When Flor and David Speakman’s car broke down in Carpinteria, Calif., in traffic on July 3, they were not deterred. They left the car with a mechanic and picked up a rental. For the sake of their two dogs, Henry and Archie, the couple was determined to make it to Cambria before the terror began.
Word has spread among California dog owners that Cambria is an ideal getaway for the Fourth of July. That’s because this small town on the Central California coast, in an attempt to prevent wildfires, has banned fireworks.
For dogs, Fourth of July fireworks and their associated cacophony can be a jarring experience, causing fright and alarm that can last for days and weeks. For dog owners, it can be pure pandemonium once the show starts.
“It takes him weeks to recover,” Julie Zander, a Los Angeles-based sales coordinator said of her dog, Focaccia, who has been cowering amid the city’s World Cup celebrations. “He acts like it’s a war zone. He won’t go outside at night anymore.”
Ms. Zander and her husband, Chris, an executive producer, escaped to Cambria to ease Focaccia’s stress. They were amused by the number of Californians they met who had come for the same reason. “It’s like a convention of timid dogs,” Ms. Zander said.
“It’s helicopter parenting,” she added. A parent of two adult human children, she was wearing a sweater of a patriotic goldendoodle.
Cambria does not widely advertise itself as a refuge for pet owners on July 4, and the abolishment of fireworks here has actually been a source of frustration among some locals.
“Basically, the bureaucracy has won,” said Aaron Linn, a longtime Cambria resident whose family runs a cluster of restaurants and shops in town.
But more and more, dog owners are showing up here after prior attempts to calm their pets with drugs and sound machines have failed. Cambria, in turn, has adapted.
“I’ve noticed more people looking to to sit down in our restaurant and saying that their dog is a service dog when we know in our hearts it isn’t,” Mr. Linn said. “I’ve also seen ourselves as a staff become more open to it.” Many of the town’s hotels and businesses now welcome pets.
In the breezy evening before the holiday, restaurants were populated by dogs on leashes and in backpacks. Collars jingled in the hotel lobbies. Dogs lazed on balconies and gazed longingly at their owners down on Moonstone Beach, where they are not allowed. (A line in the sand, if you will.)
Melissa Larson, the general manager of the Cambria Pines Lodge, which is so dog-friendly it has added a dog park to its roster of amenities, said that starting in June, the hotel gets daily calls from pet owners asking about fireworks. Karen Cartwright, director of hospitality at the nearby Cambria Shores Inn, said that pet owners even call asking if fireworks can be heard in Cambria from Cayucos, about 15 miles away (they cannot).
At the front desk of the Cambria Pines Lodge, Leona Bethel said the hotel had checked in 16 guests with dogs so far on July 3, with five more expected later that day. She handed out goody bags with water bowls and dog treats to a line of pet owners spilling out of minivans and S.U.V.s. She estimated there were more dogs currently in the lodge than any other time over the year.
Pau Pescador, a Los Angeles artist, drank a glass of white wine on the patio with her “princess,” a longhaired Chihuahua named Mina, lounging on her lap. Ms. Pescador had escaped from Highland Park, which she called “the center of illegal fireworks in Los Angeles.” The trip was a respite for both her and Mina.
“I think everyone is sort of scratching their head on how to celebrate, or, if they want to celebrate, what does it mean to celebrate America at this moment?” Ms. Pescador said. “For me, this is less about celebrating anything specific than creating a moment for Mina, and letting her have a nice holiday, and I’m just kind of tagging along.”
Mina had already enjoyed a French fry, and more delicacies were possible later.
Ted Tanner and his wife, Donna, were heading to the front desk with their dog, Coco.
Mr. Tanner said that in the past, he had tolerated fireworks, even though they bothered him. “I’ve got PTSD and everything else, so I don’t like loud noises and crowds, but if you need to light off fireworks, then you should,” he said. “It’s the Fourth of July.”
