Santa Monica by the Dawn’s Early Light

Santa Monica’s final traditional celebration of the Fourth of July played more like a Tet offensive for drunks, the overdosed and the sunbaked.

That was two years ago. A half-million people crammed a short strand in an 8.1-square-mile city, and one man died. Streets, beaches, lawns, lots, alleys and the city’s 150-man police department were swamped.

A decision by the battered city was immediate, unanimous and in keeping with retreats beaten by other Southern California cities by the sand: Never again.

But a July 4 without firecrackers? Without hot dogs? Without Francis Scott Key and Jimmy Cagney as Yankee Doodle Dandy and more fun poked at poor George III?

Without missing a beat in his labors as executive director of the Santa Monica Arts Commission, Henry Korn came up with an alternative.

Same open, public Independence Day festival with fireworks and music. Same day. But 16 hours earlier, at 5 a.m., when events by dawn’s early light would actually be in closer keeping with the spirit and history of the day.

And it came to pass, last year, when early birds flocked in the darkness and Santa Monica became the only city in the nation to offer a Fourth of July firecracker celebration before breakfast.

“The sense of the kind of day it would be came 24 hours beforehand,” Korn remembered. “The calls were coming in from the high desert and Orange County and that answered our first worry: ‘What if we gave a party and nobody came?’

“When I got here at 4 a.m., the pier was packed.”

Santa Monica will reprise its sunrise surprise this year under the sponsorship and coordination of the city’s Department of Cultural and Recreation Services.

Still, without the sun over the yardarm and a cold beer in hand and the memory of at least one baseball game to go on, aren’t firecrackers with coffee rather like dessert before dinner?

Not a bit of it, says Korn.

“Just count the holidays that . . . by Congress deciding to move them around so the public would benefit from three-day weekends . . . have been robbed of their meaning. So do things such as the Fourth of July move away from the past.”

Independence Day, adds Korn, has become an excuse for a binge rather than a reason for celebration. A sense of significance, of the birth of a nation, of patriotic sacrifice, tends to be dissolved by sunburn, indigestion and hangovers.

But dawn, he said, is an enchanted hour best associated with rebirth and spiritual meanings in an environment, where “the sky is a little bit bluer and the sand a little cleaner and the sea seems to sparkle a little more.”

And dawn, it may be presumed, attracts a better, more dedicated class of people less likely to be lugging cases of beer to the beach.

“So we’re refurbishing the tradition of July 4th, rejuvenating its spirit,” he said.

This year’s show will be accompanied by a broadcast simulcast (on KSRF-FM) of red, white and blue rock ‘n’ roll. Randy (“I Love L.A.”) Newman. Bruce (“Born in the U.S.A.”) Springsteen. Chuck (“Back in the U.S.A.”) Berry and the Beach (“Surfin’ U.S.A.”) Boys.

The post-fireworks finale will be a concert by the 65-musician Los Angeles Pops Orchestra with an All-American medley from John Philip Sousa, Meredith Willson, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Morton Gould and others.

“At that special time of day,” Korn said, “the sky is this fluorescent blue and the color bursts of the flares and shells is an absolutely exquisite sight.”

Last year, there also was Ray Charles’ fine and modern version of the national anthem.

Charles reached a particular line and sang of the purple mountains’ majesty. At that point, Korn said, dawn lifted and “there, literally, were the purple Santa Monica Mountains emerging behind the fireworks.”

That’s July 4th in Southern California. That’s also show biz.

Dawn’s Early Light fireworks show over Santa Monica Bay, July 4th at 5 a.m. Beach parking lots will be open from 3 a.m. For information: (213) 458-8310.