In Case You Were Wondering What to Do . . .

You arrived last night from Denver for the Big Game, and you’re wondering whether there’s anything to do in this town besides watch football. (There is.)

Or perhaps your relatives are here from New York for Super Bowl Weekend, and you want them to see something other than the Rose Bowl. But what? (Don’t panic.)

Or perhaps you’re utterly burned out on the Super Bowl hoopla, and you’re looking for any possible avenue of entertainment escape.

In all cases, it’s a good weekend to indulge in the sort of full-blitz activity binge only Los Angeles and environs can offer. With this selective list--compiled with the help of Times experts and archives--it’s possible to create an itinerary that shows off the best of the diversity that is L.A. Here’s the hot tip sheet. The odds are you (and your guests) will enjoy yourselves.

Super Saturday Morning

Ask Jane Fonda. If you want to make it through this weekend fun fest, you’re going to have to jump start your metabolism. The best way to do that might be to watch Pee-wee Herman’s “Playhouse” (9 a.m., CBS) then plunge into the Great Outdoors. Here are a number of suggestions. Take your pick.

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

The Long Beach Windsurf Center (5437 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach, (213) 433-1014) teaches board sailing. Other windsurfing classes are held at various locations in Redondo Beach, San Pedro, Long Beach, Newport Beach and Dana Point.

Those who want to try bicycling along dirt roads in the local hills can rent mountain bicycles for $20 a day at Europa Bicycle Center (6409 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys (818) 785-6112). Shops along many Southern California beaches also rent bicycles.

Alpine and Nordic skiing can be found at resorts 45 minutes to two hours from downtown Los Angeles. For current ski conditions, call Goldmine, Snow Summit, Snow Forest, Snow Valley or Ski Green Valley in the San Bernardino Mountains (area code 714). Or try Mountain High, Ski Sunrise (619), Mt. Baldy (714), Kratka Ridge (818) or Mt. Waterman (213) in the San Gabriels.

The Sierra Club offers a variety of day hikes and similar outdoor activities this weekend. For information, pick up an Angeles Chapter schedule at most outdoor stores.

SHOPPING

Having expended the requisite calories, it’s time to expend some cash. Times fashion writer Mary Rourke has this to say about that: “The shopping life of Los Angeles thrives in the city’s malls. Unlike other places, where the word means middle-of-the-road, shopping malls here have their own feisty personalities. Visitors only have to know where to park.” Rourke’s suggestions:

Rodeo Collection (439 N. Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills). Big spenders gravitate toward this Beverly Hills mall, where fashion luminaries Sonya Rykiel, Gianni Versace and Nino Cerruti have boutiques. For glitz, Kenneth Jay Lane has a branch of his faux jewelry store, also seen in New York’s Trump Tower, where even Audrey Hepburn buys “diamond” earrings.

The Beverly Center (8500 Beverly Blvd. at La Cienega, Los Angeles). Aggressively yuppie types with money in their pockets, and teen-agers of all social persuasions, live at the Beverly Center. This seven-floor behemoth is anchored at each end by better deparment stores, topped by a 14-flavors cinema, and crowded with cafes of every nation. The place is a world, if not a law, unto itself. Contents and Traffic are two popular shops for young-thinking men and women who like the latest fashion looks. Privilege, the shoe store for women, features trendy French styles at moderate prices. By Design, the home furnishings shop, is a favorite for its playfully modern, casually high-style purchasables. There are also shops you won’t find only in L.A. Among them, Laura Ashley, The Limited and--for dining--the Hard Rock Cafe, a hamburger lover’s heaven where the Fonz’s leather jacket hangs on the wall.

