Coastal Comforts

Some came for the rays, others for the surf, still more for the overall atmosphere of relief. But all sought some respite from the broiling heat that has engulfed the region like a deadening, malevolent force.

“We just had to get away,” said Susan Carvajal of Upland, among the legions from sunbaked precincts in search of succor at Venice Beach on Saturday. “It’s just too hot back home.”

The background din was a comforting chorus of children’s voices, rolling surf, portable radios, the occasional honk of a foghorn, shriek of a gull and drone of a boat engine--the familiar harmonies of the beach in midsummer.

It is sweet music indeed for those who look forward to such indolent days, temporarily liberated from the stresses of late-20th century life.

“I love the sounds of the waves,” said Terry Smith, originally of Brooklyn, now of Culver City, his back gleaming with sunscreen freshly applied by his towel-mate, Vicky Moreland, a Kentucky transplant to Los Angeles.

“There’s just something about the ocean, a sense of spirituality in being near the ocean,” said Smith, seated on his towel and taking in the tableau of sea, surf, a hazy horizon and the bustling Venice fishing pier. “There’s just something special here.”

Especially on a day when the thermometer topped 100 degrees in some inland locales, sending multitudes to the coast.

On Saturday, Pasadena hit 102, breaking a record of 100 degrees established in 1936. Chatsworth hit 104, tying a 1992 record. In Monrovia, temperatures reached 103 degrees. Both Van Nuys and Woodland Hills sweltered at 100 degrees, and Palmdale was a blistering 109.

The mercury at the Civic Center hit 93, below its record high of 97 for the date.

Today is expected to be sunny with low clouds around the coast. The sizzling temperatures are expected to ease by midweek as a cooling trend moves in, bringing the thermostat down to a seasonable range in the mid- to upper 80s.

By midafternoon Saturday, parking spaces were in short supply.

“I tried Manhattan [Beach], but I couldn’t find anything so I came here,” said Joe Villahermosa, an auto body worker in furnace-like Montebello who was romping through the surf with his 3-year-old daughter, Shanna. “I didn’t want to work yesterday it was so hot. I just wanted to be here.”

That sense of unbridled joy seemed to be ubiquitous among the young and old. Many gleefully related how they had left roasting environs behind.

“It was 114 degrees in Phoenix when we got there,” recalled Anastasia Krutulis, a librarian from suburban Detroit in the midst of a four-week motoring tour of the West along with her daughter, Kira, 6, and son, Max, 4. “This feels absolutely great here.”

Venice Beach, with its skaters and bicyclists, boutiques and cafes, has achieved some renown as a quasi-bohemian scene.

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But here, near the surf, people seemed merely contented to be in a place where spending the day reading a book or magazine or taking an extended nap is quite socially acceptable, even encouraged. A place where one can, in good conscience, close one’s eyes to the world and its dizzying concerns.

“I guess I’ll miss this,” said Lee Smith, a student who is headed back to Dallas, her hometown, after a two-year stint on the West Coast. “I know it’s really hot back home.”

The crowd was the usual mix of out-of-town vacationers, occasional visitors and the regulars--those hardy types who hit the shore in any weather, savoring the fresh sea air and sense of escape.

“I come here 365 days a year,” said Manny Berg, a retired sales rep about to celebrate his 85th birthday, who was seated on his customary beach chair with his pooch, Giorgio, resting nearby.

“I like the whole atmosphere here: the cool weather, the sun, the people. I have all my regular friends here.”

For so many, the beach rekindles memories of simpler times past, of lazy summer days full of frolic and possibilities, of a youth now distant. Rare is the adult beach-goer who cannot relate a youthful outing to the coast.

“I’ve been going to beaches all my life,” said Berg, of Mar Vista, whose love of the place is self-evident.

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Not far away, Darryl Robinson of Hancock Park watched his son, Brent, 9, and his son’s friend, Andrew, 11, cavort in the surf in their shorts.

The trio had arrived to fish at 7 a.m., when a cooling blanket of haze still covered the shore. Once the fishing was done, the boys happily opted to remain on the beach rather than go home and face two hours of homework.

“There’s nothing like the ocean, whether the day is cool or hot,” said Robinson, who recruits personnel for the computer industry. “You come here, and you get a little inner peace. There’s just nothing like it.”