Fuse Is Lit for Fireworks Shows : Southland to Be Aglow With a Rainbow of Fiery Displays

After a day of sunning and surfing in San Clemente, after an afternoon of parading and picnicking in Pacific Palisades, after softball games in the park and potato salad and Sousa marches and homemade ice cream at schools and stadiums and backyards in El Segundo and Pasadena and Baldwin Park and Santa Ana--then, everywhere, come the fireworks.

It’s probably only a few minutes’ drive to the nearest fireworks display. With more and more Southland cities banning “safe and sane” fireworks each year (the “backyard” type of fireworks that are sold at roadside stands and either whistle or emit showers of sparks), fire authorities say they expect most former backyard fireworks fans to attend one of the dozens of displays put on by professional pyrotechnicians at parks, beaches and

stadiums around Southern California. There will be nearly 70 such shows in Los Angeles and Orange counties alone, many of them free. (For a list of communities that allow individuals to buy and set off backyard fireworks, and those that don’t, see accompanying story.)

Many fireworks shows will be preceded by other entertainment, such as carnivals, outdoor concerts, game

booths, picnics, sporting events and other activities sponsored by cities or civic organizations. Many such activities precede the actual fireworks shows by one or two hours; others begin early in the day. (The accompanying story lists neighborhood fireworks shows by communities; use the phone numbers listed to find out about scheduled activities that may precede the fireworks shows.)

For those who haven’t made up their minds whether to fill the backyard with sulfur smoke or pack the family off to the local fireworks show, here are some of the largest public displays--and some of the best spots from which to view them:

LOS ANGELES COUNTY

Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia

Although the higher explosions will be visible from outside the park, the best inside vantage point, said Magic Mountain spokeswoman Sherrie Bang, will be at the 4-acre Mystic Lake. The 9:15 p.m. fireworks show will include several ground-level set pieces that will be reflected in the lake, as well as aerial fireworks. There is also a musical show at the lake featuring singers and dancers who perform routines synchronized with the fireworks display. There is bleacher seating at the lake for 4,000 people, Bang said.

The Rose Bowl

This show, titled “Americafest” and designed as a celebration of the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, is being billed as the largest fireworks display on the West Coast. The fireworks show will be preceded by a performance by the USC marching band and circus acts. The gates will open at 6 p.m.; the band will play before and after the circus, which begins at 7:30; the fireworks show is scheduled to begin at 9.

Because of room taken up by pyrotechnic “set pieces” that are constructed inside the bowl, the seating capacity in the stadium will be reduced to about 65,000. As of June 29, nearly 14,000 tickets had been sold. Officials say that although a sellout is possible, it isn’t likely that tickets will be sold out in advance. Prices are $10 for adults and $8 for children under 12. Children under 3 are admitted free. The tickets are expected to be on sale at the bowl all day today, and until noon at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium box office. Ticket information is available from the auditorium box office at (818) 449-7360.

The best vantage points outside of the bowl, according to Pasadena Fire Department officials, are along Arroyo Boulevard on the east side of the bowl and, for the hungry, Skylights restaurant in the top of the nearby Pasadena Hilton Hotel.

The Hollywood Bowl

Only a few single tickets were left for this concert-and-fireworks show early in the week and none were expected to be left by today. However, anyone managing to drive into the area of the Hollywood Hills above the bowl likely would be able to get a view of the fireworks, which are expected to begin between 9:15 and 9:30 p.m. The concert, which is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m., features the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Murry Sidlin, in a program of music by American composers.

Queen Mary

Long Beach’s over-the-water display will be fired from a barge near the liner-turned-hotel at about 9 p.m. today and Sunday. One of the most widely visible shows in the Southland, the display should be viewable from the nearby marina area and from the bluffs bordering Ocean Avenue all along the city’s south-facing beach, said Long Beach fire marshal Sam Husoe.

The best look at the fireworks can be had for the price of a standard attraction ticket to the Queen Mary-Spruce Goose complex, said Louise Wright, a spokeswoman for Wrather Properties Ltd., the operators of the Queen Mary. That ticket--$14.50 for adults, $10.50 for juniors ages 12-17 and $8.50 for children ages 5-11--also entitles the Fourth of July visitor to sit in a set of bleachers set up on the side of the ship nearest the fireworks barge.

Wright said that what is perhaps the second-best vantage point in town--the upper decks of the Queen Mary--is available to anyone purchasing a $5 admission ticket to the ship (which is not good for admission to all parts of the ship or the Spruce Goose exhibit). Parking at the Queen Mary is an additional $3.

Displays over or near the ocean

Apart from the Queen Mary show, there are three major fireworks displays at or near Los Angeles County beaches.