Melrose Avenue. A sort of mall without walls, Melrose stretches for miles but divides into several manageable walking trips. Aaardvark, (7579 Melrose Ave., is one starting point along the street that remains the city’s super-hip, somewhat thrifty, still-punky-after-all-these-years shopping district. Park near Aaardvark, and your first purchase might be a vintage item from this used clothing store that still reveres recycled Hawaiian shirts. Walking the several blocks that take you east to La Brea Avenue, hot shops include Koala Blue, the center for weekend wear from the land Down Under owned by Olivia Newton-John; Kids In Costume, the fantasy store for tots and children, whose clientele will wear fairy wings, marabou bedroom slippers or pirate outfits any day of the year; Faux, a gift shop stocked with handmade items from around the country, and Leathers and Pleasures, where recycled cowboy boots walk with fifties-Americana accessories.

Also, shoppers spending the weekend south of the city might like the upscale and elegant South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa (San Diego Freeway at Bristol), with a Ralph Lauren store for men and women, a Williams-Sonoma kitchen shop for the complete cook, and a Nordstrom department store for the whole family.

ART

Now you’ve got enough stuff to fill your airplane’s cargo hold. It’s time to take a look at some things you don’t have a prayer of purchasing. Says Times art writer Suzanne Muchnic: “Super Bowl visitors who want to see why Los Angeles recently gained a spectacularly high profile in the art world should visit two new attractions. The Museum of Contemporary Art--dually housed downtown in Arata Isozaki’s elegant building (250 S. Grand Ave., (213) 621-2766) and in a refurbished warehouse (152 N. Central Ave.)--offers a sprawling survey called ‘Individuals: A Selected History of Contemporary Art, 1945-1986.’ ” Among Muchnic’s other suggestions:

The County Museum of Art’s Robert O. Anderson Building for modern and contemporary art (5905 Wilshire Blvd., (213) 937-2590, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.) has inaugurated its new edifice with a major exhibition exploring a previously unmined theme, “The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting, 1890-1985,” and with a reinstallation of its expanded permanent collection.

Other important attractions at the County Museum of Art are “Je suis le cahier: The Sketchbooks of Picasso,” which reveals the master’s creative process, and a stunning show of Renaissance bronzes from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Treasure houses convenient to the Rose Bowl area are the Norton Simon Museum (Colorado and Orange Grove boulevards, Pasadena (818) 449-3730), justly celebrated for its collection of European masterworks from the Renaissance to the 20th Century, and the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens (1151 Oxford Road, San Marino (818) 405-2273), which hosts fine examples of British and American art in a sumptuous setting.

The more modest Pacific Asia Museum (46 N. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena, (818) 449-2742) displays works celebrating China-U.S. trade and recent acquisitions from Asia and the South Pacific.

The J. Paul Getty Museum (17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, (213) 458-2003); requires parking reservations, but its fine collection of Greek and Roman antiquities, along with a steadily improving selection of European painting and decorative arts, is worth the trouble.

A rare exhibition of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo’s paintings, which pursue autobiographical themes in a primitive style, are at Plaza de la Raza, a community center in Lincoln Park (3540 N. Mission Road, (213) 223-2475).

Other museums of interest: Southwest Museum (234 Museum Drive, (213) 221-2164) displays “People of California,” representing 90 different California cultures; Museum of Science and Industry (Exposition Boulevard just off the Harbor Freeway, (213) 744-7400) features a detailed exhibit on earthquakes; at the Natural History Museum (900 Exposition Blvd., (213) 744-DINO) Native American artist Harry Fonseca’s work portrays “the art of the coyote.”

Super Saturday Afternoon

LUNCH

Your aesthetic hunger momentarily sated, it’s time to consider hunger of the literal sort. Here are Times restaurant editor Ruth Reichl’s suggestions:

Ivy at the Shore (1541 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, (213) 393-3113). A pretty restaurant at the beach with a casual, trendy Hollywood air. Great crab cakes, huge hamburgers. Musso & Frank Grill (6667 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, (213) 467-5123). The original Hollywood restaurant, and virtually unchanged since 1919. Colette (Beverly Hills, (213) 273-1151). Excellent French food in an attractive and dignified dining room. Primi (10543 Pico Blvd., West L.A., (213) 475-9235). Innovative, light Italian food in a bright and modern atmosphere.

