Memorials

With a spray of water, Guy Gleichmann surfaces from a 40-foot dive during which he helped set his mother's remains in their final resting place: a sunken city where brightly hued fish shimmy among fantastical architecture. "I didn't want to leave," Gleichmann says, doffing mask and mouthpiece. "It's so beautiful down there. It's so serene." The 48-year-old investment manager and diver from Pompano Beach, Fla.

He lives with his wife in a trailer east of town, beside a heavily traveled two-lane highway that carries families of fallen soldiers to the national military cemeteries in Grafton. It was a perfect spot, David Stevens decided, to build a monument to American soldiers -- the sort of expression of gratitude he might have appreciated 40 years ago when he came home from Vietnam.

Eleven Asian elephants marched briskly down Chick Hearn Court toward the neon glow of Staples Center and a thicket of news satellite trucks in the wee hours of Tuesday. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus was a day away, the Michael Jackson memorial extravaganza was hours away and the craziness already had begun for Los Angeles' stand-in mayor, City Councilwoman Jan Perry. "Full moon. That's not good," said Perry, who at 4:30 a.m.

Desiree Crossley, her two daughters and a friend left Lancaster in their PT Cruiser at 1 a.m. Wednesday to be among the first in line for what they thought would be a public memorial for Michael Jackson at his Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County. About 5 a.m., they began pitching their tent on the side of Figueroa Mountain Road, taking turns hammering in stakes and trying to keep warm. They packed a portable toilet, heater and plenty of food and water to last them. But at 2:30 p.m.

Security was tight around the bare grave of Neda Agha-Soltan on Thursday. Militiamen and police stood nearby, witnesses said, and it was difficult for visitors to hold a conversation within sight and hearing of the glaring officers. But the visitors come nonetheless to pay their respects to Agha-Soltan, who was fatally shot by an unknown assailant during the protests Saturday over Iran's disputed presidential election.

He had wandered the world, selling butter in czarist Siberia, fighting in France during World War I, walking the Appalachian Trail with his dog -- and strolling down Colorado Boulevard, unofficially bringing up the rear of the Rose Parade one year. But when he got to Laguna Beach, Eiler Larsen was so captivated by it that he stayed and welcomed the rest of the world there. Laguna Beach returned the salute, naming him its official greeter.

Fans and friends of folk-rocker John Stewart gathered at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica on Saturday night for a moving tribute to a musician whose career spanned nearly five decades and left an enduring imprint on the American music scene. Stewart, 68, was to have performed Saturday at McCabe's -- at least his 47th appearance there, store managers said. When he died Jan.

The U.S. House on Tuesday passed legislation authorizing the establishment of a memorial in honor of leprosy patients forcibly relocated to Kalaupapa in the 1800s and 1900s. U.S. Rep. Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), the bill's sponsor, told lawmakers from the House floor that the memorial should list the names of those exiled to the remote Molokai peninsula. She noted that many who died at Kalaupapa were buried in unmarked graves, making it difficult for their families to honor them.

At a memorial attended by more than 500 people in Port Hueneme, Lawrence "Larry" King was remembered Friday as a sensitive child who liked to draw, paint and crochet. One Christmas, he helped his mother crochet hundreds of scarves so that U.S. troops in Afghanistan wouldn't be without a holiday gift, said the Rev. Dan Birchfield.

A public memorial service for boxer Art Aragon, who died Tuesday at age 80, is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at Mount Sinai Memorial Park and Mortuary in the Hollywood Hills. Visitation is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, also at the mortuary.