A Festive Fourth : Holiday: Crowds are smaller than usual at events and the beaches. It is a day of picnics and fireworks displays across the Southland.

Postcard weather, patriotic ceremonies and the spectacle of fireworks drew hundreds of thousands of Southern Californians to picnics, beach parties and arts festivals from Pacific Palisades to Pomona on Saturday in celebration of the country’s independence.

But lifeguards and event organizers said that despite the good weather, attendance was lower than usual.

At the Korean Friendship Bell in San Pedro’s Angel’s Gate Park, about 200 veterans and Korean-Americans gathered early in the day to pay quiet tribute to soldiers who died in the Korean War.

As a three-member Air Force Color Guard marched somberly, 1-year-old Cindy Park sat on her mother’s lap waving a miniature plastic American flag.

“She doesn’t know what it all means, but she likes the colors,” said her mother, Teresa Park of Long Beach.

Meanwhile, hundreds strolled along the 3rd Street Promenade taking in the sun and the works of 70 artists, musicians and poets at the third annual Santa Monica International Arts Festival.

Lifeguards reported crowds of 150,000 to 200,000 at Westside beaches from Marina del Rey to Topanga, about half of what is usual for the Fourth of July.

Russ Walker, a lifeguard captain, attributed the relatively sparse crowds to the absence of the pre-dawn fireworks show at the pier.

Earlier in the day, Vietnam veterans gathered at Elysian Park before sunrise for their annual picnic before the Dodger game, where they were to be honored Saturday night.

“We got here at 5 a.m. to stake it out and get a good spot,” Al Varela said.

Elsewhere, the mood was more political than festive.

Abortion rights activists rallied at the Federal Building in Westwood, while a group of anti-abortion Christian fundamentalists held a prayer vigil in Gardena.

Both groups denounced the Supreme Court’s decision last week allowing states to place limits on abortions but keeping the practice legal.

And, at City Hall, 400 motorcyclists protested the state’s helmet law. The motorcyclists said they chose to demonstrate Saturday to regain a lost freedom--the right to ride without helmets.

Just down the street, about 2,000 people from Skid Row headed for the Union Rescue Mission’s annual Fourth of July barbecue at noon. Mission volunteers grilled 3,500 pieces of chicken, 3,000 hamburgers, 3,000 hot dogs and served 450 pounds of baked beans.

Unlike previous years, the mission held its activities during the day so children could take part. About 100 youngsters, many of whom live in downtown residential hotels, competed in games.

About 3,000 people gathered at Centinela Park to join in Inglewood’s annual celebration, park supervisor Tom Barham said.

From rap and rhythm and blues to gospel and Latin jazz, 37 musical acts performed during the daylong event. “Today is a day of unity and independence,” said Jay White, who helped organize the event. “I’m glad we’ve got an atmosphere that is peaceful.”

Members of the Webster family, who live across the street from the park, started before 6 a.m. to stake out a place for the rest of the clan, which would add another 20 or so to their picnic. “People come this early so they can get a grill,” Bernard Webster said.

At Lincoln Park in Lincoln Heights, 9-year-old Omar Echeuregui and his cousin Luis Gomez were catching small bass in the Lincoln Park lake.

“Me and him are on vacation,” Omar said. “That’s why we came out here.”

They had two little bass, about 6 inches long, in a white bucket. Luis said he keeps bass as pets and feeds them tortillas.

At Manhattan Beach, about 80,000 soaked in the sun and watched the 33rd annual Manhattan Beach Open Volleyball Tournament.

To the north, at El Porto Beach, the tar that closed parts of the coast Friday was conspicuously absent.

“No tar has washed up today from what we’ve noticed. As far as we know it’s perfectly safe,” county ocean lifeguard Erik Calcott said.

More than 35,000 people attended “Americafest,” the biggest Fourth of July event in the Southland. The show, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, featured a parade, music and the biggest fireworks show west of the Mississippi, according to an event organizer.

During the parade, fan dancers and double dragons of Arcadia’s 52-member Chinese American Dancing Group moved gracefully to the sound of beating drums.

Across town, a capacity crowd of 18,000 was treated to fireworks and the Los Angeles Philharmonic playing music of George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter at the Hollywood Bowl.

Dressed in Stars and Stripes hats, Martha Kinsella, 57, of Sylmar and Virginia Stephens, 66, of Granada Hills said that even after years of attending, the show is “still very exciting.”

Times staff writers Carol Chastang, Tim Chou, Alicia DiRado, Christopher Heredia, Consella Lee, Otto Strong and Stacy Wong contributed to this story.