TV TOURS

OK , you saw some actors doing lunch; now you want to watch them do some acting. Here are a few places to watch taping that’s not being done by team physicians:

ABC-TV: ABC Television Center (4151 Prospect Ave., Hollywood, (213) 557-4396). No public tours; free tickets for TV shows available at the Glendale Galleria, (818) 247-0312. CBS-TV: Free tickets for shows available at CBS (7800 Beverly Blvd., (213) 852-2455) Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., No public tours. NBC-TV offers public tours 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. daily. Walking tours start every half-hour at NBC Studios (3000 W. Alameda Ave., Burbank, (818) 840-3559), $5.50 adults, $3.25 children. Free tickets for TV shows available on a first-come, first-served basis. Paramount Studios: No public tours. Free tickets for TV shows available at Paramount (780 N. Gower St., Hollywood, (213) 468-4848), Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Fox Television/KTTV Channel 11: 5746 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, (213) 856-1520) Monday-Friday.

FLICKS

You prefer the big screen to the small screen? No problem.

“As befits the ancestral home of the moving picture, Los Angeles has much to offer the visitor cinematically,” says Times’ Calendar writer John Voland. “From the widest-appeal Sylvester Stallone feature to the most esoteric art-house item, the city offers it all--mostly because the movie-happy local populace demands it all.

“The getting there is the dicey part,” Voland says. The two major movie hubs in Los Angeles are in Hollywood (on Hollywood Boulevard, of course) and in Westwood Village, near UCLA. But most mainstream films are showing at theaters in these two areas. If optics and sound of the highest quality matter to you, these are the spots to investigate. Parking in both places is tight, but once the car is stored, walking around each neighborhood’s shops and clubs is part of the fun--but be advised that Hollywood Boulevard is not exactly Main Street, U.S.A., even if the famous Mann’s Chinese Theater is here (6925 Hollywood Blvd., (213) 464-8111).

For the smaller-release films--foreign or domestic--several smaller chains and/or individual theaters are the place. Notable for its sheer density (if not necessarily for creature comfort level) is the Beverly Center Cineplex (213) 652-7760, a 14-screen complex in the Beverly Center (La Cienega and Beverly boulevards). All the Cineplex’s screens are devoted to offbeat (and often delightful) fare, and their buttered popcorn is worth the trip in itself. In other parts of town, you may want to check out these theaters (call first to determine ticket prices and show times):

--The Nuart Theatre (11272 Santa Monica Blvd., West L.A., (213) 478-6379). Many interesting and seldom-seen films are showcased here, in one of the city’s most revered “art” houses.

--Samuel Goldywn Pavilion Cinemas (10800 Pico Blvd., West L.A., (213) 475-0202). A handsome fourplex in an equally handsome mall, these smallish theaters feature first-run films of foreign and limited-run domestics.

--The Grande Fourplex (Sheraton Grande Hotel, Figueroa and 3rd streets, (213) 617-0268). A class act: complimentary valet parking, comfy seats, and more. The four screens have recently begun showing first-run, mainstream fare, but the occasional foreign film still pops up from time to time.

And yes, Virginia, there’s an art movie house near Super Bowl host Pasadena, too: the Rialto, (1023 S. Fair Oaks, South Pasadena, (818) 799-9567). It’s recently renovated, and it looks and sounds fine. First-run foreign and domestic films (and the odd special program) are the fare here.

Of movies in town this weekend, Times critics recommend: “The Assault,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Platoon,” “A Room with a View,” “’Round Midnight,” “The Sacrifice” and “Vagabond.”

OFFBEAT ACTIVITIES

Face it, most Americans perceive the quintessential California experience as something just a bit . . . quirky. Here are some activities guaranteed to make visitors feel not-at-home.

