Sizzling summer finale

Sept. 3, 2002 12 AM PT

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.”