the newport pier, early

The Newport pier belongs to a different set of people before about nine in the morning. Here is how we like to be one of them.

The Newport pier is busy by midday in August. Families, rental bikes, the smell of the doughnut shop, the whole thing. We love it then too. But the version we keep coming back to is the early one, when the sand is still cool and the parking is still easy. The pier has been the anchor of the peninsula since the McFadden brothers built the first one here in the 1880s, and the neighborhood still wakes up around it. Before nine, you get to see that part.

get there before the lots fill

In summer, the pay lots near the pier fill faster than people expect. The main lot off McFadden Place, by the pier and the Dory fishing fleet, is the first to go. Arriving by seven or so means you actually get a spot, and you skip the slow circle around the peninsula looking for street parking, which on the numbered streets is mostly permit or two-hour and not worth the gamble with a carload of gear. It also means the light is still low and soft, coming in sideways off the water instead of straight down.

Early is when you see the surfers paddling out near the pier pilings, the dawn patrol walkers, and the Dory fishermen who still beach their boats just north of the pier and sell the morning catch right off the sand, the way they have for over a century. The occasional fisherman is already set up on the pier rail. It is the pier doing its quiet job before it becomes a destination for the day.

what the morning actually looks like

Our routine is not complicated:

• Coffee first. There are a few spots near the peninsula that open early, on and around Newport and Balboa Boulevards. Grab it before you hit the sand, because nothing right on the water opens at seven.
• Set up south of the pier. The stretch down toward the Wedge, past the numbered streets and the West Jetty, thins out fast the farther you walk. A few minutes of walking buys you a lot of quiet, and the sand widens out as you go.
• Sit and let it warm up. The marine layer, the low grey that locals call June gloom even when it shows up in July, usually burns off mid-morning. Watching it lift is half the reason to come early.

This is the kind of morning the chair was built for. It is 7.5 lbs and carries on your back, so the walk south of the pier is a non-issue. You reach four recline positions, drop into the one that suits the hour, and you are set before the lifeguards even climb their towers.

the small things that make it work

A few honest notes from doing this a lot:

• Bring a layer. The marine layer keeps it cool, sometimes cooler than you expect, until the sun wins. A sweatshirt you can peel off by ten is the right call.
• The morning tide can sit high. Check it the night before so you are not setting up on a thin strip of sand with the water at your feet by nine.
• Mind the Wedge if you keep walking south. The bodysurfing break at the end of the peninsula is famous for a reason, and it is no place for casual swimming, especially on a south swell. It is a great thing to watch and a bad thing to wade into.
• Pack light. The cup holder handles the coffee, and the full pouch clips to the chair's back for the towel and the rest, so you carry it all in one trip.

If you want to keep exploring the peninsula, low tide opens up the bay side too, and the calmer water around the harbor is a different kind of morning worth its own trip. By the time the crowds find the pier, you have already had the best part of the day. If you want to make the morning walk a one-carry affair, the whole kit is built around exactly that. Tag us @sunyvibesig if you catch a good one.