Crews clean up Pismo Beach after 4th of July celebrations

Cleanup crews got to the Pismo Beach pier at 5 a.m. on Friday to start cleaning up after the previous night's Fourth of July festivities.

"It was bad," said Jonathan Aguilera, one of the beach cleaners. "It was sandy everywhere, trash everywhere, fireworks everywhere. It was bad."

"It broke my scale," said Juan Garcia, another member of the cleanup crew. "If it was a 10 out of 10 it broke that scale."

The beach city's Fourth of July celebration drew thousands of visitors to the pier.

"The Fourth of July fireworks were amazing," said Eric Muhlebach, a tourist visiting the beach with his family.

But when the crowds left for the night, they also left behind trash that covered the beach.

However, that's not how it looked when I arrived at the Pismo Beach pier at 9:30 Friday morning.

Everything was cleaned up, and it looked like Thursday's activities never happened.

"We did a beach run," Garcia said. "Anywhere from Addy to Wadsworth, we had to pick up all the trash."

"Going through all the lineups," Aguilera said. "Picking up the trash, sweeping the area, the boardwalk, the pier."

The Public Works Department has a cleanup crew of about 15-20 employees who work on the beach every day, but during the summer, they say it's a little more work.

"During the summertime, we have to kind of keep one step ahead of the tourists," said James Neal, a member of the clean-up crew.

The bulk of the work happens early in the morning, but they also work throughout the day to keep the beach looking nice.

The cleanup crews say the mess left over from the Fourth of July was hard work, but they love having the visitors come to the beach.

"It was an honor you know, definitely good job security," Garcia said.

The cleanup crews are a big part of what makes this beach so popular with families and other visitors.

"Absolutely come visit if they're here regionally," Muhlebach said. "If they're coming from out of the region they should consider moving. It's the best town in America."

They also encourage visitors to help with the cleanup process and appreciate when people throw their own garbage away.