Whale Watching: Catch some sun as you catch a few Gray Whales steaming south to mate. A whole fleet of boats leave ports from Santa Barbara to San Diego all weekend. Check your paper for local listings.

Those who’ve seen or read Shirley MacLaine’s “Out on a Limb” may want to attend an “Exploring Past Lives” workshop with Carole Carbone today (Hyatt Edgewater Hotel, 6400 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach, (714) 840-6987). Participants will be “gently guided through a past-life regression. . . . Opportunity will then be given to free yourself from past life negativity and restructure your current life to best advantage.”

Five yoga classes including morning wake-up yoga, prenatal yoga, and just plain yoga are available every Saturday at the Yoga Center/3HO Foundation (1639 La Cienega Blvd., (213) 275-4160).

Visiting nudists might want to drive out to Elysium Fields, Topanga Canyon’s “clothing optional” resort. This eight-acre facility offers swimming, massage, tennis, saunas, volleyball, hydropools and educational classes (814 Robinson Road, (213) 455-1000).

Those in need of healing, energy balancing or spiritual help, may want to check out the Saturday Clinic at the Healing Light Center Church (204 E. Wilson Ave., Glendale, (818) 244-8607).

Super Saturday Evening

DINNER

Centered? At peace with the universe? Cool. But people do not live by soul food alone.

If you want to eat cheap, Ruth Reichl recommends: Wonder Seafood (2505 West Valley Blvd., Alhambra, (818) 308-0259), great Chinese food in the real Chinatown; Cha Cha Cha (656 N. Virgil, Los Angeles, (213) 664-7723), good Caribbean food in the least expensive chic spot in town; and California Pizza Kitchen, three of them (121 N. La Cienaga, Beverly Center, (213) 854-6555; 207 S. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, (213) 272-7878, and Woodland Hills, (818) 884-8858) serve very modern pizzas (topped with duck, barbecued chicken and the like) at very reasonable prices.

In the moderate price range, she suggests: City Restaurant (180 S. La Brea, Los Angeles, (213) 938-2155) for very modern food in a very modern atmosphere--a restaurant that could only be found in Los Angeles; Cafe Jacoulet (91 N. Raymond, Pasadena, (818) 796-2233) for chic California cuisine in a pretty pink atmosphere; and Celestino (236 S. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, (213) 859-8601) for excellent and authentic Italian food in an understated atmosphere.

For splurging, try: L’Orangerie (903 N. La Cienaga, (213) 652-9770), the most beautiful restaurant in town, according to Reichl, serves wonderful French food in a highly romantic atmosphere; St. Estephe (2640 N. Sepulveda, Manhattan Beach, (213) 545-1334), a truly unique restaurant serving nouvelle southwest food--the chef comes from the southwest but has classical French training, “and you have never seen such beautiful food.”

THEATER

Refueled? Good. Time for some evening entertainment. Brace yourself for the sportscasters ‘ melodrama Sunday with some real drama tonight. Here are Times theater critic Dan Sullivan’s suggestions:

“The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe” is a medley of funny-sad ladies, all played by the incomparable Lily Tomlin (Doolittle Theatre, 1615 N. Vine St., (213) 410-1062). “Bouncers” presents a brawling Saturday night in an English disco, with four male actors taking all the parts: girls, guys, bouncers. The language suits the milieu (L.A. Theatre Works at the Tiffany, 8532 Sunset Blvd., (213) 652-6165).

The Los Angeles Theatre Center--a multiplex--offers a well-judged revival of “The Glass Menagerie,” and two new plays, “The Stick Wife” and “Film Society” (514 S. Spring St., (213) 627-5599). At the Music Center, the Mark Taper Forum’s “Burn This” is the world premiere of a new script by Pulitzer Prize winner Lanford Wilson, starring John Malkovich (135 N. Grand Ave., (213) 410-1062).

