The Best Thing About a Hot Day Is the Cool Night : Weather: But with afternoon temperatures topping 100 in many Southland areas, relief isn’t easy to find.

One of the good things about Southern California weather is that you sometimes can turn a liability into an asset.

On a day like Friday, when punishing afternoon heat in the Los Angeles Basin drove even some of the most dedicated sun worshipers indoors, the evening temperatures were refreshingly balmy in a lot of places, providing some pleasant settings for al fresco enjoyment.

At Dodger Stadium, where the thermometer had read about 100 degrees at 4:30 p.m., it was down to about 80 by nightfall, cooled by a soft zephyr that banished the afternoon smog to provide a sparkling view of the San Gabriel Mountains.

“Hey, there’s a nice breeze now, the Dodgers already have a two-run lead, things look pretty good,” said Henry Rodriguez, 34, of East Los Angeles, who was enjoying the second inning with his 6-year-old son, Henry Jr. “It almost makes you forget how hot it was today, and how hot it’s gonna be tomorrow.”

Vickie Towne, 38, of Tujunga, agreed.

“This is a good place to be after a day like today,” she said. “And I’m not even a Dodger fan.”

(The evening did not end as nicely as it began for Dodger fans, however, as the home team lost, 3-2.)

Santa Monica, with a picture-postcard sunset and a near-perfect temperature of 70 degrees at 8 p.m., provided a welcome refuge for visitors from the San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys, where temperatures had peaked as high as 111 during the day.

David S. Gray, a lawyer from Sherman Oaks, was enjoying dinner with friends on the terrace at Gladstone’s restaurant at the foot of Sunset Boulevard.

He said that during the day, all he and other San Fernando Valley dwellers could do was “stay inside . . . and run the air conditioning.”

Attractive as the Santa Monica setting was, Gray said he and his friends were going to abandon it soon and head for Palm Springs, where the 8 p.m. reading was 115 degrees, down from an afternoon high of 123.

“We’re out of our minds,” he admitted.

Daniel Diaz, 36, his wife and four children fled their Highland Park home--which lacks air conditioning--for a night on the beach at of Topanga Canyon.

“This is the right place to be,” Diaz said.

Advertising executive Keith Jespersen had left his sweltering home in Pasadena for a cool spot on the beach near the Santa Monica pier.

“When you live in paradise, you’ve got to take the flaws and fiddle with them,” Jesperson said. In Old Pasadena, the heat still rippled up from the sidewalks along Colorado Boulevard as night fell, with temperatures in the 80s registering on storefront thermometers at 8:30 p.m.

Sidewalk cafe tables--usually more popular than the tables inside--were shunned by all but the smokers, who are forced to enjoy their habit in the open air.

“I’m not too happy,” said nonsmoker Vartkes Yeghiayan, draining a Coke at Mi Piace. “I’m making a sacrifice for my friend.

His dinner companion, Arpiar Demirjian, dragged on his cigarette and looked quite comfortable. A geologist, he said working outdoors in places like Sudan, Libya and Egypt was his stock in trade. “This,” he commented, “is not so hot.”

At the Pasadena Humane Society, the dog day stretched into the night as collies and Rottweilers panted in their outdoor kennels. A mist cooling system gave the dogs a little respite, but the cats, as usual, had it better. Because of their more delicate constitutions, they enjoyed air-conditioned digs.

In the aviary, the shelter’s lone owl blinked its yellow eyes and panted like a dog.

Some humans took shelter at the Humane Society facility too. The Turtle and Tortoise Society was holed up in a chilly room for a monthly meeting.

While Dodger Stadium and the beaches were pleasant by nightfall and Pasadena was at least bearable, the San Fernando Valley refused to cool off. At 9 p.m., readings above 90 degrees were still reported in several places.

Nicole Nugent, a 14-year-old visitor from Apollo Beach, Fla., said that while her state gets pretty hot, she had never before experienced anything like this week in the West Valley.

“I like California a lot, but the heat here just kills me,” she said. Trying to sleep in her West Hills bedroom these nights, she said, “is like being trapped in an oven that you can’t turn down.”

The enduring heat wave, now expected to stretch through the weekend, is the product of a massive dome of high pressure that has settled over the Southwest, blocking most of the onshore flow of cool, moist air from the Pacific.

While daytime temperatures are peaking in the 70s along the coast, top readings climb rapidly as you move inland. Friday’s high temperature at the Los Angeles Civic Center, recorded shortly before 5 p.m., was 101 degrees, tying the 23-year-old record for the date.

Other highs Friday included 102 in Monrovia, 103 in Pasadena, 107 in Burbank, 110 in Woodland Hills, 111 in Van Nuys and 126 in Thermal.

Forecasters said it will be just about as hot today, with top readings near 100 Downtown, between 100 and 110 in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys and from 115 to 125 in Palm Springs and the southern desert. Temperatures should be slightly lower Sunday. Times staff writer Susan Moffat contributed to this story.