People who celebrated fourth of July in San Diego say the beaches were much quieter compared to past years. About a million people showed up compared to 1.8 million a year ago. (Story continues below)
Jack Thomas has been coming to the same Mission Beach rental property for 12 years to escape the heat in Arizona. He says the new ban on alcohol may explain the calmer crowds.
Thomas: The boardwalk was less crowded. There were little pockets of crowds, you know, up and down the boardwalk, but previous years you couldn't even hardly walk all the way to the end.
San Diego Police Captain Bill Edwards says there were fewer arrests this year. He credits the alcohol ban for that.
Edwards: I think there's more of a family atmosphere. The crowds were big, seemed to be getting along. You know, I think the alcohol ban has its place. I think there's a lot of other factors that go into it as well, but yeah, I think there's definitely a noticeable difference between the previous years and this year.
San Diego's beach-alcohol ban is temporary. The city council has to decide whether to make it permanent.