“Sand Mountain” at the Back Alley Theatre is a gentle folk comedy in which Our Lord and St. Peter decide to put up for the night in Appalachia (15231 Burbank Blvd., Van Nuys, (818) 780-2240). Down south in Orange County, South Coast Repertory’s “Three Postcards” is a mini-musical about three girlfriends having dinner in an upscale Manhattan restaurant. By dessert, we know all about them (655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, (714) 957-4033).

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Figure you’ll see enough hamming around on the field Sunday? How about a musical interlude? Times music writer Daniel Cariaga says you won’t be disappointed.

The pregame and postgame options in classical music are many. Today, orchestral concerts by the resident ensembles of Los Angeles (the Philharmonic, at the Music Center, (213) 972-7211) and Garden Grove (the Garden Grove Symphony at Don Wash Auditorium, 8 p.m.) compete with chamber orchestra events in Glendale and Santa Ana, and the visiting Johann Stauss Orchestra from Vienna plays at Ambassador Auditorium, (818) 304-6161.

At the same time, New York City Opera continues its engagement at the new Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, (714) 556-2787, this week performing Bernstein’s “Candide.”

Sunday, after the game, there are 7:30 concerts by the Santa Monica Symphony, conducted by Yehuda Gilad (at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, (213) 394-4176), and the Baroque Consortium Chamber Orchestra (Norris Community Theatre, Palos Verdes, (213) 373-4086).

POP MUSIC

Your highbrow tastes satisfied, it may be time to get down. Where? Times music reviewer Richard Cromelin has a few ideas.

The Whisky a Go-Go on the Sunset Strip was L.A.’s pop music mecca in the ‘60s, and after falling on some hard times and even closing for a while, the club (8901 Sunset Blvd., (213) 652-4202), is coming back strong by emphasizing local and national independent bands. The Austin-based Killer Bees are scheduled to play Sunday night.

Just up the street, the more posh Roxy (9009 Sunset Blvd., (213) 276-2222) has also turned to new musical blood.

Rivaling the two rock spots for prominence on the Southland musical map is the Palomino in North Hollywood (6907 Lankershim Blvd., (818) 764-4010), whose small stage has been the platform for a Who’s Who of country greats over the years. The Palomino has been expanding its bookings to include pop and rock acts. Tonight’s attraction is the family pop band the Weirz, followed Sunday by local country-rock singer Candye Kane.

HUMOR

You probably take your football very seriously. Sunday may not be a laughing matter. Better let staff writer Lawrence Christon coach you to some pregame giggles.

The most representative comedy clubs in Los Angeles, according to Criston, include: The Comedy Store, (8433 Sunset Blvd., (213) 656-6225) which has two rooms going simultaneously, beginning at 8 p.m., and whose roster includes well-known younger comics as well as those on the rise (Robin Williams often goes on to try out new material). The Improvisation (8162 Melrose Ave., (213) 651-2583) also features top comedians who are often seen on TV, and in addition has a front room bar and restaurant that should give New York Super Bowl fans a reminder of home.

The Ice House in Pasadena, (24 N. Mentor (818) 577-1894), is the closest comedy venue to the Rose Bowl and also features a restaurant. The atmosphere is a shade more intimate than at most other clubs. First show for tonight at 8:30.

LATE NIGHT CLUB SCENE

Sleep is out of the question, right? Gotta dance, right? Heed The Times Zan Dubin :

“Plenty of places to dance in L.A., no matter how old you are or what kind of music you prefer. For top-40 fans, try Pizazz (4351 Lincoln Blvd., Marina del Rey), lots of room to dance, two floors, newly redone lighting equipment, and mainstream Madonna sounds by a DJ. Seven days a week. Crowd age range, 21 to 29.”

Much the same for music, but a slightly older, yuppie crowd is over at Bentley’s (3200 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica, (213) 452-3446) more room for drinking and socializing than for dancing. The Continental Club (1743 Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood, (213) 461-9017) on Saturdays plays ‘60s, soul and Motown sounds. Age range: 25 to 35. DJ.

