Best Bets: Sat 10/31
All day: Hockey
Hockey at the beach? What’s this? Well, the NHL has set out to convince America that Canadians are right--hockey is the coolest game on Earth. NHL Breakout ’98 includes street and in-line hockey tournaments in inflatable rinks and various games to test your shooting, goal-tending and stick-handling skills. Olympic gold medalist Cammi Granato will also be on hand for four instructional clinics as part of the accompanying Women’s Hockey Expo.
* NHL Breakout ’98 at the Santa Monica Pier. Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Free. Women’s Hockey Expo, clinics cost $20, Saturday, 1 and 2 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. and noon. Information: (310) 412-7265.
All day: Family
Murrieta’s Hot Air Halloween will get underway when more than 30 hot-air balloons lift off at dawn Halloween morning over the southern Riverside County city to begin a two-day racing competition that ends Sunday at 3 p.m. Daylong events include stage shows, kids’ fair, food booths, games, talent show, live music, prizes and an after-dark “Night Fire” balloon demonstration Halloween night. Children will be able to trick-or-treat among the vendor booths and tethered balloons.
* Murrieta’s Hot Air Halloween. Saturday, 5:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday, 5:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Jefferson Avenue and Date Street. Adults, $8; seniors, $6; children 7-12, $5; under 7, free. (909) 676-3968.
All day: Documentaries
The International Documentary Assn. presents DocuFest, an all-day showcase of this year’s winners of the IDA Documentary Awards. The lineup includes Werner Herzog’s “Little Dieter Needs to Fly,” Jay Rosenblatt’s short doc “Human Remains,” and, from the Netherlands, Aliona van der Host’s acclaimed “Dame Met Het Witte Hoedje” (“Lady With the White Hair”).
* DocuFest, Raleigh Studios, Chaplin Theater, 5300 Melrose Ave., Hollywood. Noon-10:30 p.m. Individual tickets, $5-$7; all-day pass, $15-20. (310) 284-8422.
7 pm: Pop Music
You say you’ve seen KISS before? Well you haven’t seen the original four members together in almost two decades. You haven’t seen them on a stage full of 3-D effects. You definitely haven’t seen them at Dodger Stadium, with the Smashing Pumpkins opening the show. Happy Halloween.
* KISS and the Smashing Pumpkins at Dodger Stadium, 1000 Elysian Park Ave. $35 and $55. (323) 224-1500.
7 pm: Carnival
Creepy meets campy at the West Hollywood Halloween Carnival, where divas and demons will be dancing in the streets. The Mardi Gras-style festival is expected to draw 250,000 costumed revelers. The event also includes live music, dance areas and costume contest.
* West Hollywood Halloween Carnival, Santa Monica Boulevard between La Cienega Boulevard and Doheny Drive, 7 p.m.-1 a.m. (323) 848-6547.
7:30 pm: Opera
Displaying newly refurbished sets and costumes, L.A. Opera’s production of Verdi’s “Falstaff,” last seen here in 1990, returns this week, to be conducted by Gabriele Ferro and staged by Stephen Lawless. Heard in Italian, with English supertitles, the production boasts Australian baritone Gregory Yurisich in the title role; among the other merry people of Windsor are Ashley Putnam, Robert Orth, Stephanie Blythe and Greg Fedderly.
* “Falstaff,” Dorothy Chandler Pavlion at the L.A. County Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown Los Angeles. $25-$137. (213) 365-3500. Subsequent performances: Nov. 6, 8 and 11 at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 14 at 1 p.m.
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FREEBIE: Music, rides, food and petting zoo at the Downtown Culver City Fall Art Festival, 10 a.m. (626) 797-6803.