OCEAN BEACH, CA. The Reader reported on Monday, July 5th, that over two dozen RV owners were forced out of the OB Pier parking lot by San Diego Police. And alot of grumbling was going on. Apparently, many of the RVs had pulled into the parking lot at the end of Newport Avenue in the early hours of the 4th in order to get close, set up their grills and their families. The police arrived at 8 am and forced them all to leave, upon threat of arrest and towing of their vehicles.
Over the last few years, police have commandeered the Life Guard parking lot for the July 4th craziness. But all reports are that there are less arrests, less rowdiness, and less problems at the beach during the holiday. So why the extra spaces? We hope to track down some reasons.
Here’s the top of the Reader article:
Cop’s Lot
By Grant Madden
The Ocean Beach pier parking lot has traditionally been a coveted location for RV owners to park on the 4th of July. The lot is steps to the beach, amenities for children are close by, and the view for the evening fireworks is optimal.
Overnight parking is prohibited in the lot, so the first RVs began arriving shortly after 6 a.m. on Saturday. No other signs prohibiting parking were in evidence. By 8 a.m., the parking lot was full, grills were fired, and then the police arrived.
Representatives of the San Diego Police Department, including the mounted unit, arrived shortly after 8 a.m. and evicted approximately 26 RV owners from the lot in order to facilitate parking for their own vehicles.
For the remainder of the article, go here.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I have a great friend that has multiple head injuries caused the night of 4th of July on OB. if anyone have information of what happen please call 531-2000 or email me via this blog comment section. My friend is still unconscious in the hospital. we need to know what happened. any witness. I heard it was a big riot in ob not mentioned anywhere in the news. like to hear more comments.
Personally I stay off the beach on the 4th now. I’m sorry to hear about your friend. My guess is that the marshmallow fight got out of hand and that’s the “riot” you heard about. I’m sure they’ll be banning marshmallows on the beach next year. Then they’ll have to ban couches and chairs and other living room furniture that burns. Then they’ll have to ban males between the ages of 18 and 24, then they’ll just ban everyone from the beach.
Again, very sorry to hear about your friend being hurt. Hopefully you can find out more information quickly and I hope he recovers soon.
I, too, am sorry to hear about your friends physical state. I did not witness anything that would have lead to his injuries and hope he comes back to us soon.
I feel a need to follow up on jon’s comments though. We were at the Marshmallow Fight that night and it did NOT ‘get out of hand’ and there was absolutely no riot as he guessed. It was totally fun, amicable, and all in the spirit of OB fun. We stayed till the end and even helped clean up the thousands of misc marshmallows from the sand. We took video which you can view on YouTube under OB Marshmallow Fight July 09 if you desire.
Again, my your friend recover quickly. Keep us posted as to his condition.
Thanks for clarifying Sunshine. Like I said, it was just a guess. Although it still wouldn’t surprise me to hear they ban marshmallows in the coming years. They ban everything else under the sun here.
WELL folks looks like my idea of a clean Carrie Nation celebration next July 4th has promise. As for the COPS they do what the want and have guns. I noticed the yellow tape around the Life Guard lot, and the cop convention. Jon has it down, we must eliminate any humans that might be having too much fun at the beach. The TV news people only interview a nice mom with kids saying how clean the beach is now since prohibition passed. I kind of miss the Mayor and city council meetings under the old life guard stands at the end of Brighton. Gave OB a different flavor. But now the, you need our protection and more cops and less parking, citizens are in power. Of course it is the fault of those wanting to vote to be protected from people having fun and not enough lazy fun people voting.
martial law next year on the 4th. let everybody celebrate their freedoms at home!
I was all around OB the evening of the 4th, and I didn’t hear or see anything resembling a riot. I hope witnesses come forward and/or your friend gains consciousness soon and is able to relay the details of what happened, rather than relying on word of mouth.
Prayers are with him.
Best wishes to your friend, Rick. No word of anything resembling a riot or violence on my end of town…
r hoobler – your avatar looks like barack obama
hoobler voted for Obama. He’s a closet socialist.
Hope he’s OK.