A rougher crowd with a few spike hair cuts, black leather miniskirts, etc., can be seen at Power Tools at the Park Plaza Hotel, Parkview Street, on Saturday nights. The music is a mix of a few top 40 hits, but more funk tunes, some oldies, David Bowie, Grace Jones, all great for dancing. Mixed ages, 21 and over. This doesn’t start jamming ‘til about 11 p.m. The others get going closer to 10 or 10:30.

Super Sunday Morning

WORSHIP

Had enough cacophony? These churches and synagogues, suggested by Times religion writer John Dart , offer spiritual uplift and a chance for reflection.

Services at 6 and 10:45 a.m. are held at First A.M.E. Church, whose best known member is Mayor Tom Bradley. The special sunrise service commemorates the bicentennial of the African Methodist Episcopal Church with Bishop Henry W. Murph giving the meditation. The Rev. Cecil “Chip” Murray preaches at the later morning service. The modern church building, completed in 1968, sits on a rise south of the Santa Monica Freeway (2270 S. Harvard Ave., (213) 735-1251).

Services are held at 11 a.m. at the striking Pasadena Presbyterian Church, which has combined its own youth choir and the touring Australian Children’s Choir for a performance at the regular Sunday service. The sanctuary holds more than 900 people. Senior Pastor Dean Thompson will give the sermon (585 E. Colorado Blvd., (818) 793-2191).

Visitors staying in Orange County could catch one of two Sunday services at the Crystal Cathedral pastored by television minister Robert Schuller. He’s preaching at the 9 a.m. service. The Rev. Norman Vincent Peale, who will get the National Football League Alumni’s Old Hero Award at their Century Plaza banquet tonight, is the guest preacher at the 10:45 a.m. service. The Gatlin Brothers will perform at both services (Chapman Avenue and Lewis Street in Garden Grove, (714) 971-4000). The cathedral is the pioneer “drive-in” church in the country; you can attend services sitting in your car and be ready at the benediction to pull away for Pasadena.

You may want to attend the 10:30 a.m. Saturday service of Wilshire Boulevard Temple, one of the largest Reform Jewish synagogues in the western states. The huge domed sanctuary seats about 1,800 people. Senior Rabbi Harvey J. Fields will deliver the sermon in the synagogue made famous by the late Rabbi Edgar J. Magnin (3663 Wilshire Blvd., (213) 388-2401).

ARCHITECTUAL TOURS

Churches and synagogues aren’t the only beautiful buildings in town. Sunday will be a fine day for strolling past monumental art works such as:

The former Wrigley Mansion, home of the Tournament of Roses; Gamble House, the 1908 home designed by Pasadena architects Greene and Greene (call the Pasadena Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Super Bowl Hotline for information (818) 795-9317); Heritage Square (Avenue 43 exit off the Pasadena Freeway).

Other favorite walking tours take visitors past the Victorian homes on Carroll Avenue in Angeleno Heights near downtown Los Angeles, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House (Vermont Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood) and downtown Los Angeles’ Bradbury Building (Broadway and Third Street).

SPORTS AND FITNESS

If walking tours don’t interest you, there are lots of faster paced alternatives.

Long distance runners may want to jog some of the city’s more popular paths: San Vicente Boulevard in Santa Monica, the labyrinthine pathways of Griffith Park, the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area, Will Rogers State Park in Pacific Palisades; Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu; or Lake Hollywood (check your maps).

Redondo Beach’s popular Super Bowl Sunday 10-K run starts at 8 a.m. Sunday in front of the Redondo Beach Sheraton Hotel (Beryl Street and North Harbor Drive). Many contestants and spectators wear outrageous costumes, rivaling any you might see on Halloween. Go early and prepare for a crowd. More than 18,000 people ran last year.

Los Angeles tennis players and golfers report that Super Bowl Sunday is one of the easiest Sundays to get a court or a starting tee time. The Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department runs 287 public tennis courts; another 180 are under the jurisdiction of Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation. Add to that many of the area’s high schools and colleges that open their courts to the public at specified hours.

