TIME RUNNING OUT FOR BANG-UP JULY 4 PLANNING.

Byline: Eric Noland Staff Writer

Holiday revelers who have waited until the last minute to plan Fourth of July weekend getaways still will find abundant opportunities to take in the rockets' red glare.

Fireworks shows, parades, barbecues and other time-tested favorites - plus jazz and art festivals, a tall-ships armada and even a celebration of Celtic culture - will be offered from Santa Barbara to San Francisco, from Mammoth Lakes to San Diego.

Revelers who suddenly take to the road this weekend should plan on encountering plenty of company, however. The American Automobile Association estimates that 37.4 million Americans will travel 100 or more miles from home over the Fourth, in what would be the highest volume of travel for the holiday in 13 years.

``The economy is good, consumer confidence is high,'' AAA spokesman Jerry Cheske said from Orlando, Fla. ``Travel is popular even when those things aren't on the upside. With times being good, people are looking to reward themselves, and travel is high up on that list - despite your high gas prices in California.''

The Automobile Club of Southern California conducted a survey through its travel agency to determine the most popular destinations for travelers in this region, and the usual suspects popped up: Las Vegas, San Diego, the Central Coast beaches, San Francisco.

Shortly after 9 p.m. on Sunday, pyrotechnics will be exploding into bright colors in so many spots, they'll be hard to miss.

San Francisco promises one of the busiest and most intriguing Fourth of July programs.

The city, participating in a three-year celebration of California's sesquicentennial, will welcome an armada of Gold Rush-era sailing ships to San Francisco Bay on Friday. The tall ships, due to sail through the Golden Gate at noon, will tie up along the city's waterfront (between Pier 27 and Hyde Street Pier) and be open for public viewing Saturday and Sunday.

The Waterfront Music Festival, to be held Sunday, will feature 30 live acts - ranging from the Navy Band to Lee Press On and the Nails - on six stages. The festival will culminate at 9:30 p.m. with a massive display of fireworks over the bay, sponsored by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Elsewhere in the city, the Fillmore Street Jazz Festival will celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Duke Ellington's birth with music on four stages Saturday and Sunday. The stages will be located at the Fillmore cross-streets of Clay, California, Sutter and Ellis, with music presented continuously both days from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Closer to home, Santa Barbara will stage a fireworks display along its waterfront at 9:15 p.m. Sunday.

The city's daylong celebration will include its annual Spirit of '76 parade, which will traverse State Street from Sola to Cota beginning at 1 p.m., and a food and crafts fair at the Plaza del Mar on Castillo Street.

Another highlight: Santa Barbara's 33rd annual Arts Festival, which will present music and dancing on the steps of the Old Mission.

San Diego's Fourth of July celebration pays homage to its longstanding distinction as a hub of Navy activity. One of its most popular attractions is the U.S. Navy Sea-Air-Land Demonstration, to be held 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Coronado's Glorietta Bay (just off Silver Strand Boulevard, near Coronado Golf Course). Navy personnel will perform various maneuvers to show off aspects of their training.

Fireworks will be displayed at a variety of locations around the city. Insiders' tip: From Kate O. Sessions Memorial Park (5115 Soledad Road, just north of Pacific Beach), it is possible to see the Sea World, Ocean Beach and Mission Bay displays - and on a clear night, the Coronado, Del Mar and La Jolla displays as well.

Another popular option is to book passage on Hornblower Cruises, which is offering dining, dancing and an unimpeded, offshore view of the pyrotechnics for $59 per person. Phone: [phone].

The sky above the San Bernardino Mountains will be lit up, too, with Big Bear's Fireworks Over the Lake, an event the local Rotary Club has been staging for four decades.

The 9:15 p.m. program will be synchronized with music broadcast by local FM radio station KBHR (93.3). ``Last year, we estimated about 120,000 people up here to see it,'' said Rich Lambert, one of the organizers.

To help cover the cost of the show, the Rotary Club will host a barbecue at the Marina Riviera Hotel between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.

The Fourth of July celebration in Mammoth Lakes is an affair worthy of the town's name, including fireworks at Crowley Lake just after dark and an 11:30 a.m. parade that follows Old Mammoth Road and Main Street.

But this community also offers an odd twist to Independence Day traditions. For the fifth straight year, it will stage its Celtic Festival. To be held Saturday and Sunday at the Wood Site on Minaret Road, it will feature music, an Irish dance troupe, food and jugglers.

Among the top acts will be the 78th Highlander Black Watch Pipe Band, a crowd-pleaser from Los Angeles. Another musical feature will be the Wizards of Wooden, an all-acoustic concert on period instruments.

This might seem a bit of a departure from such Fourth of July traditions as brass bands and pie-eating contests, but, ``We have all that other stuff, too,'' said Celtic Festival chairwoman Dottie Foster. ``There's just a lot of Scots and Irish around here.''

WEEKEND EXODUS

The Automobile Club of Southern California identified the top Fourth of July destinations of its members based on bookings through its travel agency:

1. Las Vegas

2. San Diego (tie)

2. Central Coast beaches, Ventura to Pismo, (tie)

4. San Francisco/Monterey Bay

5. Baja California/Cancun

6. Santa Catalina Island 

7. Mountain Resorts (Yosemite, Sequoia, Eastern Sierra, Big Bear)

8. Grand Canyon

9. Hawaii

INFORMATION, PLEASE

Phone numbers and Web sites for various out-of-town Fourth of July events:

SAN FRANCISCO: San Francisco Chronicle fireworks display: [phone]; Web: www.sfgate.com/chronicle/events. Tall ships armada: [phone]. Fillmore Street Jazz Festival: [phone]. Marin County Fair: [phone].

SANTA BARBARA: Fireworks display: [phone]. Parade, food and craft fair, Arts Festival: [phone]. Web: www.santabarbaraca.com.

SAN DIEGO: Information on the city's various fireworks displays: [phone]. U.S. Navy air-sea-land demonstrations at Coronado: [phone]. Hornblower Cruises: [phone].

BIG BEAR LAKE: Fireworks Over the Lake: [phone].

MAMMOTH LAKES: Celtic Festival: [phone].

CAPTION(S):

2 Boxes

Box: (1) WEEKEND EXODUS (See text)

(2) INFORMATION, PLEASE (See text)