San Diegans Pack Churches and Beaches on Sunny Easter

Sunday proved to be a day of extremes in San Diego County, with residents flocking in near-record numbers to area beaches, churches and restaurants, and avoiding shopping centers and most of their customary haunts altogether.

With unseasonably warm weather fueling summery conditions, an estimated 87,000 people turned up at beaches between Point Loma and Black’s Beach near La Jolla, officials said. City lifeguards staged more than 100 rescues made necessary by savage rip currents.

“It’s like one of the worst days of the summer,” sighed Marisa Umnuss, a spokeswoman for the city’s lifeguard service. “In mid-afternoon, at Pacific Beach alone, there was like a wall of people, 200 yards long and 50 yards wide.”

Umnuss said Sunday’s most serious rescue involved eight swimmers stranded when a south-dragging rip current “piled into them” just south of the sand bar in Ocean Beach. She said the day’s problems included water-balloon launchers and “drunks going for swims.”

Estimated crowds in excess of 20,000 showed up along beaches extending from Torrey Pines State Park near La Jolla to Carlsbad and Oceanside, said Kelly Steger, a dispatcher for the state’s lifeguard service that patrols most of the North County coastline.

Steger said Sunday was remarkably free of rescues in North County, mainly because surf north of the San Diego River was relatively timid, compared to Saturday’s crashing waves, which stranded surfers and swimmers alike.

The park-like setting of Seaport Village drew thousands of people Sunday, while most of the county’s shopping centers were closed for all or part of the day in honor of Easter Sunday. Two Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream stands at Seaport Village slowed down only at closing time.

“It’s unbelievable! Business is terrific,” said Joe Crosswhite, who manages both stands and who remarked that, without a doubt, the day’s most popular flavors were Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and New York Super Fudge Chunk.

While Crosswhite was ladling up dozens of bowls of “Dough” and “Chunk,” diners at restaurants all over the county peppered their palates with more substantial fare at various Easter brunches.

Arthur Orenstein, the manager of Piret’s in Encinitas, said his North County eatery was packed, with many groups consisting of mothers, fathers, sons, daughters and cousins and grandparents.

Orenstein offered up his regular menu in addition to special Easter cuisine consisting of such delicacies as baked ham with two pepper sauces and cilantro pesto sauce and, for dessert, amaretto creme brulee or fresh strawberries dipped in chocolate sprinkles.

Ordinarily, the Baltimore Bagel Co. outlet on Navajo Road in San Carlos is crowded with bagel lovers clamoring for apple cinnamon, egg-onion, banana and even chocolate chip bagels. But Sunday was not among the popular deli’s better days.

“It was dead,” manager Eileen Allen said.

Easter wasn’t the only holiday being celebrated on Sunday. This year, the 8-day Jewish observance of Passover coincided with the Christian celebration. Passover began Friday at sundown. For those who observe, it prohibits the eating of leavened bread, such as bagels.

Allen lost her Jewish clientele to Passover, her Christian clientele to Easter and concluded unequivocally, “Business-wise, for us, it was, without a doubt, the worst day of the year, certainly the worst Sunday. But next Sunday, we’ll be packed again.”

Richard Stern, the telemarketing manager at the Lyceum theater complex in Horton Plaza, agreed to man the ticket booth Sunday so that his Christian colleagues could observe Easter. Stern and his family enjoyed a Passover Seder Friday night in Del Mar.

“My little nephew and niece were going crazy--I loved it,” he said. “We had it at my parents’ home. Both my grandmothers were there, my brother and his lady friend, and of course, my cousins.”

Stern sold tickets to Sunday’s matinee performance of “John’s Gospel,” a special Easter offering of the National City-based Lamb’s Players Theatre, which occasionally uses the Lyceum Stage.

“Lots of flowery dresses for the ladies,” Stern said of the crowd, many of whom had just come from church.

Other Sunday celebrations included an Easter parade in La Jolla, featuring plenty of flowery hats, a meal for the homeless in Pacific Beach served up by 77-year-old activist Dottie Hensen and the conclusion of the World Show-Jumping Champions horse event at a new exhibition space at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Trophy’s Sports Grill in Mission Valley customarily draws a packed house of beer-guzzling, nacho-munching sports fans to watch just about any event that a satellite dish can pick up. But the receptionist said Sunday was eerily quiet.

Just as well. Those who did show up saw the Padres lose 1-0 in extra innings to the Astros in Houston, ruining an exquisite pitching performance by Andy Benes, who discovered that finding runs is far more difficult than finding Easter eggs.

Sunday also offered numerous sunrise services, and churches all over the county found their pews packed. The Rev. George Stevens, a San Diego City Councilman, worshiped where he always does, at Calvary Baptist Church, one of the city’s oldest religious establishments.

“(Sunday) was very peculiar,” Stevens said. “People were really listening to the message. They were involved in the service. It wasn’t the usual Easter parade with everyone all dressed up, flowers in the hats, kids with wide dresses and bow ties . . .

“That didn’t happen so much this year, and I don’t know why. But it makes me hopeful. No one was parading. No one was making a scene. Everyone was worshipful, and quiet. It was beautiful, and I loved it.”

The weather was beautiful, too, and according to Richard Stitt of the National Weather Service at Lindbergh Field, more balmy days are expected through the weekend. Stitt said temperatures in the lower 70s at the beaches, with equally warm ocean water, made for a beachgoer’s paradise and will for a few days to come.

“We’re not having a full-blown Santa Ana,” Stitt said. “Just warm, beautiful weather for a Sunday in April. It couldn’t be better.”