For July 4th, Lou and I were invited to a bar-b-que at a the house of a friend and co-worker. The group broke up about dusk so we decided to see how close we could get to the fireworks in Redondo Beach.
Last year it was a mob-scene there, so we didn't want to get too close. We drove around a bit and ended up about 1/3 mile away sitting in our car in a commercial parking lot near the power-plant. We enjoyed the show (along with about 30 others standing around), then headed back home before the traffic started streaming from the beach.
As we were driving up a fairly steep hill towards our home, Lou looked at the horizon to our south east and saw 4 or 5 other fireworks shows going on. We crested the hill and found a bunch of people standing around the road. We paused and saw even more fireworks off in the distance in this direction (east).
We were struck by the number of "small" communities that make up LA, each with their own fireworks shows. Also, it's pretty cool to see fireworks in the distance against city lights. It reminds you how vast the area is.