Red, White and Happy

The Fourth of July and hot temperatures inland drove nearly 1.5 million people to beaches between Malibu and San Pedro on Tuesday, while other Southern Californians celebrated the holiday at parades, barbecues and fireworks.

“I think it’s just the weather,” said Los Angeles County lifeguard Capt. Jim Makuta, who described the beach crowd as one of the biggest in recent years.

In Huntington Beach, police said an estimated 250,000 people lined the streets for the city’s 102nd annual parade, one of Southern California’s largest Fourth of July celebrations.

“This was one of the best,” city spokeswoman Connie Young said of the 2 1/2 -hour extravaganza featuring 314 marching groups, with actress Shirley Jones and her husband, comedian Marty Ingels, serving as grand marshals. “It’s been just a terrific day.”

About 45,000 people also spent the day on Huntington Beach’s shore, one of the most popular in Orange County. “Ordinarily we have about two-thirds that many on a weekend,” lifeguard Lt. Mike Baumgartner said.

“It’s really nice weather, the water has warmed up to 75 degrees -- much better than two weeks ago when it was 55 -- and we had a lot of people enjoying the warm water and air; it was a beautiful day.”

By midafternoon, as many as 800,000 people had crowded the coastline from Topanga Beach to Marina del Rey, Makuta estimated. “It’s packed, and they are still coming down,” he said.

From Marina del Rey south to San Pedro, lifeguard Capt. Mike Inscore estimated that another 400,000 people had jammed beaches.

The surf was fairly small, Inscore said, but the county brought in every lifeguard it could to watch over the crowds.

“Anyone who has red trunks and wants to work is working today,” he joked.

North of Santa Monica, the crowds along Malibu and Zuma beaches seemed about normal for a summer holiday. But that may have been because Pacific Coast Highway was jammed.

“The parking lot at Zuma was at full capacity by 11:30 a.m.,” or two hours earlier than the average sunny Sunday in summer, lifeguard Capt. Dan Atkins said.

Despite the huge crowds, authorities said the number of ocean rescues was not out of the ordinary, which they attributed to the light surf and heavy lifeguard presence.

In the historic heart of Los Angeles, hundreds gathered at the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument for a reenactment of the city’s first Fourth of July celebration in 1847.

“We came to see what the Fourth of July is all about,” said Amado Rodriguez of Alhambra, his daughters Isela, 8, and Yaneli, 4, in tow.

“It doesn’t matter where I was born,” said Rodriguez, who moved to the U.S. from Mexico 30 years ago. “I belong to the country that feeds me ... the country where I grew up. I am so grateful to be here.”

As his girls covered their ears, Rodriguez watched as two brass cannons were fired in a thunderous military salute.

Throughout the morning, the crowd listened to patriotic songs and tributes to veterans.

Just steps away, outside the Plaza Fire House, built in 1884, scores of parents and children paraded past booths of artwork and demonstrations by blacksmiths and adobe brick builders.

Nearby, Marilyn Mills, wearing a pioneer dress and bonnet, ushered visitors to a tree-shaded corner where they could see how quilts, rag dolls and ropes were made. “We love being here every year,” said Mills, president of the nonprofit Heritage Trails Assn.

In the Crenshaw district, several hundred people snacked on bean pie, Cajun chicken links and barbecue, as the Mekiel Reuben quartet played a smooth-jazz medley that ended with a haunting version of the Stevie Wonder song, “Creepin’.”

Near the back of the crowd, 30 members of the Divine Nubian Boot Scooters Chapter of the Red Hat Society, a social group for women of a certain age, relaxed under picnic table umbrellas, sipping water and soft drinks.

“Being out here with our friends makes it a perfect day,” said Chakalit Harris, clad in red hat and purple dress. A friend, Olivette Forney, quickly added: “That and the music.”

In the San Fernando Valley, rock ‘n’ roll echoed off the hillsides at Hansen Dam, where several thousand people gathered under trees and beneath picnic canopies to escape the afternoon heat.

From a few hundred yards away, Hansen Lake looked appealing, but not from up close.

“It’s dirty,” one woman said as she shooed her children away from the shore next to algae-filled green water.

At the edge of an amphitheater where the band Down the River was playing, a yellow city water tanker shot a fine mist into the air, to the delight of children. “It really felt good. It really felt refreshing,” said Stephanie Rivas, 10, of Lancaster.

Explained her cousin, Bradley Rivas, also 10: “It’s 94 degrees or more.”

As night fell, crowds gathered across the region for fireworks shows. Some of the largest displays were at the Rose Bowl, the Hollywood Bowl, in Burbank and in Long Beach.

Not everyone was thrilled by the booming patriotic displays.

In Camarillo, Marie Bennett and a dozen or so other animal lovers urged visitors to boycott the free fireworks show at Freedom Park because, they said, the explosions scare animals at the nearby Ventura County shelter.

Last year, Bennett volunteered at the shelter during the Fourth of July celebration and said she was disturbed by what she saw -- dogs “clawing and gnawing” and hurting themselves as they tried to escape the noise.

Bennett said she and others failed to persuade city officials to move the celebration to another site.

Times staff writers Jeffrey L. Rabin, Jean Guccione and David Haldane contributed to this report.