Tourists’ Imminent Departure Has Laguna’s Walkarounders Reeling

As the Labor Day weekend arrives in Laguna Beach, promising the imminent departure of the summer tourist swarm, a group of locals will head south on their own migration of sorts.

This Sunday, as they have for every year at precisely this time, these locals will gather at the Royal Hawaiian bar at the north end of town, toast goodby and good riddance to tourists and embark on an unsomber journey south called The Walkaround.

As tradition dictates, the participants make their way along Pacific Coast Highway, stopping at various bars to again clink glasses in celebration of the tourist exodus.

The group may be as small as 20 or as large as 150, depending on how many join and drop off along the route. The number of bars they hit depends on how many will let them in. The most die-hard marchers may stop in as many as 15.

Although the event is steeped in tradition, no one is quite sure when it started.

Origins of Walkaround

David Elstad, a bartender at the Saloon, said four Laguna Beach men started The Walkaround in 1969. Three have since moved and the other died. Others said the tradition may have begun informally years before.

But even if today’s Walkarounders don’t know when it started, they know how it’s supposed to work. At least, they recall some of it from one year to the next.

It starts at 4 p.m., always the Sunday before Labor Day, always at the Royal Hawaiian.

There, they elect a grand marshal or captain, who leads the pack from one watering hole to the next. Being the grand marshal is an honor because no one may be a marshal twice, said Chuck Harrell, owner of The Sandpiper bar, who has both participated in the Walkaround and bartended for it.

Next is the presentation of the bell, kazoo or noisemaker to the captain, who will sound the device when it’s time to move on. At that signal, any participants with drinks still in hand are encouraged to down them before they head out the door.

The group also designates one person as the “runner,” who must run ahead to the next bar to warn the bartender of the approaching herd.

The last stop is supposed to be Tortilla Flats. “Not a lot of people make it that far,” said Nanci Nichols, a Laguna Beach native who tends bar and joins The Walkaround.

A good portion of the crowd ends up at The Sandpiper, the second to the last bar.

“Ends up is pretty aptly phrased,” said Kim Horton, bartender at The Sandpiper. “A lot of ends are up by the time they get here. . . . I think the stock in Alka Seltzer and Bufferin goes up in Laguna Beach that time of year.”

The Sandpiper’s Harrell said the crowd is generally amiable because most of the locals know the territory and each other.

“I’d say 90% who go know the bars,” he said. “They know who works in them, and they have that respect.”

Even though The Walkaround has attracted more people over the years, it hasn’t caused problems, Laguna Beach Police Chief Neil Purcell said.

“We have patrols out there anyway,” he said. “On a scale of one to five, with five being the worst, I see it as a one. There’s just no problems with it.

“That’s not to say the potential is not there. But if they hold to their track record of the last 15 years, (the group will be all right),” he said.

One year, however, The Walkaround became a bit unruly.

In 1970, Purcell was a narcotics officer. On the Sunday before Labor Day, he and eight other undercover officers had just finished a raid when a call came about a brawl across the street at a bar, then called the Saddleback Inn.

The bouncer had refused to let in the Walkarounders, who by that time had been to five or six bars. Fists had begun to fly, Purcell said.

When the plainclothes officers arrived, the Walkarounders didn’t know they were police, and a melee started.

Twelve Walkarounders were arrested and later charged with assault, Purcell said. Some of them likewise accused the police of using excessive force.

But a Police Department investigation exonerated the officers, he said. Believing that justice had not been served, the group dubbed itself the “Laguna 12,” had T-shirts printed and wore them to court when they faced assault charges.

“Some of them were found guilty, others pled out. Then the thing just kind of died,” Purcell said.

After that incident, the annual event continued but was more subdued, he said. Now it is gaining popularity again.

Although the crowd consists mainly of locals, tourists have been known to tag along. Bartenders and cocktail waitresses sometimes join the parade when it comes by. But the names and faces of the regulars have changed over the years.

Kelly Boyd, a longtime Laguna Beach resident who recently bought the Marine Room bar, participated in the first few Walkarounds, but said that was enough for him.

“It used to have a lot of tradition,” Boyd said. “The real reason for it was for locals only to celebrate the end of summer. Now they have people who have no idea why they’re joining the crowd.”

Nonetheless, the Marine Room will be prepared to handle the crowd this year.

“We’ll have two bartenders on hand. We’re about the fifth bar they hit, so they’re not in too bad of shape by then,” Boyd said.

Sometimes, though, bartenders who think they’re ready aren’t.

Nichols, a bartender at the Broadway Bar and Grill during last year’s Walkaround, said she had “overstocked everything, but then what seemed like about 400 people walked in the door, and I started to sweat.” But when the group was ready to leave, “I jumped from behind the bar and went with them.”

Some bars strategically plan for that one half-hour Walkaround rush, where they may sell up to 150 drinks.

Drinks in Plastic Glasses

“Most places know they’re coming, so they make the drinks in plastic glasses,” said P.J. Williams, also a former bartender and participant. “Then, after they’ve left, they check to see how many of their waitresses are gone.”

Because the event occurs during the Sunday dinner hour, some of the restaurants with bars don’t let the crowd in, Harrell said. And some tourists trying to have a peaceful meal steer clear of the Walkaround, Norton said.

“Most of the tourists see this unruly mob screaming and yippin’ and yappin’, but it’s all in good fun,” he said.

Purcell said his officers watch the Walkarounders to make sure any who may be heading for their cars stop and sober up first.

While the Walkaround began to celebrate the end of the tourist season, Purcell said, times have changed.

“After Labor Day you used to be able to shoot a cannon down the street,” he said. “The tourist season is more year-round than it used to be. I still wish it was like the old days where when Labor Day came, you really got your town back.”