The hot spot

Coral Wilson

The line to the beaches along West Newport started on Newport

Boulevard on Sunday afternoon. Drivers inched forward, anxiously

waiting to dip their toes in the sand.

The parties had died down, and there were no more signs of

fireworks, but people were reluctant to let the Fourth of July

weekend end and head back to work without a last visit to the ocean.

“After all the crowds pass, it gets smooth around here,” said Joe

Cerbasi of Newport Beach, who rode in on his bike. “Nice and slow, a

slow cruising pace. Everyone is in a good mood. That’s what I’ve been

waiting for all weekend long.”

The weekend brought in good weather and a lot of visitors, a

change from the recent gloomy weather, he said.

“It’s such a change,” Cerbasi said. “You see a lot of local faces,

and the beach is not very crowded, and then the Fourth of July hits

like a smack in the face. Summer’s here.”

Crowds reached more than 100,000 by mid-afternoon, more than

Saturday’s crowd of about 70,000 and about the same number of people

at the beach on Friday, said Mark Herman, lifeguard dispatcher.

But even with the high numbers of people, rescues and injuries

were limited, involving only minor cuts and a broken ankle, he said.

“The biggest thing we worry about on the beach is the combination

of alcohol consumption and people going in the water,” lifeguard Lt.

Boyd Mickley said.

The impaired judgment that comes with intoxication and the

unpredictability of the ocean could be a dangerous combination, he

said.

Some residents said sharing the beach with thousands of visitors

can sometimes causes problems. Karl Hartmann-Hansen of Newport Beach

said he avoided coming to the beach until Sunday because of the

crowds, but dealing with the traffic and parking had been a battle

all weekend. For those reasons, he said he prefers the beach in the

wintertime.

“It gets meaner out here in the summertime,” he said. “People are

rude. It’s the vacation attitude. People want what they want when

they want it. And they want you to get of the way.”

For 10-year-old Sean Sullivan of Newport Beach, it was just

another day at the beach. He said he walks from his house regularly

to ride the waves on his boogie board. He agreed that the beach is

nicer without all the people.

“There are a lot more people,” he said. “They take up all the

water.”

While some people played in the waves and the sand, others took it

easy, watching the world go by from their homes on the sand. Jennifer

Bell, 18, from Las Vegas, said just sitting on the porch of her

family’s rental house had provided plenty of entertainment.

“It was fun watching the drunk people fall on the sand from their

bikes,” she said.

Grant Fowlie, 23, and Sanders Kievman, 55, of Los Angeles, said

they had seen it all over the weekend -- bare breasts, drugs,

fighting and people getting arrested.

“It was wild on the Fourth,” Fowlie said. “It’s been crazy. In all

the years I’ve come here, I’ve never seen so many people.”

Facing the steady stream of people on roller blades, bicycles and

on foot, Cerbasi, a bartender, said he was working all weekend and

missed all the action. About to head back to work, he said he was

unbothered by the crowds and wished he could stay on the beach all

day.

“Everyone works so hard,” he said. “With all the hustle and

bustle, everyone has to take some time to enjoy. That’s what we live

here for, I guess.”

* CORAL WILSON is the news assistant and may be reached at (949)

574-4298 or by e-mail at coral.wilson@latimes.com.