Pacific Palisades will hold its annual Fourth of July parade and fireworks show, with the day’s activities beginning at 8 a.m. with a 5K and 10K run beginning at Palisades Park at 851 Alma Real. The parade, which will include floats, drill teams and bands from throughout Southern California and the western United States, will begin at Pacific Palisades Elementary School at 800 Via de la Paz at 2 p.m. and end at Palisades Park at about 4 p.m. The parade will follow a route from the school north to Sunset Boulevard, then east to Drummond Street, then south to Toyopa Drive and finally west from there to the library.

The fireworks show is free and is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. at the Palisades High School football field at Temescal Canyon Road and Bowdoin Street. The best vantage point, said Flo Elfant, president of the Palisades Americanism Parade Association, is in the football stadium itself “because this is our 25th year and we’ve never run out of room (in the stadium).”

In Marina del Rey, the free fireworks show will be shot from the south jetty beginning at 9 p.m. The best views of the spectacle can be had at nearby Fisherman’s Village, Burton Chace Park and the south end of Via Marina, said Robert Lowe, executive vice president of the Marina del Rey Chamber of Commerce. Also, he said, nearby restaurants with windows facing the show--such as Shanghai Red’s, The Warehouse, Fiasco and Charlie Brown’s--offer late diners prime views.

Boating, Lowe said, can be crowded at that time and could be hazardous because of the fireworks debris that is likely to fall in the main marina channel. He advised boaters to call the Harbor Patrol office for advice.

In El Segundo, the annual fireworks display at El Segundo Recreation Park will begin at 8:45 p.m. A day of activities in the park, located at 401 Sheldon St., will begin at 9 a.m. and will include a community picnic, a tennis tournament, food booths, games and contests, live music and square dancing. Bleacher seats for the fireworks show are priced at $1, but free seating on the grass is available throughout the park.

At Cabrillo Beach at the tip of San Pedro, the free fireworks display will begin at 9 p.m. Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department spokesman Al Goldfarb said the show should be visible all along the beachfront area and any part of the harbor where it is not obscured by the nearby bluffs. Some of the best views, he said, may be from the top of those bluffs.

Long Beach Veterans Stadium

The annual fireworks display at the stadium, located on Clark Avenue south of Lakewood Boulevard, is scheduled to begin about 9 p.m.--after three hours of live music, fire apparatus demonstrations, clowns and drawings for prizes. The stadium gates are scheduled to open at 5:30 p.m.

Tickets, which are available from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Long Beach Fire Department Station 19 at 3559 Clark Ave., and after 4 p.m. at the stadium, are priced at $5 for adults, $3 for children 11 and under and $4 for seniors.

Traditionally, said Husoe, many fireworks fanciers without a ticket to the stadium set up their lawn chairs and fried chicken in nearby Heartwell Park, which he said offers a clear view of the display.

“But it gets pretty full there pretty fast, so anybody who wants a good spot had better get there early,” he said. “Once they start spilling onto the sidewalk or the street, the police will move them back.”

Pierce College, Woodland Hills

Likely the largest display in the San Fernando Valley, this show is preceded by an evening of holiday activities, all located at the college stadium at 6201 Winnetka Ave.

Beginning at 5:30 p.m., there will be folk singing, dancing, live music, a team skydiving demonstration, a sing-along, and--what is likely unique in Southern California--five minutes of daytime fireworks from 5:55 to 6 p.m.

The main fireworks show is scheduled to begin just after 9 p.m. and will feature shells “twice as large as they’ve ever been before,” said Woodland Hills Chamber of Commerce spokesman Laurie Lopez. “You’ll be able to see them all over the Valley.”

Lopez advised an early arrival, “because it fills up pretty fast.”

Tickets are priced at $7 for adults, $6 for seniors and $5 for children 12 and under. They are available at the stadium gate.

Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut

Sing-alongs, a skydiving demonstration, live band music and a mock signing of the Constitution by costumed actors will precede this fireworks display, located at the stadium south of the college at 1100 N. Grand Ave. The gates open at 6 p.m. and activities begin half an hour later.

Although there are several hills surrounding the college, Nadine Brown, executive vice president of the Walnut Chamber of Commerce, said much of that land is wooded private property and offers few good vantage points.

Tickets will be available until 4 p.m. today at the chamber of commerce office at 374 S. Lemon Ave., as well as at the stadium They’re priced at $7 for adults and $3 for children 6-14. Children under 6 are admitted free.

“It’s generally a sellout,” Brown said, “and the lines are usually quite long (to get tickets at the stadium). It’s a good idea to get there early, because it’s first come, first served.”

