SPOTLIGHT : PLACES TO GO : PEOPLE TO SEE : There’s More to This Place Than the Malls

Does anything happen in Orange County after 10 p.m.? Does anything happen here at all? Or--to put a new twist on an old joke--is the corner frozen yogurt shop the only place to find active culture in O.C.?

L.A., which has absorbed years of cultural snipes from New York, often turns its own disdain on that funny little neighbor to the south, where the orange groves and bean fields have given way to look-alike strip malls and housing tracts, with no apparent quickening of the local artistic pulse.

How true is the cliche? Well, South Coast Repertory won itself a regional Tony in 1988, and development of the Orange County Performing Arts Center a few years back proved that a little dedication and a lot of money will get you a nice place to put on a show. But what about the big picture? For the local willing to turn off the VCR and step outside the gate-guarded comforts of home, just how much is there to do ?

In an attempt to answer that question, O.C. Live! now looks at a typical O.C. weekend-- this weekend, Friday night to Sunday--to see just what cultural and recreational opportunities are really out there.

The first stop on this survey of the scene is a quirky little event that is uniquely, quintessentially Orange County. Where else can you sit in a rustic outdoor amphitheater and watch models in painstakingly detailed costumes and makeup standing stock-still and pretending to be famous works of art?

Dazzling, endearing or just plain baffling, depending on how you want to look at it, the Laguna Beach Pageant of the Masters has been packing crowds in for more than half a century now. Its annual summer run opens Friday at the Irvine Bowl in Laguna Canyon.

Also opening, on the adjoining grounds, is the Festival of the Arts, and down the street is the Sawdust Festival. At each, local artisans hawk their artsy craftsy wares from open-air booths while entertainers stroll about. These are both popular attractions that draw a heavy tourist trade.

Those who prefer their art a bit more, well, challenging can saunter over to the nearby Laguna Art Museum to catch “Why I Got Into TV and Other Stories: The Art of Ilene Segalove” before it closes this weekend. This retrospective spotlights Segalove’s witty video and radio commentaries on popular culture, works that explore the boundary between reality and artifice.

Elsewhere on the art scene, some provocative work by mostly little-known artists can be found in “The Conceptual Impulse” at the Security Pacific Gallery in Costa Mesa. The Newport Harbor Art Museum is closed this weekend as it gears up for new exhibits opening July 15.

Two current productions dominate the county’s dramaturgy. The Grove Shakespeare Festival offers up the Bard’s “Much Ado About Nothing” in a revisionist setting--1939 Fascist Italy. SCR, meanwhile, continues its West Coast premiere run of “Speed-the-Plow,” David Mamet’s scathing indictment of the Hollywood ethic.

Saturday will see the opening of a more offbeat theatrical venture: Actor Daniel Trent will present his one-man adaptation of the Richard Henry Dana classic “Two Years Before the Mast”--aboard a replica of Dana’s ship, the Pilgrim, at anchor in Dana Point Harbor.

The music scene offers a bit of generational dyslexia, featuring two pianist/singers of (to say the least) contrasting styles. The young one is genteel jazzman Harry Connick Jr., who composed the score to “When Harry Met Sally” and champions pre-rock standards by Gershwin, Porter, Arlen, Rodgers and Hart.

While Connick tickles the ivories at the Center on Saturday, the Killer himself, hard-living and hard-playing Jerry Lee Lewis, will be pounding the keys at Knott’s Berry Farm. Lewis also performs at the amusement park Sunday. (See story on Page 4.)

UB40, the British reggae band that scored its biggest U.S. hit with a remake of Neil Diamond’s “Red Red Wine,” will join the Smithereens Saturday at the Pacific Amphitheatre. The local rock club scene, meanwhile, remains anemic as usual, although the Coach House, the county’s top concert club, offers up ex-Eagle Joe Walsh on Friday and rockabilly-tinged romanticist Chris Isaak on Saturday.

On the lighter side, comedian Jeff Foxworthy headlines the Irvine Improv this weekend, while Marc Eubanks and Rich Natole are cracking jokes at the Laff Stop in Newport Beach.

Classical music and dance fans, alas, are cursed by the summer doldrums.

There’s always Disneyland, the amusement park that did more to shape Orange County’s future than anything or anyone else. The park marks its 35th anniversary this year with a new parade and lotsa giveaways. The county also offers the aforementioned Knott’s, the Movieland Wax Museum, a water theme park called Wild Rivers, the Santa Ana Zoo and Medieval Times, where you can watch jousting matches and eat with your fingers.

Orange County’s biggest attraction, though, is a natural one--its coastline. With school out, the sands are carpeted with young bodies while swimmers and surfers bob in the gently rolling waves. The coast from Crystal Cove south also offers some prime snorkeling and scuba spots.

Pleasure boating is big business, of course, with big marinas in Newport Harbor and Dana Point. Those with no boat to call their own can head out on commercial fishing boats, take a guided boat tour of Newport Harbor to gawk at the multimillion-dollar houses, or cruise 26 miles across the sea to Catalina.

Folks who prefer self-propelled travel can get in on a growing trend, ocean kayaking. Irvine Valley College offers classes beginning this weekend.

Other things to do along the beach: fish from the piers, skate or bike along the boardwalks, grab a fire ring for a nighttime barbecue or take a carnival ride at the Balboa Fun Zone. And this weekend, on Sunday, San Clemente offers its annual Fiesta Chowder Cook-Off.

Orange County’s other natural attractions include its wildlife-rich wetlands, of which Upper Newport Bay is the jewel. Walking tours will be offered Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m.

And then there are the hills--some of which remain relatively development-free. Favorite areas for hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians include the Santa Ana Mountains in the vicinity of Silverado, Trabuco and Modjeska canyons and along Ortega Highway, and Crystal Cove State Park. The hills can get hot this time of year but the sycamore-shaded canyons offer cool respite.

Speaking of cool respite:

Bars and restaurants are largely of the chain variety but a few local watering holes offer real character. The Marines meet the cowboys just down the street from the mission in San Juan Capistrano’s legendary Swallows Inn. The once-remote outpost at Cook’s Corner, near Trabuco Canyon, is still likely to have more than a few Harleys parked out front. The Harp Inn in Costa Mesa, meanwhile, offers the relaxed, conversational atmosphere of a real Irish pub.

Movies, finally, are always a popular way to pass time here, where per-screen averages for the typical blockbuster more than double the national numbers. With more than 250 screens, there are plenty of chances to see “Dick Tracy,” “Total Recall,” “Robocop 2,” “Die Hard 2,” “Gremlins 2,” “Back to the Future III” and “Another 48 HRS.”

Still looking for that thing to do after 10 p.m.? At the Balboa Cinema in Newport Beach--and now in its 11th year--is the Saturday midnight showing of “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

And that’s not even counting the frozen yogurt shop.