Streaking Makes a Comeback in Brea

The sight of naked people sprinting by doesn’t faze Ray Carter. He says it happens regularly at Brea’s Gateway Center, where he works at Starbucks.

“They come out probably once a month,” said Carter, 21, a business major at Cal State Fullerton.

Other center employees and local police officers confirm the sightings and say the phenomenon appears to be a school prank or initiation rite, perhaps for a fraternity. Typically, they say, a car parks at Brea Boulevard and Imperial Highway, a bare-skinned young man or woman jumps out, sprints around the fountain by Starbucks and hops into another car that is waiting in the parking lot.

“Sometimes the girls don’t say anything, they just run by topless,” Carter said. “The guys go all out and start screaming. This one guy did it twice. He got raves when he ran through, so he came back.”

Patrick Kitts, another Starbucks employee, said the coffeehouse views the streaking as a joke. “Generally, most of our customers are high school or college age,” he said. “Most of the people just snicker or laugh.”