wednesday morning, i attended bob hope's memorial service. although, i didn't get to actually go inside the church, i did stand outside across the street and listen to the service on the speakers broadcasting it.

our entire street and most of the surrounding block was closed to traffic, which is normally heavy. it was kind of strange walking down the street to the church with no cars parked on the sides or driving by. a bunch of satellite trucks from various news channels took up one side of the street, other spots were filled with memorial guests' vehicles.

i, along with about 20 other people, were restricted to standing across the street from the church while all the guests arrived at the private event. the street isn't too wide, so we could easily see all that was going on in front of the church. tom selleck took his time speaking to all the media lined up outside the church's front doors. mickey rooney arrived late and quickly shuffled along stopping in front of a mass of cameras for a few minutes. kelsey grammer left early. barbara eden crossed over to our side of the street to get into her chauffeured vehicle to leave, and mentioned the mass was "beautiful." raquel welch arrived and left quietly. loni anderson posed for the maniacal paparazzi that had arrived toward the end of the service (and humorously were restricted to standing on our side of the street).

all in all, it was interesting to see all the media, secret service (because of the former president ford and nancy reagan being in there), lots of police and stars gathering so closely by. and, i actually saw myself on cnn later during a report about the service -- that was kind of cool.

here's a panorama jon made up from a few of the photos i took. (notably, tom selleck is talking to some media in the center near the table. loni anderson is the one in the pink talking to other media.) and here's a photo of the portrait of bob hope that stood at the altar during the service (no clue who the men are holding it -- the younger guy was walking it out of the church and across the street, the old man helped him hold it.)