The article text:
Published: 6:09 PM PDT July 31, 2023
Updated: 6:43 PM PDT July 31, 2023
SAN DIEGO — Hundreds of teenagers turned out for an unsanctioned rave party over the weekend in a canyon underneath the 805 freeway bridges in Sorrento Valley.
Such events are advertised on social media as “underground” raves. Two dance parties have popped up in San Diego in as many weeks.
Saturday night’s rave included a DJ, a light show, and a full stage powered by a generator. It lasted into the early morning hours of Sunday on Caltrans property underneath the freeway bridges off Carroll Canyon Rd. The location has no access to vehicles.
By 12:30 a.m. San Diego police showed up but could do nothing because of the remote location along train tracks in the Carroll Canyon creek bed. Officers told dispatchers they were leaving the scene.
“This rave party thing is down in a ravine, a canyon area that we cannot safely access. So, unless we get any 911 calls out here with any emergency assistance, we'll be clearing from here,” one unidentified SDPD officer radioed to dispatchers.
The area where the stage was set up appeared to be cleaned up Monday morning, with no trash left behind.
There is access to the site from a nearby parking lot in a business zone, where rave goers would have to walk on a trail through thick brush. Another access point is through a fenced-off Caltrans construction zone where a hole was seen cut in the fence.
Since there is no vehicle access, paramedics would have to hike in with a stretcher if someone experienced a medical emergency.
That happened at a similar underground rave two Saturdays ago along the San Diego River underneath the Morena Blvd. bridge. A young woman had to be carried out on a stretcher after she reportedly experienced a non-fatal overdose.
The locations of underground raves typically get posted on social media a few hours before the shows begin to avoid detection by law enforcement.
Social media posts indicated tickets were sold for Saturday’s rave in Sorrento Valley and sold out in advance.
The land underneath the freeway bridge is state property. A spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol said Saturday's rave was illegal, though the department did not receive any calls for service related to the event.
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