Ring Up to Ring In : Events: From pop concerts to jazz clubs, theme parks to a mystery train, there’s lots happening on New Year’s Eve, including a Sierra Club hike.

What exactly is it that we celebrate every Dec. 31? The end of the old year and its problems or the beginning of the new and its promise? The fact that we can finally start using the new calendar date book we got for Christmas?

Regardless of reason, New Year’s Eve is traditionally a coast-to-coast party, with revelers crowding the streets from New York’s chilly Times Square to Long Beach’s comparatively balmy Pine Avenue (see below). It’s the one night of the year that everyone--well, almost everyone--pursues pleasure without fear of excess. Moderation? Not on New Year’s Eve.

So end this year with a figurative bang. Dance up a storm. Feast like a pig. Laugh like a clown. “Eat, drink and be merry,” as the old saying goes, “for tomorrow. . . . “ Well, we’ll worry about that next year.

But first, take some advice. Make your reservations early.

And another thing. Spend the time with friends. Don’t have any friends, you say? Then spend it with somebody else’s, say Jerry Seinfeld’s comedic buddy George, who, under his real name of Jason Alexander, shares the bill with fun-loving, a cappella ensemble the Bobs and improvisational group Comedy Sportz for a night of laughs and song at the beautiful Alex Theatre in Glendale, (818) 243-2539, $42.50 and $37.50.

Actually, the friendless are welcome almost everywhere on New Year’s Eve. Concerts? Pick your crowd from among headbangers pounding to Warrant or nostalgia buffs calling up memories with the Righteous Brothers. Like to dance? Choose from swing, Latin and country music. Smoky clubs your thing? The lounge scene offers plenty of new faces, and old.

Or maybe you’d just like to get lost in the crowd. There’s no better place than on Pine Avenue in Long Beach, where some 15,000 to 20,000 people are expected to attend the annual spectacle around the city’s historic Landmark Square clock tower.

The avenue will be closed and music from such party bands as Billy Vera and the Beaters, Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers, the Fabulous Thunderbirds and the Blasters will be aired from a pair of stages. At midnight, a gigantic mirrored ball will slide down the clock tower, much like what happens back in Times Square. Admission to the street is $25 in advance or $30 that night. Several area restaurants will offer dinner packages, which include admission to the street festivities. Call Mum’s Restaurant, (310) 437-7700, for general event information.

Other crowds can be found at Disneyland, which schedules a blowout fireworks display for midnight and will stay open until 3 a.m., (714) 781-4565, and Knott’s Berry Farm, open until 2 a.m., also with midnight fireworks, (714) 220-5200. And there’s always plenty of folks along Pasadena’s Colorado Boulevard, as the hardy stake out spots for the next day’s Rose Parade, then party all night long.

Or you can squeeze (and we do mean squeeze) through the masses packed on the Queen Mary, where they’ll offer seven parties, each with different musical formats and dancing, ranging from big-band swing to pop and country, (310) 435-3511.

You can count on plenty of company as well at the Cerritos Center when the Righteous Brothers claim you’ve lost that lovin’ feeling one more time in a 10 p.m. concert, $68-$50. Add a pre-concert dinner at the neighboring Sheraton Cerritos for $60 and a post-midnight party (with buffet and champagne), hosted by a K-Earth disc jockey yet to be announced, for $42 and you’ve got yourself a million-dollar evening, (800) 300-4345.

There’s a lot of musical variety offered on the Eve. Celebratory crowds can be found enjoying the hard rock sounds of Warrant at the Troubadour (Krunk and the Feds open), (310) 276-6168, or the melodious harmonies of Manhattan Transfer backed by the Ted Herman Orchestra and hosted by weather prognosticator-comedian Fritz Coleman at the Universal Amphitheatre, (213) 252-8197. Berlin brings back the ‘80s at the Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana, (714) 957-1133, the patter of Little Feat can be heard at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, (714) 496-8927, while Freddie Fender will get you moving to Tex-Mex sounds at the Normandie Casino Showroom, (310) 352-3428.