The largest city-managed outdoor tennis facility is at Balboa Park in Encino with 16 courts; second largest, Cheviot Hills Recreation Center (2551 Motor Ave.) with 14. Among the most scenic spots for tennis is Rustic Canyon, (601 Latimer Road, Pacific Palisades) with six courts, or Griffith Park, with 28 courts in three separate locations. For tennis and golf reservations at all city facilities, call (213) 485-5566.

If you’re looking for tough golf courses, try either of the Industry Hills courses, both 18 holes and designed by William F. Bell (818) 912-3695. The city of Los Angeles manages 13 public courses, seven 18-hole courses, three 9-hole and three pitch and putt courses. Rancho Golf Course (10460 W. Pico Blvd.), has hosted both PGA and LPGA tournaments. Griffith Park has three public courses. Call the city Department of Recreation and Parks golf and tennis reservation number, (213) 485-5566.

The Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, (818) 840-9066, offers horseback riding through Griffith Park for $10 an hour, first-come first-served--and other stables are scattered along Riverside Drive in Burbank and Glendale.

SUNDAY BRUNCH

True Superbowlers will want to begin their football feast at breakfast. Here are some places to eat with fellow true believers, and watch the game :

Monahan’s, a sports bar (110 S. Lake Ave., Pasadena (818) 449-4151), begins its Super Bowl brunch at 10 a.m., no reservations needed. Appetizers, such as Giant skins and Bronco nachos, will be served during the game. Out on the Westside, try the Sports Deli (2040 Avenue of the Stars, Century City, (213) 553-5800), which boasts two giant screen TVs and 10 of the 19-inch size. You’ll need reservations for their Super Bowl brunch, $10.95 per person.

Down along the ocean in Hermosa Beach, C.J. Bretts, (2701 Pacific Coast Highway, (213) 318-2545), which is owned by Kansas City Royals slugger George Brett and his brothers, is planning a special Super Bowl party, beginning at 9 a.m. Bretts’ Game Day menu will offer sandwiches, omelets, salmon and eggs.

Folks who prefer the more traditional California brunch -- one where fellow diners prefer orange juice to Bronco-esque Orange Crush concoctions--might consider Ruth Reichl’s suggestions:

Saddle Peak Lodge (419 Cold Canyon Road, Calabassas, (818) 340-6029) is far away, but a nice drive on a Sunday, and “it’s got a fabulous country air about it--sort of like a huge hunting cabin in the country”; Michael’s (1147 3d St., Santa Monica, (213) 451-0843), “expensive, but delicous food in the prettiest garden in town. Try the barbecue sandwich or the blueberry pancakes;” Pacific Dining Car (1310 W. 6th St., (213) 483-6000) is open 24 hours, serving good hearty American food; RJ’s (252 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, (213) 274-3474), all you can eat. Abundance at crowd-pleasing prices.

Super Sunday Afternoon

Game time! Should you decide to unload your tickets on scalpers, you might settle in for an afternoon of horse racing at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia. Post time is 12:30, and you can watch the Super Bowl on the track’s many television sets , (818) 574-7223.

If you do decide to go to the game, though, you might contact Coordinators, a division of American Sightseeing at Disneyland, which can provide transportation by bus, at $26 round trip, for the Super Bowl, from locations all over Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, (714) 891-7600.

Super Sunday Evening

DINNER

You went easy on the stadium dog s , right? So once again your stomach is shouting , ‘Feed me.’ Los Angeles is a multi-ethnic smorgasboard serving everything the American melting pot has to offer. Here are Times staff writer Rose Dosti’s suggestions for good ethnic grub.

