Ayana Josef, Nona Amoruso, and Rhonda Goss are strangers to each other, but each of them mourned Michael Jackson's death in the same way. They were shocked to learn of his death on June 25, and they spent the next four days remembering his music and his impact on their lives. They gathered with family and friends in the days after the news, describing their sadness in terms similar to that losing a cherished family member.

So for them and thousands of New Yorkers, four days of private mourning wasn't enough. On Monday, June 30, fans went to Harlem's Apollo theater, stood in the June sun, and waited as long as three hours to say goodbye inside, 600 fans at a time.

"Michael Jackson -- I can't ever imagine him not being in my life. I remember his music played in my house when I was baby," Ms. Amoruso, 40, said. She recalls her entire school experience from kindergarten through college through his music. "He was part of everything."

Student Rhonda Goss, 22, was once at at the back of the line with her twin sister, Tammy. But within minutes more people joined the line, so that by 3 p.m., the line snaked for four city blocks, wrapping from 126th and MLK Boulevard to 127th and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. Ms. Goss had watched Mr. Jackson's videos, danced and sang with her family, and even made a collage about him. Waiting to go into the Apollo was "going to help me mourn his death, to see others that cared about him how I did," she said.

Ms. Josef, 49, says she gathered her grandchildren together for impromptu listening parties. The visit to the Apollo was an exercise in closure and catharsis for her. "I'm going to pay my respects, humbly. This will make me feel better," Ms. Josef, 49, said.

The atmosphere was as vibrant as a street parade, with eruptions of mass singing and dancing for passing press cameras.

New York's entrepreneurs patrolled the line, hawking T-shirts ($3 for 1, $5 for 2), water, fruit snacks, bubble makers, candy and glass cubes that appeared to have a hologram of the King of Pop floating inside, forever young.