It Was a Great Day to Really See Southland : Weather: Sprinkles combined with gusty winds to clear the air. Tourists and locals enjoyed the picture-postcard panorama.

Each time Mike and Darlene Cunningham take visiting relatives to the Griffith Observatory for a scenic view of their recently adopted home, they end up staring into the soupy brown blanket that normally hangs over the Los Angeles Basin.

On Monday, for the first time since they moved last summer from Tennessee to Simi Valley, they were greeted by the sparkling Southern California vista they had always hoped for.

“It’s amazing! The clearest I’ve ever seen it!” said Darlene Cunningham, as she gazed at the shimmering Pacific, a good 20 miles to the west.

“You mean you don’t have many days like this?” asked her cousin, Patty Alfonso, here on vacation from the family home in Memphis.

An overnight sprinkle combined with gusty winds gave Los Angeles one of those crystalline days that reminds natives why they never left and reassures newcomers why they came in the first place.

Ragtops came down, sunglasses went on, Mt. Baldy unveiled a snowcapped peak, and from vantage points all around the region tourists and locals marveled at what was literally a postcard-perfect panorama.

“This is one of those days we’ve been waiting for,” said Fred Emmert, owner of Air Views, an aerial photography company in Irvine. “A late-afternoon shot today in downtown L.A. with the snow on the mountain in the background could end up being one of the pretty pictures of the year.”

Even those without the ability to feast their eyes on the untainted horizons were able to sense the freshness. At the Braille Institute on Vermont Avenue, blind students chattered about the spring-like weather and spent their breaks soaking up sun in the school’s new outdoor sculpture garden.

“The clarity of the air is something we all feel, there’s a kind of electricity in the wind and the sun is shining on everybody,” said Bob Perrone, assistant director of student training. “There are many ways to enjoy a fine day like this.”

Meteorologists attributed the fresh air to a cold front that swept through Southern California on Sunday night, cleansing coastal and mountain areas with about a tenth of an inch of rain. The clouds were replaced with a high-pressure front off the ocean, which kept temperatures on the cool side--highs Tuesday were in the mid 60s.

Without an inversion layer to trap pollutants, smog was swept away in the breeze. Air quality throughout the Southland was generally in the good range, with pollution indexes about five times lower than during smoggy summer months.

“It’s kind of like when you hose something down,” said Claudia Keith, spokeswoman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District. “It just washes everything away.”

The sparkle was expected to soon fall under a shroud again. According to WeatherData Inc., a private firm that provides forecasts for The Times, another cold front is moving through Northern California and should bring clouds and possibly a bit more moisture to the Los Angeles area tonight.

“It’s just one of those days that happen,” said Steve Burback, meteorologist for WeatherData. “But it won’t last long.”

On Monday, at least, anybody who could slip out of work was making the most of it.

“Whenever the weather gets like this, I head for the hills,” said Ross Yerkes, owner of a camera repair business who shut the shop to take his own camera to the Griffith Observatory.

There, the 50-year-old Highland Park man spent the morning aiming a 400-millimeter lens at the hills to the east, hoping he would be able to catch a glimpse of his house magnified in the viewfinder.

“Isn’t it fantastic?” Yerkes asked with a grin.

A few feet away, Salim Chammas was stuffing quarters into a telescope, maneuvering it so that he could study the Century City skyscraper where the Bruce Willis movie “Die Hard” was filmed.

“Big surprise,” said the 27-year-old computer technician from Santa Monica. “No smog in Los Angeles.”

Up on the 55th floor of the First Interstate Tower, Mike Branigan was quickly appreciating the benefits of his new job as a real estate development manager for Compass Management and Leasing, the firm that manages the city’s tallest building.

“It doesn’t get a whole lot clearer than this,” said Branigan, 32, as he surveyed the hills from Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica. “I can actually see ships on the horizon.”

On the streets of Hollywood, below a Hollywood sign that looked liked a set of freshly brushed teeth, New Zealand tourist John Schoen chose the day to make a most Californian of purchases: a pair of jet-black Ray Bans.

“When I first got here, the smog just blew me away,” said Schoen, 26. “I’m surprised it could get this nice.”

Over on Mulholland Drive, viewpoints were crowded with people such as Jim Meehan and Mike Babiak, New Yorkers who were heading back East after setting up a trade show in Universal City for a national shoe chain.

“We’re going back tomorrow,” said Meehan, 38, “so we’re trying to get some sun on us.”

Their guide, Jeff Corbett, a 30-year-old actor living in Hancock Park, seemed even more impressed with the rarity of the day.

“Super clear . . . blue sky. . . . I mean it’s never blue,” said Corbett, who moved here from New York two years ago. “Look at it, man. This is very strange.”