BEST BETS: Sunday 9/26 : 1 pm: Theater

“Black History in America,” part of Theatricum Botanicum’s “American Stories” concert performance series, pays tribute to African American experiences through the voices of black leaders and the songs that are woven into America’s cultural fabric.

* “Black History in America,” Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga. Sunday, 1 p.m. $10. (310) 455-3723.

2 pm: Movies

Neil Simon has won Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, but never an Oscar--despite four nominations and dozens of screen adaptations of his plays. Still, the Skirball Cultural Center is honoring his film work with “Neil Simon: A Retrospective.” It continues this weekend with a double feature of two of his best: “The Odd Couple” and “The Sunshine Boys.” “The Odd Couple” (1968) first paired Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon as Oscar and Felix, two poker buddies forced to be roommates when Felix and his wife split up. Matthau stars with George Burns (who won an Oscar for the role) in “The Sunshine Boys” (1975), in which two aging rival vaudevillians have to team up for a TV special. The retrospective continues Oct. 3 with an appearance by Simon, Oct. 12 with “The Goodbye Girl” (1977), and Nov. 7 with “The Out-of-Towners” (1970) and “After the Fox” (1966).

* “Neil Simon: A Retrospective,” Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Drive, Los Angeles. $6; $5, members; $4, students. (310) 440-4500. Tickets L.A., (323) 655-8587.

3 pm: Music

To kick off L.A. Baroque Orchestra’s new season, Julia and Robert Winter will open their redesigned Pacific Palisades home for “Champagne Classics II,” a special celebratory concert at which the principal performers will be soprano Kris Gould, the ensemble’s founder, violinist Gregory Maldonado, cellist William Skeen and fortepianist Robert Winter. The program includes works by Mozart and Schubert.

* L.A. Baroque Orchestra’s “Champagne Classics II, “ Pacific Palisades (address provided upon confirmation of reservations), 3 p.m. $35. (310) 458-0425.

11 am: Art

During the 1970s and 1980s, Raymond Pettibon garnered attention for creating album covers for punks bands such as Black Flag and Sonic Youth. Sunday, Pettibon is the subject of a mid-career survey as the Museum of Contemporary Art mounts some 500 works by the L.A. artist who is known for incorporating literature, sports, religion, politics and sexuality in his art. The survey includes fanzines, record covers, handmade books of ink and watercolor drawings and other works on paper.

* “Raymond Pettibon,” Museum of Contemporary Art, 250 S. Grand Ave., downtown Los Angeles. Tuesdays-Sundays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thursdays, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Ends Jan. 2. Adults, $6; students and seniors, $4; MOCA members and children under 12, free. (213) 626-6222.

noon: Tour

A tour led by the Hancock Park Historical Society will take guests back to the 1920s, when the wealthy neighborhood was founded. A Stroll in the Park, the name of the 22nd annual tour, includes stops at six homes built between 1925 and 1929, representing the work of architects Phil Brinckerhoff, Gerard R. Cooper, Don Uhl and Paul R. Williams. No photography is allowed.

* A Stroll in the Park, noon-5 p.m. Reservations required. $25, adults; $12.50, students. (213) 243-8182.

1:30 pm: Movies

Before there were singing cowboys, there were silent ones, like Tom Mix. The legendary actor appeared in more than 300 movies from 1909 to 1935--most of them filmed in the then-rustic area that is now Echo Park and Silver Lake. For its Westerns on the Silent Screen program, the Homestead Museum will screen the 1922 film, “Just Tony,” in which Mix seeks revenge against the man who shot him during a bar brawl, then unknowingly falls for his enemy’s daughter. Also at the museum that day, trick roper Jim Townsley will perform and there will be an original Wells Fargo stagecoach.

* Westerns on the Silent Screen, “Just Tony,” Homestead Museum, 15415 E. Don Julian Road, City of Industry, 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. Free. First-come, first-seated, starting at 1:30 p.m. (626) 968-8492.

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FREEBIES: Africa Fe^te performs African music at the California Plaza Watercourt, 350 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. 7 p.m. (213) 687-2159.

Baritone Jubilant Sykes and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra perform at the C.J. Reinhart Auditorium at Horace Mann Middle School, 7001 St. Andrews Place, L.A. 7 p.m. (323) 789-5628.