← Misc · 2021–2026

Fireworks

Eight shows, and where we were standing for each of them.

8 fireworks shows · 1 drone show · 1 backyard · October 2021 – September 2026
3 Fourths of July · 2 New Year's Eves · 1 concert finale · 1 theme park, from the freeway · 1 luau, from a balcony
Biggest: America's 250th over the Potomac · closest: our own fountains in the desert

Fireworks are the one kind of show where your seat matters more than the show. The same shells look completely different over water, over trees, over a freeway or between two hotel towers. Going through five years of videos, I found more of them than I expected, each watched from somewhere different. Here they are in order, with the place we watched from, because that is what I actually remember.

A Coldplay finale, Hollywood Bowl · October 23, 2021

The first is the one I have already written about twice. At the end of Coldplay's set at the radio station's charity concert, during "A Sky Full of Stars", fireworks went up from behind the Bowl's shell, pink and gold over the trees on the hill, while the seats glowed with LED wristbands. The full night is in the live music post.

Pink and gold fireworks bursting over the Hollywood Bowl at night, smoke drifting over the dark trees, the shell lit purple below and the audience glowing with small lights. — "A Sky Full of Stars", 10:20 pm.

New Year's Eve, Rainbow Harbor, Long Beach · December 31, 2021

Two months later I saw the year out, with two friends from USC, on the waterfront at Long Beach's Rainbow Harbor. At midnight the show started over the water, around the tall white lighthouse, lit purple, that stands on the harbor point. The video runs for thirteen minutes, with the smoke building up until the last gold bursts seemed to come out of a cloud, and every one of them reflected in the harbor among the moored boats.

A huge gold and pink firework bursting over a harbor at night, with a purple-lit lighthouse tower and moored boats below. — The finale over the lighthouse, early on January 1, 2022.

Fourth of July, Marina del Rey · 2022

The next Fourth was by the water at Marina del Rey, with three friends. One of them is now my wife, though at the time we were just friends. We were on the shore at dusk, waiting with everyone else, and a little after nine the show went up over the marina, with the lights of the far shore below it and the smoke turning pink.

A forest of sailboat masts in Marina del Rey against an orange-to-blue dusk sky. — Waiting at dusk, 8:38 pm.

A red and gold firework bursting above pink smoke and a light pole, over the marina at night. — Marina del Rey, July 4, 2022, a little after 9 pm.

Fourth of July, Irvine · 2024

Two years later we watched Irvine's show at Mike Ward Community Park in Woodbridge, in a big crowd on the lawns. It is a park, not a harbor, so the fireworks came up over a line of trees, and the finale filled the whole sky with pink.

A huge pink and white firework finale filling the night sky above dark tree silhouettes. — The finale, 9:20 pm.

A drone show, Burbank · November 9, 2024

Not fireworks, but it belongs here. One November evening in Burbank, a swarm of lit drones rose over the trees and drew pictures in the sky: a bouquet of flowers, a swan, birds in flight, a ballerina. We watched from a park lawn lit with rows of little electric candles.

A bouquet of flowers drawn in the dusk sky by lit drones, above trees and a park lawn glowing with rows of small candles, with a crowd watching. — Flowers over the lawn, 6:30 pm.

Drones don't burst; they assemble. In the video, a loose scatter of lights pulls together into one flower above the lawn.

A flower assembling, 6:29 pm (video).

It is quieter than fireworks, and stranger, and nobody needs to sweep up afterwards.

A swan drawn in the night sky by hundreds of lit drones, white with an orange beak, above trees. — A swan, 7:23 pm.

A ballerina in a blue tutu drawn in the night sky by lit drones, above trees. — A ballerina, a minute later.

Disneyland, from the freeway · November 17, 2024

The least planned show on this list. Driving on the I-5 one Sunday night, we passed Anaheim just as Disneyland's fireworks went up, and for a minute or two there were gold bursts above the overpasses, in the middle of traffic.

Gold fireworks above a freeway at night, with an overpass, streetlights and tail lights ahead. — Disneyland's fireworks over the I-5, 9:37 pm.

New Year's Eve, San Gabriel · 2024

At midnight going into 2025 we were at a friend's home in San Gabriel, where the neighbourhood set off its own fireworks, and for a few minutes the sky over the rooftops and power lines filled with bursts and smoke.

A gold firework bursting in a smoky night sky, crossed by power lines. — Just after midnight, January 1, 2025.

Our own, in the desert · July 2025

In 2025 we did it ourselves. On July 3 we stopped at a fireworks stand in Orange County, under a city poster explaining which fireworks are legal and which are a crime, and came away with a back seat full of fountains, wands and sparklers.

A car seat piled with boxed fireworks: fountains, wands and sparklers in bright packaging. — The haul, July 3.

A bilingual poster at the fireworks stand: zero tolerance, illegal fireworks are a crime, legal ones only July 2, 3 and 4. — The rules, posted at the stand.

Two nights later, at a rental in the desert near Twentynine Palms, we lit them in the sand.

Two lit fountain wands spraying white sparks and smoke over sand at night. — In the sand, July 5, 11:07 pm.

America at 250, over the Potomac · July 4, 2026

The biggest show by far. For the 250th Fourth of July we stood on the Key Bridge in Washington, packed in along the railing, and watched the fireworks rise from behind Roosevelt Island, with the Kennedy Center lit below and the Washington Monument to one side. Every burst arrived twice, once in the sky and once on the river. The whole night is in Fireworks for the 250th.

Red fireworks bursting over the river, with long red reflections on the water. — A red wave, and its reflection.

A huge blue firework above the island with its reflection on the river and the Georgetown waterfront lit at left. — The last blue burst.

A luau next door, Waikīkī · September 11, 2026

And the easiest seat of all. Every Friday evening, the Hilton Hawaiian Village ends its luau with fireworks over the beach. That Friday we were staying at Ka Laʻi, a few hundred meters away, and watched the whole show from our balcony, with a boat lit up on the water below it.

Fireworks bursting red, green and gold over the beach at night, with pink fireworks rising from the shore, a lit boat on the water and hotel towers at the right. — From the balcony, 7:45 pm.

Where to stand

Lined up, the lesson is obvious: the best seat is over water. A harbor, a river or a bay doubles every burst, and gives the smoke somewhere to go. The second-best seat is high up, a bridge or a balcony. And the most memorable, somehow, are the unplanned ones: a freeway, a neighbourhood at midnight, a pile of fountains in the sand.

Most images are frames from phone videos. Times are local. Photo locations have been removed from the published images.

Some photos in this post are my wife's.

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