Blues lovers will find Etta James at House of Blues, (213) 650-1451, B.B. King at the Ventura Concert Theatre, (805) 648-1936, Coco Montoya at B.B. King’s, (818) 225-4647, and Preston Smith and the Crocodiles at Jax in Glendale, (818) 500-1604. Loretta Devine (“Dream Girls,” “Waiting to Exhale”) will entertain at the Cinegrill in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, (213) 466-7000.

Retro sounds, big in ‘96, will be big on New Year’s Eve. R&B; band the Gila Monsters with ‘70s funksters the Polyester Players will look back at Luna Park, (310) 652-0611, ‘80s trendsetter deejay Richard Blade hosts a “flashback” party at the Palace, (213) 462-3000, and a disco band and deejay will re-create the ‘70s at retro-trendy Atlas Bar & Grill, (213) 930-2366.

Not retro enough? Eight-piece jump and swing band the Jumpin’ Jimes turn back the clock at the Derby, (213) 663-8979. Or get real low down with the Fat Possum Revue and its brand of Mississippi-influenced sounds at the Ash Grove on the Santa Monica Pier, (310) 656-8500. There’ll be dancing at all these events.

Dancing to stronger rhythms can be found at El Floridita, where the band Cubanacan will inject salsa fever, (213) 871-8612. And they’ll be cheek-to-cheek at the Hana Lounge in the Hotel Nikko when Paul Turner’s seven-piece band strikes up, (310) 246-2100, as well as at the Moonlight Tango, where the Palm Beach Trio with Lenetta Kidd will bring back romance, (818) 788-2000.

Jazz fans can beam their celebration coast to coast by attending the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra’s appearance with vocalist Diana Krall at the Jazz Bakery, (310) 271-9039, an event that National Public Radio will broadcast live across the nation.

Other notable jazz happenings include sensational Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba at Catalina Bar & Grill, (213) 466-2210, saxophonist Teddy Edwards’ quartet at the Club Brasserie in the Bel Age Hotel, (310) 854-1111, keyboardist Don Randi and Quest at the Baked Potato in North Hollywood, (818) 980-1615, vocalist Kevyn Lettau at La Ve Lee in Studio City, (818) 980-8158, saxophonist Lanny Morgan with pianist Danny Pucillo’s trio at Monty’s in Woodland Hills, (818) 716-9736, vibraphonist Dave Pike’s trio with vocalist Brooke Vigoda at Chadney’s in Burbank, (818) 843-5333. Saxophonist-flutist-clarinetist Buddy Collette plays the St. Moritz in Toluca Lake, (213) 851-8844.

Then there’s the big, three-day blowout “New Years Jazz at Indian Wells” in the desert at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort, the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort and the Indian Wells Resort Hotel, Dec. 28-31. Different parties at each location will, on the big night, feature such performers as Marlena Shaw, Rob Rio and the Revolvers and the Chicago Six. The Ray Anthony Big Band, Milt Jackson and the Bobby Rodriguez Latin Jazz Band, among others, will appear in the earlier sessions. (310) 799-6055.

If music’s not your thing, there’s the rolling party aboard Keith and Margo’s Murder Mystery Train, where you’ll figure out “who dunit” during a train ride from Union Station to San Diego (with an overnight stay at San Diego’s Westgate Hotel). The $395 price includes round-trip travel, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres en route, hotel transfers and accommodations, a dinner, party and brunch on Jan. 1 as well as the usual party supplies. Other murder mystery events will be held in Riverside at the Mission Inn, Madame Wu’s in Santa Monica and the Countryside Inn in Newport Beach, (818) 785-7700.

Maybe one of the nicest, and most unusual events (and a great place to meet new friends) is the Sierra Club’s annual Welcome In the New Year Hike, an easy to moderate stroll of five to six miles along a well-marked fire road that puts you on top of the Santa Monica Mountains with a view of the city lights at midnight. More than 400 people made the walk-potluck last year. Call (310) 479-5717 for details.

This is only a sample of the goings-on around the area, and you’d do well to check your favorite venue to see what’s up on the last night of the year. But whatever you do, turn off the television, pick a designated driver and get out of the house. And remember: We warned you about the champagne.