Presidents Day 2022: What's Open And What's Closed In California

CALIFORNIA — Pack up your skis, load up your car, and hit the road — it's the last three-day weekend of the snow season!

However you plan to celebrate the birth of our founding fathers this Presidents Day, you should know what's open and what's closed in California on Monday.

From Big Bear to Mammoth and Tahoe, the ski resorts are still open despite the driest January and February in California's history.

All the theme parks from SeaWorld to Disneyland and Universal Studios are also open, but some such as Disneyland require reservations in advance. According to Disneyland's website, the park is all booked up for the rest of the week.

Most schools statewide will be closed Monday along with banks and post offices. Possible trash service holiday delays vary by city.

Most major retailers, grocery stores, movie theaters and malls will be open for business Monday with many such as Amazon, Best Buy, Disney+, Macy's and Home Depot offering Presidents Day sales.

The Federal Reserve system won’t be operating, which is why most banks will be closed. ATMs will operate as usual. The New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and bond markets will be closed.

Presidents Day was established by Congress decades ago to move the celebration of George Washington’s birthday to the third Monday of February every year.

Presidents Day doesn’t officially include Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on Feb. 12, which was celebrated by a handful of states.

The 16th U.S. president was born in 1809 in LaRue County, Kentucky, though his birth state isn’t one of the five — Lincoln’s adopted state of Illinois plus California, Connecticut, Missouri and New York — that observe his birthday as a holiday.

In the public consciousness, though, Lincoln’s birthday is spun in with that of the first U.S. president, George Washington, and is observed on the third Monday in February. This year, that’s on Feb. 21.

Technically, though, the holiday observed on the third Monday of February commemorates Washington’s birth on Feb. 22, 1732.

The Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1971 doesn’t mention Lincoln’s birthday, or even Presidents Day. Some lawmakers argued during debate that Washington’s birthday should be renamed Presidents Day to include Lincoln, but Congress rejected that.

Before the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1971, Washington’s birthday was celebrated on the anniversary of his birth regardless of the day of the week.