A day after hundreds of mourners and news crews swarmed outside Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center to memorialize Michael Jackson's death, the area in front of the center was scattered with traces of their presence.

 

A makeshift memorial to the pop star sprang up on the Westwood Plaza's sidewalk, where fans were still leaving bouquets, votive candles, poster-sized love letters and even a sequined glove, the singer's trademark. "The world mourns for Michael," read one poster with a scrawled crying face. Jackson admirers came and went, snapping cell-phone pictures of the memorial and reading the messages.

Jackson died Thursday at the medical center, according to a statement released by his family. Satellite trucks and news crews from around the world lined Westwood Plaza late into the night as fans converged on the area near the medical center and an unprecedented spotlight shined on the campus. Many media broadcast live reports on Friday morning news programs.

By noon Friday, only two news vans remained, although signs of the previous days' throngs were visible where TV trucks' tires had torn into the grass in front of the hospital. Circles of melted wax from burned-out candles puddled on curbs in the red zones.

Less than 24 hours after the moon-walking king of pop died in the hospital, the campus medical complex was returning to normalcy.