El Colmao, (2328 West Pico Blvd., (213) 386-6131), “You’re in Havana when you dine at this bright, cheerful, authentic--and inexpensive--neighborhood Cuban restaurant;” El Dorado (4273 Beverly Blvd., (213) 660-7746), “A charming cottage of a place to enjoy typical Colombian cuisine--average entree $7.50;” Restaurant Magnolia Afghanistan Cuisine (2827 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 483-8475), “This spotlessly clean Mongolian restaurant is as authentic as you’ll find outside of Kabul--dinner $6 to $7.”

Sofi Estiatorion (8030 3/4 West Third St., (213) 651-0346), “The food is genuine Greek home cooking, the atmosphere pleasing and the host, Sofi, a former medical doctor turned chef, a charmer--Average dinner $15;” Ritza Restaurant (5468 Wilshire Blvd., (213) 934-2215), “Go for the great Georgian home cooking everyday or the lively Russian music and dance on weekends--entrees with soup and salad are from $5.25 to $10.”

Gorky’s Cafe (536 E. 8th St., (213) 627-4060), “Proletarians rise. The omelets in this offbeat Russian cafeteria may come with caviar but the prices are right: entrees from $1.75 to $4.95;” Barcelona (3316 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, (213) 450-3232), “The paella and the tapas are worth the trip. Average check for one with beverage $15;” Grandia Palace (5657 Melrose Ave., (213) 462-8628), “Enjoy the dolmas and some very good, inexpensive Greek fish dishes in the presence of the goddess Diana and god Apollo (as oversized sculptures)--average dinner entree $8.50 with soup or salad.”

DANCE

If watching grown men slam each other to the ground merely whetted your appetite for viewing the human form in aesthetic motion, you’re in luck. Times dance critic Lewis Segal has suggestions for continued viewing pleasure:

“Recently in the national spotlight because of the big-screen ‘Nutcracker’ film, the Seattle-based 36-member Pacific Northwest Ballet makes its first local appearance this week, performing mixed programs of short ballets in Royce Hall on the UCLA campus in Westwood, tonight at 8 and Sunday at 7 p.m. Tonight’s and Sunday’s programs are identical. The best-known works are George Balanchine’s modernist masterpiece ‘The Four Temparaments’ (music by Hindemith) and Jose Limon’s ‘The Moor’s Pavane’ (music by Purcell), a celebrated modern-dance portrait of the key conflicts and personalities in Shakespeare’s ‘Othello.’ ”

Another company from the Seattle area, the Morca Dance Theatre, will appear in Pasadena tonight, performing adventuresome flamenco. Teodora and Isabel Morca are joined by guitarists Josele del Rio and Paco Sevilla and singer Marysol at 8 p.m. (Beckman Auditorium on the Caltech campus, South Michigan Avenue).

JAZZ

Whew, the party’s almost over. What better way to wind down than with some soulful jazz. Times jazz critic Leonard Feather offers these suggestions for capping things off:

For jazz fans this will be a rewarding weekend. Today the attractions will be mainly vocal: Ernie Andrews at the Nucleus Nuance (7267 Melrose, W. Hollywood, (213) 939-8666); the vocal trio Full Swing at Donte’s (4269 Lankershim Blvd. N. Hollywood, (213) 877-8347); singer/saxophonist Eddie Harris at Marla’s Memory Lane (2323 W. Martin Luther King Blvd., (213) 294-8430), and the L.A. Voices teaming with Med Flory’s Supersax in concert at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Singer Shelby Flint, backed by the Gregg Karukas group, will be at Le Cafe (14633 Ventura Blvd. Sherman Oaks, (818) 986-2662); Jack Sheldon, the trumpeter and singer, is at the Smokehouse (4420 Lakeside Drive, Burbank, (818) 845-3731) today and Alfonse’s (10057 Riverside Drive, Toluca Lake), Sunday.

Other Sunday attractions include the blues veteran Jimmy Witherspoon, who will host an after-game celebration 7:30 p.m. at Donte’s; pianist Gerald Wiggins at Linda’s (6715 Melrose Ave.), and the elegant fluegelhorn of Stacy Rowles with her pianist Diana Krall at Le Mondrian.