Huntington Beach Inundated With Party-Goers Responding To Viral Video Invitation
HUNTINGTON BEACH (CBSLA) - Police mobilized Saturday night in Huntington Beach, near tower 13, as thousands of people gathered at the location after a video invitation went viral on social media.
People began showing up to the Orange County beach as early as Friday night. Police dispersed those crowds, numbering in the thousands around 9:30 p.m. last evening.
The event started with a TikTok user named Adrien who invited people to his "Birthday Kick Back" at the beach and the video post got millions of views.
People all over the country responded, saying that they were traveling to Huntington Beach so that they could party.
"It's like don't you remember when you were young? You just want to go and have fun, have parties, and we kind of lost that this year because of COVID," Erica Ramirez, a party-goer, told CBSLA's Rick Montanez.
A Stockton resident by the name of Jonah told CBSLA that he's been stuck in the pandemic is just trying to have a little fun, which is why he traveled to the beach for the party.
Party-goers have been setting off fireworks, causing the police to interact with the crowds. There are some concerns that the large pop-up party could end up being a super spreader event as the pandemic continues and not everyone is vaccinated.
On Sunday, police announced that 149 people were arrested and booked for various charges including vandalism, the firing of dangerous/illegal fireworks, failure to disperse, and curfew violations.