A Sure Sign of Independence

BEACH ANYONE?
The 4th of July every year draws out the independence stick putting into the hands of children as they wave their sparklers high in the air. The same children who will never know that 20 years earlier their parents sat at these same beaches with more advanced pyrotechnics and the ability to have a bonfire while cooking BBQ and drinking a beer without the hassle or threat of jail time. Guess there must have been too many people blowing their arms off while holding onto an excessive amount of roman candles all at once.
The only solace: Venice Beach 

Odd entertainment and public forms of certain types of self-expression (like skateboarding, dance/skating, graffiti, music, and breakdancing) lives here all year around (as long as you follow the rules, pay a few pennies, and don't get caught with the guided missiles). People from all over flock to Venice on the 4th for a BBQ, block party here, there a skate here a skate, with or without a date they come in droves. At night someone sets off an illegal firework then runs so they don't get caught but you can hear it echoing throughout the neighborhood as a reminder that they are exercising their freedom.

                         It isn't the Brits we have to worry about anymore...