Hours before the memorial for Kobe Bryant and the eight others killed last month in a helicopter crash in Calabasas was set to begin Monday, thousands of fans had already started to gather in the chilly morning air outside Staples Center.
The crowd — many clad in black, purple and gold — was quiet, a stark contrast to the typical excited energy of a game day.
Berly Schwartz and her son, Bun Garcia, stood together among the crowd outside the venue, sharing memories of watching Bryant beat competitors during his career with the Lakers. Her voice broke as she recalled attending games with her late husband, Sam Schwartz, who died two years ago.
“I am just so emotional. I came to Kobe’s games with my husband. He loved Kobe and the Lakers,” she said. “I think of the families. It is so hard for them.”
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Garcia, wearing a Lakers jacket, said he still feels numb.
“I don’t know if the numbness will ever go away for L.A.,” he said. “At first people thought maybe they are wrong. Maybe Kobe isn’t dead. Today really brings home the reality.”
Out of respect for the families of those who died in the Jan. 26 helicopter crash, fans are being urged by police to stay away from Staples Center during the memorial unless they have a ticket.
LAPD Chief Michel Moore said Friday that unless visitors to the downtown L.A. site are among the 20,000 ticketed mourners for the memorial, which begins at 10 a.m., they will not be allowed into the surrounding area, including L.A. Live.
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“This entire area will be barricaded off,” Moore said. “As a matter of respect ... honor the family wishes and allow this event to go as smoothly as possible.”
Moore said barriers will stretch from Pico Boulevard to Olympic Boulevard, and no one without a ticket to the memorial as well as matching identification will be allowed into the area during Monday’s event. Anyone trying to breach the police lines will face arrest, he said.
The chief added that he expects Angelenos and Bryant fans to honor the family’s wishes and stay at home or work and watch the memorial on TV or the web. The event will be streamed live by various news outlets, including the Los Angeles Times.
Staples Center President Lee Zeidman, who oversees the surrounding campus for Anschutz Entertainment Group, said the businesses at L.A. Live will be closed Monday morning, as will Georgia Street and Chick Hearn Court. The massive video screens outside the L.A. Live complex will be turned off.
“There will be nothing to see here,” Zeidman said Friday from the courtyard between Staples Center and L.A. Live. He said the back and front sides of Staples Center, where Bryant played for two decades as a Laker, will be entirely barricaded.
Only ticket holders will be allowed in the area until the afternoon, Zeidman said, adding that all the tickets — which ranged in price from $24.02 to $224 — have been distributed. More than 80,000 applied for the ticket lottery, proceeds from which will be donated to the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation.
Ben Morrison drove to Staples Center from Newport Beach to attend the service, which he said felt extremely personal to him. The 21-year-old attended Bryant’s church and remembers seeing him often, but he said he didn’t talk to him as much as he wanted.
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The one personal interaction he had with Bryant happened during one 4th of July, when he saw Bryant buy $40 worth of fireworks. Morrison said Bryant gave the cashier a $100 bill and told him, “Keep the change.”
“He was a baller,” Morrison said as he walked toward Staples Center in a yellow No. 8 Lakers jersey. Morrison got one of the $24.02 tickets and said it was important to come so he could get closure.
“I think it’s powerful to come here with so many different people who are feeling the same way I’m feeling,” he said.
Bryant’s widow, Vanessa, previously noted on Instagram the significance of the date of the memorial: 2-24-20: Daughter Gianna, who also was killed in the helicopter crash, wore No. 2 while playing basketball, while her husband wore No. 24. The “20" denoting the current year is also the number of years Bryant played for the Lakers.
Many standing outside Staples Center said Bryant’s death felt like they had lost a member of their own families.
“It’s so hard to explain why we are so emotional about someone we never knew personally, but he was a part of our family life,” Star Dodd of Palos Verdes said.
Zeidman said that more than 250,000 people visited L.A. Live in the days after the Jan. 26 crash that claimed the lives of Bryant, his daughter and seven others as they were flying to Bryant’s Mamba Academy for a youth basketball game. He and Moore said they expected Monday’s tribute to be both mournful and respectful.
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Moore said that although police were not expecting any problems around the event, all officers will be in uniform, and the LAPD will be prepared for spontaneous events citywide.
Staples Center executives said they were “hopeful” that the event would finish by 1 p.m. and that everyone would leave promptly. The venue must be turned around to host a Clippers game against the Memphis Grizzlies at 7:30 that evening.
Spokesman Michael Roth said the arena is expecting a smooth transition.
“It’s what we do, converting the building from one event to another,” he said. “We’ll get it done.”
Times staff writers Colleen Shalby and Andrew Greif contributed to this report.
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