A Quiet 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 art festivals from Santa Clarita to San Pedro 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.

Parades drew 15,000 spectators in Santa Clarita and 10,000 in Sunland. More than 10,000 converged on Castaic Lake to enjoy the water during the day and fireworks at night.

Saltwater beach enthusiasts, meanwhile, headed west and lifeguards reported crowds of 150,000 to 200,000 at Westside beaches from Marina del Rey to Topanga, about half the usual Fourth of July numbers. Russ Walker, a lifeguard captain, attributed the turnout to the absence of a pre-dawn fireworks show at the Santa Monica Pier this year.

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.

A few yards away, Guadalupe Perez and Israel Nogueda had ventured in from South Los Angeles with their six children to celebrate with a barbecue.

“We like it here because it’s quiet and there are no problems,” Perez said.

It was not all leisure however. At City Hall, about 400 motorcyclists protested the state law that requires motorcycle riders to wear a helmet. The motorcyclists said they chose to demonstrate today to regain a lost freedom--the right to ride without helmets.

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.

About 100 youngsters, many of whom live in downtown residential hotels, competed in sack races, painted their faces and cooled off with a water-balloon toss. George Caywood, the mission’s president, said the barbecue fed 2,000 people this year.

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.

“Nobody came last year because the weather was awful, but this year is fantastic,” Law said.

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.

Times staff writers Carol Chastang, Tim Chou, Consella Lee, Somini Sengupta, Otto Strong, Timothy Williams and Stacy Wong contributed to this story.