On L.A. streets, Endeavour slowly travels home

LOS ANGELES -- At every turn of Endeavour's stop-and-go commute through urban streets, a constellation of spectators trailed along.

Having escaped Earth's atmosphere two dozen times, Endeavour's slow-speed trek yesterday to its retirement center took it through the working-class streets of southern Los Angeles.

In an instant, the shuttle crossings became part of history.

Along the 12-mile route, people marveled at the engineering. Some rooted for Endeavour when it appeared it might clip a light pole. Others wondered if it could just hurry up to its destination.

Crowds gathered in front of Inglewood High School before sunrise to watch Endeavour roll by at about 2 mph. Many were bundled up, sipping coffee.

Dean Martinez, who lives in Los Angeles but works in Inglewood, came with his wife and 9-year-old daughter. "This is great for the city as a whole. It makes us proud," said Martinez, whose family took turns taking pictures of one another as the shuttle slowly inched by.

Added his wife, Marcia, "It's a big deal especially for this neighborhood. It's important to witness history and for our children to experience it."

Endeavour was set to inch into the California Science Center late yesterday to spend the rest of its years as a museum piece.

Endeavour hit the pavement before dawn Friday, trundling out of the Los Angeles International Airport on a remote-controlled 160-wheel carrier past diamond-shaped "Shuttle Xing" signs. The first day was punctuated by long idle spells as crews reconfigured the carrier and leapfrogged ahead on the route to hoist power lines and dismantle traffic lights and street signs.

There were bumps in the road. Several hundred Inglewood residents suffered hours-long outages when power lines were temporarily snipped. Some businesses lost customers because of street and sidewalk closures.

For most of the way, Endeavour straddled wide boulevards. The one exception was when the shuttle poked through a slightly curved residential street lined with apartment buildings on both sides. It was such a squeeze that its 78-foot wingspan towered over driveways.

John Wilkes, 69, a longtime Inglewood resident, woke up five hours early to stake out a spot. "This is definitely a treat," said Wilkes, who is retired from the airline industry. "But what would be a better treat is to be able to take a ride on the shuttle."