SAN DIEGO — The May gray stuck around for the unofficial start to summer, keeping traditional large crowds off our beaches and away from local businesses.
Business owners always hope the holidays bring in tourists and revenue, but for some business owners along the Mission Beach boardwalk, it wasn't exactly what they'd hoped for.
“We did some business but not as we expected," said the owner of Kojack's, Mike Soltan.
Southern California typically draws in large crowds for Memorial Day weekend. While there was plenty of foot traffic along San Diego County beaches, it wasn’t what Soltan was expecting, “we didn’t do that good on spring break, so we were putting our hope for this weekend. And we get this gloomy weather, and it didn’t help at all," he said.
Soltan has owned Kojack's restaurant in Mission Beach for 40 years. He says he usually sees double the sales he had this past weekend.
He’s left with this mountain of pita bread he’d hoped to use over the holiday.
He adds that although the overcast skies and cool temperatures may not be unusual this time of year, he believes it impacts tourism.
“We have people sitting here, and they go, ‘Hey, we came for California weather, but it warmer back home,’" he continued.
Right next door at Hamel’s, Skyler McManus says business remained steady over the holiday break, selling more hoodies than t-shirts.
“I will tell you this is a little colder than normal, but it's not stopping people from coming down," said manager Skyler McManus.
According to lifeguards, these are the estimated crowd counts for all City of San Diego beaches are the following:
- Saturday: 81,300
- Sunday: 73,100
- Monday: 53,500
Both business owners hope the incoming June gloom doesn’t last as long.
WATCH RELATED: May Gray continues with cooler temps and gusty winds this week