HOLIDAY PLANS RUN THE GAMUT FOR SOUTHLAND.

Byline: Steve Carney Staff Writer

For Independence Day, Valley Village resident George King - better not call him King George - is staging his own American revolt.

He plans to work.

But at the British Social Club in North Hollywood, bygones seem to be bygones - they're hosting a ``Happy Birthday, America'' dinner-dance Saturday.

And the folks on Liberty Bell Road in Calabasas are almost obligated by their address to break out the briquets, burgers, and Stars and Stripes.

``My husband always makes certain he puts out the flag. Not many people do anymore,'' Maxine Welch said.

With the Fourth of July approaching faster than a glaring red rocket, Los Angeles-area residents are celebrating their freedom of choice in more ways than candles on the country's birthday cake.

Thousand Oaks native Darva Conger - who is exposed in the current Playboy and answered Fox's ``Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?'' with ``I do'' - said she'll pass the holiday at a uniquely American landmark.

``I plan to be at the Playboy Mansion enjoying Hef's party on the Fourth of July,'' said Conger, a former emergency-room nurse who served in the Army during the Gulf War.

``As a military veteran I take great pride in, and celebrate with profound joy, our observation of Independence Day and the advent of America as a country that is matched by no other.''

As Liberty Bell Road homeowners for 32 years, Maxine and William Welch are living up to the name of their lane for Independence Day.

``We'll probably have our family over for a barbecue - hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream for dessert. Sit around the pool, chase the grandchildren,'' Welch said. With a family of 14 to help celebrate, ``we have a good time.''

But just like that other John Adams 224 years ago, John Adams of Van Nuys may have to work July 4.

Adams, a motion picture sound editor who's unsure if he's related to the Founding Father, said an accelerated work schedule may put him on the clock for the holiday.

``Otherwise, I'm going to get my kids and get them someplace to see fireworks,'' Adams said. ``We'll barbecue - that's kind of traditional - get together with some friends and maybe play ping-pong. Pretty low-key.''

Not as low-key, however, as the plans of Sparky Anderson, the Thousand Oaks resident and former Cincinnati Reds and Detroit Tigers manager.

``I do nothing,'' he said of how he celebrates the Fourth.

Pressed further, Anderson - who's the only manager to have led teams to World Series championships in both the American and National leagues, and who will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 23 in Cooperstown, N.Y. - said he'll be getting together with family members who live in the area. He admitted he'll probably talk about the Hall of Fame.

``I'm not nervous,'' Anderson said. ``I don't believe I will be nervous until I step up (to give my acceptance speech). It's like a loaded gun, you know, you don't get nervous until someone points it at you.''

Bats and balls of another sort will be in play at the Independence Day Cup cricket tournament, running today through Tuesday at the Woodley Avenue Park cricket fields in Encino. From 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, spectators can picnic, relax in the shade and enjoy the free matches between world-class teams from Jamaica, Western India, the United States Cricket Association and the Southern California Cricket Association.

At the British Social Club, site of Saturday's ``Happy Birthday America'' dance, time has dimmed the difference between patriots and loyalists.

Formerly for expatriate Britons, the club started admitting Americans, and was eventually swallowed by another organization, the Mayflower Club, said Richard Dunham, a New York native who is part of the club's color guard.

``It used to be the British Social and Athletic Club,'' but that got absorbed, said Dunham, who's married to an Englishwoman. ``It's gone from there to being anything and everybody. Now it's basically just the Mayflower Club.''

Score another one for the Yanks.

Independence Day commemorates the date in 1776 when the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Written by Thomas Jefferson, it decried the British oppression of its American colonies, and declared ``all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.''

Obviously, England's King George III wasn't too fond of the date, seeing as how he lost the colonies and eventually his sanity. But what does George King think about the Fourth of July?

``I've found on major holidays like this if you travel with the crowd you usually have more headaches than fun,'' said King, 63, a Valley Village real-estate agent. So instead, he'll work, and get a jump on everyone else who's taking the day off. ``The roads are too crowded, the campsites are too crowded. The following weekend we'll probably go camping.''

And that way, he said, he stiffs the gas stations, whom he believes jack up their prices for the holiday weekend. ``It's my own little revolt.''

A King in revolt?

``I've really been teased about King George for years,'' said King, 63. ``Oh, King George - should I curtsy? What's it like being a monarch? Have you had anybody killed lately? Everybody seemed to find that so comical.''

Unlike King, Richard Riordan is doing like so many others and taking advantage of the long weekend to get out of town. The Los Angeles mayor and his wife, Nancy, are heading to Hailey, Idaho, to attend a rodeo there.

``It's one of their favorite places to escape to,'' said mayoral spokesman Peter Hidalgo. He said Riordan's favorite part of the holiday ``is the food - the corn on the cob, the hamburgers, the baked beans.''

But a different repast will be on the menu at Ye Olde King's Head Pub in Santa Monica, the unofficial center for British emigrants in the L.A. area.

``We'll just be serving our fish and chips and good English beer,'' said manager Nicki Coleman. ``Basically for us it's just another day.''