Labors of Love on a Holiday

When Les Davidson was 18, he bought a ’57 Chevy. He eventually sold the car, married and began a lucrative career as a private investigator.

The death by cancer of his best friend three years ago served as a wake-up for Davidson. His workaholic days were over, and he returned to his old love, buying a ’57 Chevy Bel Air at a junkyard.

About $125,000 later, the white car has a 425-horsepower engine as sparkling as an operating room, as well as leather seats and a DVD player.

Davidson’s car was one of 1,683 entered in the Great Labor Day Orange County Cruise over the holiday weekend at the county fairgrounds.

The annual three-day show drew hot rods, Corvettes and cars made from a little of this and a lot of that, the rule being that they had to be pre-1972.

The show was one of many ways Southern Californians spent the holiday. Crowds also made pilgrimages to local beaches. Others took a more serious view of the day.

Gov. Gray Davis, Cardinal Roger Mahony and some of the nation’s top union leaders attended rallies and church services across Los Angeles County to push for immigrant rights and higher wages.

On the eve of the meetings between President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox, Mahony and the head of the AFL-CIO used the pulpit to call for legalizing millions of undocumented workers.

“We’re a nation of immigrants, yet we daily visit injustice upon new arrivals to our shores--a cruel irony not lost on those of us who share experiences as children of immigrants,” the union president, John Sweeney, told more than 1,600 people--including Davis--who attended Mass at St. Vincent’s Roman Catholic Church.

During the traditional Labor Day parade in Wilmington, longshoremen marched next to Hollywood cinematographers in what some longtime union supporters called the biggest and most diverse turnout in recent years. Los Angeles police estimated the crowd at more than 2,000.

Far bigger crowds spread blankets at the beaches.

At Newport Beach, Andrey Shagabov and his family were part of a crowd that lifeguard Capt. Eric Bauer put at about 100,000.

Six months ago, Shagabov was living in Siberia, home to some of the most forbidding weather on Earth. Siberian temperatures probably would reach 30 or 35 degrees this time of year, with water like ice cubes, in contrast to the 71-degree air at Newport Beach.

And Siberia doesn’t have Disneyland, which is where he took his family Sunday.

The beach wasn’t what Buddy Dughi had on his mind. The 39-year-old musician was watching as people at the car show walked past his 1932 Ford hot rod--a little deuce coupe--he built from the ground up. It has Buick brake drums, ’40 Ford wheels and a rear end from a ’57 Ford. It’s painted black, with orange, yellow and blue flames, and no hood.

In striving for authenticity, Dughi, 39, sported a ducktail haircut and cuffed jeans.

A singer in the rockabilly band Hot Rod Trio, Dughi has a guitar painted like the car. To complete the circle, the car’s license plate is RCKNKAT.

Ruby Norris, an organizer of the car show, said the event will raise $26,000 to $30,000 for the Sheriff’s Department’s Drug Abuse Is Life Abuse program.

Does she own any classic cars?

A ’33 Ford and a ’57 Chevy, she said, pointing to the two gold and diamond charms around her neck.

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Times staff writers Tina Daunt and Deborah Schoch contributed to this article.