For sure, I can t think of a single beach I have been to out here that you can t have a bonfire on. Most of the beaches have designated pits for all of that. Only bummer is that down south here, curfew is like 10pm and no alcohol on the beach. I m pretty sure the last beach to allow drinking was PB and they ended that like a year or two ago...can t really remember. I don t know much about norcal though...if you re coming to socal though, show up to the beach early, grab a pit and pack your stuff around. Poor your beer into a cup and hide it. Or, what we use to do in high school....take a soda can and drill a hole in the bottom of it. Drain that bad boy and fill it with your beverage of choice. Put a screw in the whole and use hot glue to close it. Then drink it like its a coke! Hope I helped
I m not sure about Big Sur either but I know there are fire pits for use on Huntington State Beach in Huntington, CA. There is a lot to do there as well like bars, restaurants, shops. However, Big Sur is up by San Fran and Huntington is down by LA so it s about a 6 hour drive. But if you re going all that way, you might as well get down to see LA and Hollywood!