A Holiday for Some, Just Work for Others
Although the calendar says today is July 3, it’s already Independence Day for workers at Hughes Aircraft.
It’s also a holiday for workers at Builders Emporium’s headquarters in Irvine. But Builders Emporium employees who work at the company’s 19 stores in Orange County will spend today and Saturday on the job.
Just how much of a holiday is the Fourth of July this year for residents of Orange County? A random check of employers shows that when--and whether--you get Independence Day off depends on the kind of company you work for--and the kind of work you do.
Since July 4 falls on a Saturday this year, many companies have elected to give workers today off. Those most likely to have a three-day weekend are office workers and employees of manufacturing firms.
Three-day weekends for employees of Hughes Aircraft and McDonnell Douglas were negotiated by their unions, company spokesmen said. “When a holiday falls on a weekend, it’s our practice to give employees either Monday or Friday off,” McDonnell Douglas spokesman Nissen Davis said.
If you’re in a service industry or in sales, there’s a good probability that Independence Day is a holiday in name only.
“We can’t let all our employees off for the Fourth because we provide essential services, and we have to keep them on duty regardless of what day it is,” Pacific Bell spokeswoman Linda Bonniksen said.
Indeed, at Pacific Bell it will be “business as usual” today and Saturday. Rather than getting a day off, Bonniksen said, Pacific Bell employees will receive an extra day’s pay for working today and double time-and-a-half for working Saturday.
Several companies are giving their administrative staffs today off, but not other workers. At Disneyland, 1,600 office workers get a holiday today, but the 6,500 people who work on the grounds of the Anaheim amusement park will be on duty both today and Saturday.
“It’s one of our busiest times of the year, so obviously we’re going to be open,” Disneyland spokesman Bob Roth said. Those who work through the holiday will be allowed to take a day off later in the year.
At Carl Karcher Enterprises, the 400 people who work at the fast food company’s headquarters in Anaheim will have today off. Not so the 2,800 people in the county who work at the company’s Carl’s Jr. restaurants. They’ll take a day off later in the year, spokesman Patrick Flynn said.
‘It’s a Holiday’
Business booms around the Fourth of July for the county’s flag retailers. But the doors to Nikki’s Flags in Newport Beach will be shuttered on Independence Day.
“I’m going to be at the parade in Huntington Beach,” company owner Corki Whitford said. “It’s a holiday, isn’t it?”
Forecasters said the weekend in Southern California will have overcast mornings. Bright and warm afternoons will give way to cool evenings, with more clouds gathering before midnight.
The high temperature in Orange County Thursday was 75 in Santa Ana, which recorded a low of 61. In Newport Beach the high was 68, and the low was 61.
Forecasters agreed that it might be a few degrees warmer today--but not so much that you would know it without a thermometer.
‘An Atypical Day’
“It was an atypical day,” lifeguard Mike Buerlein said Thursday in Huntington Beach. “The surf is almost nonexistent. The water temperature is also cold. . . . 58 degrees. If it stays like this, it might not be too good for the weekend.”
At Laguna Beach, lifeguard Mark Klosterman said it was “a funny day” because the water temperature was 66 degrees, much warmer than farther north on Orange County’s beaches.
Klosterman said the “surf was pretty light,” breaking at just one to two feet.
Beaches today are expected to be cool: afternoon highs from the mid-60s to the mid-70s, with surf two to four feet in most places, an afternoon sea breeze rising to 16 m.p.h. and ocean temperature in the mid-60s.
Keep Mornings Cloudy
The weather is not expected to change next week, forecasters said. An upper-level trough over the eastern Pacific was expected to maintain a dry, southwest flow of air at least until the middle of next week, keeping skies mostly clear but also encouraging an onshore flow of marine air to keep morning skies cloudy along the coast.
Holiday yachtsmen who stick close to shore can expect westerly winds rising to 15 knots and two-foot seas in the afternoons from Point Concepcion to the Mexican border, while those who venture farther out should look for northwest winds gusting to 20-25 knots and three-foot seas, combined with three-foot northwest swells in the afternoons.
Mountain skies should be clear, with temperatures to the upper 70s at resort levels, although the National Weather Service said the Sierra could have a few thundershowers before Monday.
High-desert temperatures are expected to pass 100 degrees, with low deserts a few degrees hotter. Forecasters said west to southwest winds could hit 25 m.p.h. at times in the afternoons and evenings.
115 Degrees in Las Vegas
The forecasters said Arizona’s holiday should be sunny and clear, with highs to the 80s in the mountains and to 110 degrees or more in the deserts. Las Vegas visitors can expect afternoon temperatures to 115 degrees, with local winds gusting to 25 m.p.h.
Ensenada will get its share of late-night and early-morning cloudiness, but skies should be sunny before noon, with temperatures in the 70-to-75-degree range.
San Francisco’s traditional morning fog and low clouds were expected to burn away by the afternoons at most inland locations, though they could persist along the coast. Temperatures were expected to range from the mid-60s to the mid-70s.
Times Staff Writer Ray Perez contributed to this story.