ORANGE COUNTY

Disneyland

If the Disneyland fireworks show is one of the most spectacular in Southern California, it’s also one of the most crowded. The Fourth of July is traditionally the park’s busiest day of the year, said Disneyland spokesman Al Flores. The trick to minimizing the effects of the crush inside the park, he said, is to arrive early (the park opens at 8 a.m. today) and either leave for a rest in the afternoon and return later (if you have a hotel room or home nearby) or plan to stay at the park all day (closing time is 2 a.m.).

There is a limit on the number of people Disneyland will admit into the park at one time; on past Fourth of July holidays the gates have had to be closed briefly to allow some of the people in the park to leave. However, Flores said, those who come to Disneyland earlier in the day and leave after having their hands stamped will be allowed back in at any time.

The fireworks display, which is shot off from the northern perimeter of the park and is scheduled to begin at about 9:30 p.m., will last about twice as long as the usual summer night fireworks, Flores said. Visibility is good from anywhere outdoors in the park.

While nearby residents may have the best seats in the city for viewing the show; the next best thing, according to Anaheim Chamber of Commerce executive director Allan Hughes, may be any open vantage point between Disneyland and Anaheim Stadium, which also is presenting a fireworks show tonight.

Flores said that anyone staying in an upper room at one of the nearby high-rise hotels with a window facing Disneyland would be guaranteed a fine view. Those without a room are out of luck, however. Hughes said none of the hotels have bars or restaurants located above the lower floors.

Anaheim Stadium

One of the largest public displays in Southern California will follow the baseball game, which starts at 6 p.m., between the California Angels and the Milwaukee Brewers. However, anyone who doesn’t have a ticket (a ticket to the game is good for the fireworks show) by now probably won’t be able to get in.

“We’re expecting a sellout,” said John W. Hays, the Angels’ senior vice president of marketing. “I wouldn’t encourage people to come out to the park (on the Fourth of July) because it’s likely they won’t be able to get a ticket.”

The display, which Hays said will “be almost twice as large as anything that’s been done at Anaheim Stadium previously,” will be “a multimedia show” making use of images on the stadium scoreboard and recorded comments from famous Americans as well as aerial fireworks and set pieces fired to music.

For those without a ticket, Hays suggested finding a comfortable spot in the hills of Anaheim or Orange and bringing along a pair of binoculars. An upper room in the nearby Doubletree Hotel (near the corner of Chapman Avenue and The City Drive) with a window facing the stadium may offer the best view outside the stadium.

Knott’s Berry Farm

The explosions are scheduled to start at 9:45 p.m. at the county’s other theme park. In addition to aerial fireworks, the display will include “set piece”--or ground level--fireworks ignited over the farm’s Reflection Lake. Because of the popularity of the lakeside display, park spokesperson Pamela Baker said visitors should stake out a spot around the lake well in advance.

Overcrowding isn’t expected to be a problem at Knott’s, Baker said. Hand-stamping for reentry is available to those who want to arrive early, leave and return later.

The best vantage point outside the park, Baker said, likely is the large parking lot and grass area adjacent to Knott’s replica of Independence Hall, across Beach Boulevard from the park.

Orange County ocean-front displays

There are three locations along the Orange County coast where devotees of over-water fireworks can satisfy their passion.

The southernmost show begins near the San Clemente pier at dusk and is free. (The sun will set in Southern California tonight at about 8:10, but most fireworks shows aren’t scheduled to begin before 9 p.m.) The show can be seen from most of the beach areas in the city. San Clemente Chamber of Commerce representative Judi Krieger recommended the bluff areas near the T Street beach for landlubbers. For nautical types, anchoring a boat just beyond the pier may offer the very best vantage point, she said. However, Krieger added, those waters often become crowded on the Fourth of July with as many as 150 boats riding at anchor.

The free fireworks begin at Laguna Beach’s main beach at dusk. Because much of Laguna Beach is hilly, “almost anywhere in the city would be a good vantage point,” said Laguna Beach Fire Department battalion chief Joe McClure. He also recommended nearby restaurants such as Las Brisas, the Beach House, the Hotel Laguna and the Towers restaurant of the Surf and Sand Hotel for those who like food or drink with their gunpowder.

In Newport Beach, the show begins at dusk just north of Pacific Coast Highway at the Newport Dunes recreation area at 1131 Back Bay Drive. Admission prices are $2 for adults and $1 for children ages 12 and under. Because Newport Dunes is surrounded by bluffs, “you really don’t get that much of a view from anywhere else in town,” said Newport Beach Fire Department inspector Jim Upton. “Newport Dunes is pretty much down in a hole.” Although the larger, higher explosions in the show may be visible from vantage points around Newport Harbor, Upton doesn’t recommend stopping along the Coast Highway and parking there to see them.