Parks, Roads, Beaches Fill Up for the Holiday

By land and by sea, Memorial Day and Orange County’s picture-perfect skies combined to pack ‘em in Monday.

Major county picnic areas, including Irvine Regional Park, filled up quickly and were closed for an hour or longer. The beaches, which had had sizable but unremarkable attendance during the weekend, drew big crowds Monday. Newport Harbor was “inundated” with boat traffic, as one Harbor Patrol officer put it.

And about 2:30 p.m. Monday, the California Highway Patrol issued a terse warning that the freeways--especially Interstate 5 through the length of Orange County--were jammed and that motorists should use alternate routes.

Still, as of Monday evening, the CHP’s Santa Ana office had reported no fatal traffic accidents for the day, and figures for drunk-driving arrests in Orange County alone had not been tallied yet.

However, the combined Memorial Day weekend total for drunk-driving arrests for Orange and San Diego counties from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday was 397, up from 308 during the same period last year, according to CHP Lt. Bob Weaver in Los Angeles. By 6 a.m. Monday, there had been 10 accidents involving 11 deaths in the unincorporated areas of both

counties, contrasted with four accidents involving four deaths during the same period a year ago.

City police departments within the two-county region reported four traffic fatalities as of 6 a.m. Monday, contrasted with three last year, Weaver said.

Automobile traffic was a major problem for park rangers Monday.

At Irvine Regional Park on Chapman Avenue in Orange, rangers closed the entrance shortly after noon when 1,225 regular parking spaces and about 600 spaces in so-called overflow areas were filled. The park was reopened about 4:30.

“We had probably about 8,000 to 9,000 people,” said ranger Phillip Shields. “We had a couple of bike accidents, with one rider suffering a dislocated shoulder, but everybody else enjoyed themselves. There was a lot of hiking around and people just having lots of fun.”

Shields said attendance was “a little more than last year.” Yorba Park in Anaheim was closed about 1 p.m. after about 20,000 people had entered. Also closed for an hour or more on Monday were Laguna Niguel Regional Park, Mason Park in Irvine and Carbon Canyon Park in Brea.

An officer at Harbor Patrol headquarters at Newport Harbor said that all three county harbors were “quite busy” but that incidents were limited mainly to jet-skiers coming too close to the surf line and outboard motors running out of gas.

The beaches, which had had sizable but unremarkable crowds during the weekend, drew bigger crowds Monday.

Huntington Beach city and state beaches, however, were the only ones reporting a significant number of rescues--about 80 to 100 by mid-afternoon. “Conditions are extremely hectic,” said state lifeguard Harbor McCulloch. Both areas, because of the configuration of their coastlines, were experiencing strong rip currents despite tame-looking, 2-foot surf.

The city’s rescue boat was participating in many of the rescues because the current was taking swimmers so far from shore. No one was injured, however.

Huntington State Beach lifeguards estimated the number of beach-goers at 110,000, while the city reported about 80,000.

The weather was appealing. “It’s gorgeous down here. It’s 78, clear, 12-mile visibility,” said McCulloch. “The water temperature’s a little cool, but outside of the water, it’s hot.” Rip currents were not reported elsewhere in the county.

At Laguna Beach, lifeguard Kevin Snow said, “It’s really crowded, but uneventful--a nice, crowded-but-mellow day.”

Not so mellow for motorists, however. Coast Highway and Laguna Canyon Road were backed up. Spectators swarmed the Main Beach volleyball and basketball courts, and a crafts fair on Forest Avenue drew lots of shoppers.

In Newport Beach, where the air and water temperature matched at 65 degrees with a 15-m.p.h. wind, Lt. John Blauer of the city’s marine safety division, said, “The breeze is keeping most of the people out of the water, but it’s sunny.”

In Sunset Beach, 30-year-old motorcyclist Angel Chavez of Huntington Beach was thrown 50 feet to the pavement Sunday night after a car turned in front of him on Pacific Coast Highway near 9th Street. He is in fair condition at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, the CHP said.

Authorities said Chavez was not wearing a helmet and suffered “major head trauma” after his cycle rammed the front end of the turning car.

The driver of the car, Craig Coonrad, 25, of San Francisco, was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, officers said.

Staff writer Jim Carlton contributed to this story.