A Day When Best Pals Were Water and Shade

On Saturday, the heat had children begging for The Throne.

In Buena Park, at On Fire Four Square Church, about 1,000 children from low-income families ran in circles, chasing each other with water bottles and hoping a rainbow-wigged clown in a blue plaid jumpsuit was a good shot. If the clown hit a target on a water tank called The Throne, at least a few lucky kids would get a good drenching.

“The kids look worn by the heat,” said volunteer Lynda Allen, who had a water bottle at her side. “Once they get sprayed with water you can see the relief in their faces.”

Few other places in Orange County offered relief from the unrelenting heat. In Santa Ana, the high was 98 degrees, tying a record set in 1954. Anaheim also posted a high of 98 degrees, while Newport Beach hit 83 degrees.

Temperatures reached 100 in downtown Los Angeles and soared to 113 in the valleys. A record of 113 degrees was set in Chatsworth.

Hundreds of thousands headed to the beaches, and hard-chugging air conditioners strained regional power systems. Scattered traffic signal outages were reported in south Orange County, the Sheriff’s Department reported. Southern California Edison said 8,000 customers were without power across Southern California, including some in Aliso Viejo. A spokesman blamed the outage on equipment failure caused by the heat.

Even worse, meteorologists said there wasn’t a cooling Michoacan-style thunderstorm in sight. A high-pressure ridge parked over Arizona is the hot-weather culprit, and experts said it was likely to keep the Southland pressure-cooked for at least a week.

But around Orange County, people ignored the heat as best they could and headed outdoors to savor one of summer’s final weekends.

Lifeguards reported unusually heavy crowds at local beaches. Steve Lashbrook, marine safety officer in San Clemente, estimated that about 17,000 people hit his city’s beaches Saturday--5,000 more than on a typical summer weekend.

“Other than the Fourth of July, this is the most crowded weekend we’ve had all summer,” said Lashbrook, adding that low surf kept the number of rescues to a minimum.

In Fullerton, a small crowd of teenagers bobbed their heads in the heat to blaring punk rock music at the first annual Jam at the Dam concert. Steve Hindman, 21, stood in the sun and ushered cars into the parking lot for the event. “I’m terribly sweating out here,” said Hindman, a recreational leader for the city of Fullerton.

In Buena Park, Rosario Perez sat in the shade of her porch and watched over her family’s garage sale. Later, she planned to retreat to her backyard swimming pool.

“In this kind of weather, I have to stay inside the pool,” Perez said. “It’s the only way to keep cool.” After surviving other heat waves, many Southlanders seemed to think Saturday wasn’t all that bad.

“It all depends on where you are and what you’re doing,” said Harlon Brown. “If you’re stuck in traffic on the 405 and driving an ’82 Datsun, then yeah, the heat’s pretty awful.”

But Brown wasn’t on the 405, he was at the Los Angeles African Marketplace and Cultural Faire near Crenshaw. Equipped with water, a hat and “some decent company,” Brown planned to peruse the clothing, art and incense stands until the sun set, “even if it reaches 110.”

Al Abrams was selling cold water at bargain prices just outside the fair.

“If it’s hot, I sell water; if it’s raining, I sell umbrellas,” Abrams said. “No matter what the weather is, there’s always something to sell.”

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In La Canada, temperatures reached 105 degrees. There, savvy relief-seekers headed for the towering oaks and cool ferns of the Descanso Gardens, which offered a welcome psychological respite from the heat.

With socks off and feet dangling in a creek, Laura Austin congratulated herself on picking the perfect locale.

“I decided there was no way I was going to stay inside watching TV just because it was a little warm outside,” Glendale resident Austin said. “And this is the ideal place to be. I swear it felt 20 degrees cooler when I walked through the gates.”

Adding to the garden’s quiescent glow were the distant sounds of Irish and Scottish folk music. In a cozy grove of redwood and oak trees, violinists from the aptly named ensemble Highland Sun tried to bring a bit of North Sea cool to a small Southland audience.

Although most of the spectators were content to relax and gently tap their feet, Arthur Young and his 4-year-old son demonstrated some surprising energy for such a steamy afternoon. Taking their cue from the sounds of Highland Sun, the pair stepped to the back and danced an impromptu and decidedly unorthodox jig.

“I feel great,” Young said, as beads of sweat rolled off his face and dripped onto a squirming Andrew standing below him. “I can almost feel the cool Scottish fog rolling over me.”

On Whittier Boulevard in Los Angeles, heat didn’t keep people inside either. Old men gathered under the awnings of Texas Donuts to play cards.

Politics didn’t slow down for heat either.

A couple of dozen people commemorating the historic Chicano protests against the Vietnam War 28 years ago marched while chanting and wiping their brows on a three-mile trek from Belvedere to Salazar parks. At noon, they joined more than 100 others in a stuffy, humid auditorium to denounce propositions 187 and 227.

“It was good exercise,” said Eric Sorenson, 50, his range T-shirt drenched under a heavy pair of overalls. “And obviously I could use it.”

Also contributing to this report was Times correspondent Patrick Kerkstra.