Reagan tribute draws eyes, ears of nation to city
JOURNEY IN SANTA MONICA All eyes were on Santa Monica in June when President Ronald Reagan’s body was taken from his Bel Air home to Gates Kingsley & Gates Moeller-Murphy Funeral Home at the corner of 20th Street and Arizona Avenue.
Thousands of onlookers and journalists converged on the quiet residential neighborhood for two days, paying their respects to one of the most popular presidents in U.S. history.
The Reagan family began the week-long memorial in Santa Monica before taking the former president’s body to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in the Simi Valley, and then to Washington D.C. for a state funeral before heading back to the library for a sunset burial.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 1, 2005. Read the original PDF.