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June 17, 2010 9:59 AM

L.A. Mefites: What time do you need to get to Dockweiler Beach to guarantee having a fire pit?

My girlfriend is throwing a party at Dockweiler on a Saturday, and having a fire pit is essential to its success. Guests aren't expected until 3, but we are showing up early to make sure we get one.

How early do we need to get there?

posted by hwyengr to Grab Bag (5 answers total)

Best answer: The most recent issue of Los Angeles Magazine had a whole page dedicated to this topic. It boiled down to-- if you want to get a spot at Dockweiler on a weekend during the summer, be prepared to get there by 8:00 in the morning. Seriously.

FWIW, I had a party there at 5pm in JANUARY, and we still had to get there by noon to get a spot.
posted by egeanin at 10:52 AM on June 17, 2010

My old housemate had his going-away party at Dockweiler and basically just camped it all day by himself before starting up the party at 6pm.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 12:46 PM on June 17, 2010

Really early.
And make sure you have it thoroughly staked out. I spent 11 days on a jury over a fight about Dockweiler-fire-pit-possession. Both women had serious burns.
posted by SLC Mom at 5:22 PM on June 17, 2010

I went there for a party last year and we ended up sharing a pit with a group of people who had already claimed one. Our party was bigger so we basically brought the party to them and offered free food + libations to share the pit. The groups merged successfully and all enjoyed the fire.

Call this the "moocher" plan. It has worked on subsequent occasions but is less than ideal.
posted by jnnla at 5:40 PM on June 17, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks for the tips, everyone. We ended up getting there right at 8, and got a primo pit in the section where there's only 1 row, so nobody was in front or behind of us.

For the record, I'd say that the last pit got taken at around 10 or 10:30. But, I was glad that we had the pick of the litter.

Starting at 4 or so was when the sharing requests started. We had a big group, so that wasn't going to work out.

All in all, it was a great time.
posted by hwyengr at 1:22 PM on June 21, 2010