He had visited Los Angeles once before, in August 1976 as Cardinal Karol Jozef Wojtola, archbishop of Krakow. Then, it was to help celebrate the golden jubilee of Our Lady of the Bright Mount Church, the Polish community's parish west of downtown Los Angeles.

Just two years later, he became known the world over as Pope John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope in four centuries. Within weeks, he had begun what became a signature of his pontificate: traveling the world, again and again.

In 1979, John Paul II became the first pope to tour extensively in the United States, primarily on the East Coast and in the Midwest. And then, in September 1987, the outgoing pontiff with the ready smile and the mesmerizing ability to speak in many languages --- and remember many faces and names --- came to the U.S. again.

In the midst of that visit was a two-day stop in Los Angeles. He arrived here the morning of Sept. 15, greeted at Los Angeles International Airport by a group of Catholic schoolchildren. From there, accompanied by Archbishop Roger Mahony, he rode the "popemobile" through the streets of Los Angeles into downtown, with hundreds of thousands lining the route, representing the magnificent cultural and ethnic diversity that is the Catholic Church of Los Angeles.

During the next two days, the Holy Father appeared and spoke at a dizzying array of events, including a prayer service/welcome at St. Vibiana's Cathedral, gatherings of youth and media at Universal City, meetings with the U.S. bishops at San Fernando Mission and with Immaculate Conception school children downtown, an historic interfaith gathering in Little Tokyo, and --- perhaps most memorably --- eucharistic celebrations at the Memorial Coliseum and Dodger Stadium.

All too soon, it seemed, the pope departed Los Angeles on the morning of Sept. 17 for Monterey and San Francisco, leaving behind warm and indelible impressions on all he encountered, whether in person, from a faraway seat in the Coliseum or through the television screen.

---Mike Nelson