In everything from blue jeans to haute couture, more than 1,000 people, including singer Michael Jackson, filled a church Saturday to pay their respects to Princess Diana.
Jackson said he attended "in honor of my friend, who is no longer here. I love her."Dressed in black and wearing a black fedora and red arm band, Jackson was attended by an entourage of bodyguards.
British Consul-General Merrick Baker-Bates said Southern California's diverse population wanted an opportunity to say goodbye to the princess who died following an Aug. 31 auto crash in Paris.
"I think if you feel strongly, as many people did . . . about the causes she espoused, you need an opportunity to participate in your own way," he said. "She was a person of universal appeal and people loved her."
People stood for hours under the hot sun waiting to enter the packed church where Jackson and dignitaries were seated in the 700-seat sanctuary.
A crowd watched a big-screen television in another room or listened to speakers set up on the sidewalk.
People were eager to talk about Princess Diana, whose memory seemed to bring more smiles than tears on the two-week anniversary of the car crash.
"She was the kind of person I wanted to be," said Amber Thompson, who was 11 when she rose before dawn to watch Diana's wedding to Prince Charles in 1981. "To Diana, race, class, social status - none of that mattered to her."
In New York, thousands were expected to attend a memorial service for Diana in Central Park on Sunday. City officials say it will be the first memorial ceremony in the park since John Lennon was slain in 1980.