Remote workers tried to flock to this Calif. beach. The city shut it down.

On Thursday morning, at least a hundred San Diegans in swimwear crowded the city’s Law Street Beach under clear blue skies.

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Ordinarily, it would be a typical scene for a San Diego summer. But this time, many of the beachgoers arrived with laptops in tow. They were there to meet up with Scott Muirhead, a sales representative for an Irvine-based company, who had lugged his desk to the beach for a remote work day.

At a time when more employers are pressing for a return to office, Muirhead wanted to put “remote” back into remote work. The social media personality grew his following by working from unconventional places (including the side of Mammoth Mountain). As Muirhead grew his social media following, people wanted to work alongside him.

On Monday, two months after the city of San Diego shut down his second remote-work meetup on the beach, he put the word out that he’d be coming to Law Street Beach, this time with the necessary permit in hand. Three days later, the people came.

“I thought it’d be funny to take my desk down to the beach and just snap a photo,” Muirhead told SFGATE. “… I thought, ‘Why not make it a community event?’ And that’s how we got to the remote work meetup.”

For three hours, San Diegans made friends while filling out spreadsheets and typing on Slack. A musician played reggae on the guitar that melted into the sound of the waves. A woman blew bubbles, and Muirhead brought coffee and bagels. Vendors came to pass out samples of Uncle Arnie’s THC-infused drinks and Bitchin’ Sauce. Many workers said they followed Muirhead but missed the first event on March 13 at Law Street Beach and didn’t want to miss the second.

“The downsides [of working remotely] for sure are being fixed with this,” Jaime Garza, a sales representative for Uncle Arnie’s, told SFGATE. “I think that social interaction that you miss, that water cooler talk, that networking social aspect — what better place to do it than at the beach?”

Some beachgoers brought friends, while others hoped to make new ones. Emily Scoble, who works in data science at a biotech company, said she only lived 2 miles away and biked with her friend. Dana Shaker, an attorney development associate, said she only moved to the area four months ago. 

“I just thought this was like the perfect opportunity to come meet some friends who also work remotely, and hang out by the beach,” Shaker told SFGATE. “Everyone seems really nice and friendly, so it’s been fun.”

After the March event, Muirhead began planning a second event for late April. But after the first event was so large and some remote workers left a mess behind, the city caught wind of the follow-up event and shut it down.

“Abort mission! HR called the city,” Muirhead said on Instagram. “Supposedly we need something called permits. That sounds like something HR would do.”

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Muirhead said the permitting process took about two months. He worked with the city and scheduled a cleanup to ensure beachgoers left the beach in better shape than they found it. Rangers parked on the beach brought trash bags and trash grabbers.

“Same beach-office energy. Just a little more officially San Diego,” Mayor Todd Gloria posted on Instagram. “Because the best beach day is about fun, safety and leaving only footprints in the sand.”

Muirhead has held other community events. After the city shut down the event in April, he relocated it to the Cardiff Office, a bar in Cardiff-by-the-Sea. He also collaborated with the San Diego Padres, where 1,500 people came to get some work done and see a baseball game. 

He said he’d also like to make it a regular thing, perhaps holding the events once a month, and he’d love to expand beyond San Diego. The next event is scheduled for July 17 in Venice Beach, and he said he hopes to hold one in San Francisco as well. 

“I think a good balance would be like once a month,” Muirhead said. “It gives people something to look forward to.”