Given how crowded the beaches normally are during the Fourth of July, we’d normally advise against going anyway. But this year, you won’t be able to go even if you want to.
On Monday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced that it was ordering all L.A. County beaches to close from July 3 at 12:01am through July 6 at 5am in order to prevent crowding. In other words, all beaches in the county will need to close from Friday to early Monday morning, the entirety of the holiday weekend.
In addition to beaches, the county also says that piers, parking lots, beach access points and bike paths on the sanded portion of the beach will need to close. As the order comes from Public Health, these closures affect the entire county, including beaches managed by both the county and other cities—except for Long Beach, which has its own health department and has yet to issue a beach closure order. (UPDATE: Long Beach has issued an order to close beaches, as well)
The county is prohibiting fireworks displays, as well. Nearly all fireworks displays in the county have been canceled anyway, but we did spot one planned for Santa Clarita that, by this new order, will need to be called off.
The announcement comes following the closure of bars on Sunday and the county’s suggestion today that Angelenos stay home whenever they can. “This is a big holiday weekend and I would love to spend it with close family and friends,” Public Health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said earlier in the day. “I strongly advise against it.”