Final Journey For Celia Cruz

Thousands of mourners waited patiently for hours in the hot and humid streets of Manhattan Monday to view the body of Salsa legend Celia Cruz.

As they wound through police barricades to the funeral home, many chanted "Celia, Celia" and sang snippets of her songs.

Some wept, while others clutched flowers and carried photos of Cruz, who died Wednesday at age 78 of a brain tumor at her home in Fort Lee, N.J.

Mildred Soto, who traveled from New Jersey with three friends, was in line at 5:30 a.m. and waited six hours before entering the Frank E. Campbell funeral home, long known for its celebrity funerals.

Soto, who admired Cruz's flamboyant stage shows and flashy costumes, emerged with tears in her eyes. Cruz's husband, trumpeter Pedro Knight, thanked the mourners, Soto said.

"She was an amazing woman, a gorgeous human being and a wonderful wife. She will always be inside our hearts," Soto said.

Nilda Romano, 48, of New York City, said she first started dancing to the Cuban-born Cruz's music when she was 15.

"She brought music and love and understanding to the world. She was a very passionate person and we loved her dearly," Romano said.

Cruz's body was flown over the weekend to Miami, where she was immensely popular, especially among the large Cuban population. Tens of thousands paid their respects at a viewing at the Freedom Tower.

She was returned to New York on Sunday to the Campbell funeral home, where celebrities from Judy Garland to John Lennon to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis have rested.

On Tuesday, a horse-drawn carriage carrying Cruz's coffin will leave the Upper East Side funeral home and head a mile south to St. Patrick's Cathedral for a public funeral Mass. Burial at a Bronx cemetery will be private.

Cruz came to the United States in 1960, a year after Fidel Castro overthrew a dictatorship and installed a Communist government.

Cruz recorded more than 70 albums, earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was honored with a National Endowment of the Arts medal by President Clinton in 1994.

She won best salsa album for "La Negra Tiene Tumbao" at last year's Latin Grammy Awards, and won the same award at this year's Grammys. Her other best-known recordings include "Yerberito Moderno" and "Que le Den Candela."

By Tara Burghart