun.
Huge crowds filled the beach on the holiday weekend leading in to
the first day of school for many children, the start of the NFL
football season and other events signaling the coming of fall.
Kendell Minor, who lives in Redlands, jogged down to a lifeguard
shack to ask if it was permissible to cook up some chicken, ribs and
hot dogs at one of the beach fire pits.
He was given the green light.
“We’ve got the family out here,” Minor said, adding that he was
accompanied by four other families. “The kids have to start school
Tuesday.”
By noontime, the state beach was a carpet of speckled and colorful
beach umbrellas stretching from the jetties at Newport Harbor to
Crystal Cove State Beach.
City beaches were also swarmed, the crowds brought by baking
weather further inland.
About 105,000 visitors flocked to beaches from the Santa Ana River
to Cameo Shores, just north of Crystal Cove, Lifeguard Capt. Jim
Turner said.
“This is holiday big,” Turner said. “With this heat wave, people
are roasting. They all came down to the beach.”
Crowds almost reached capacity. Turner said the beaches can handle
about 120,000 visitors.
Even though the sunny weather inspired a beach trip for many
residents living further inland, there were few rescues, lifeguards
reported.
There were only between three and four dozen rescues on Labor Day,
Turner said.
An ocean swell is expected to bring sizable waves to the area on
Wednesday though, Turner said, with waves cresting at 5 to 8-feet off
of the city’s shoreline.
Despite the hot weather, some beachgoers said Monday was actually
somewhat cooler than Sunday, when temperatures were 105 degrees in
some Southland cities.
Mike Wharry, 39, arrived at Corona del Mar Monday afternoon after
driving from Upland, near Rancho Cucamonga. Wharry said he brought
his children to enjoy a last hurrah before school gets underway.
The streets leading away from Corona del Mar’s beach were jammed
with cars, with few parking spots available to the crowds.
“It’s a nice day out, not as hot as yesterday,” Wharry said.
“Found a parking spot, though we had to walk quite a ways.”
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