Thousands of mourners pay respect to Mayor Ed Lee at SF City Hall

An honor guard circles the casket containing the body of Mayor Ed Lee lying in repose in the San Francisco City Hall rotunda, on Friday, Dec. 15, 2017, in San Francisco. Lee died early Tuesday after collapsing at a grocery store, leaving the city reeling from shock and dealing with the logistics of selecting a new leader. (Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via AP, Pool) less An honor guard circles the casket containing the body of Mayor Ed Lee lying in repose in the San Francisco City Hall rotunda, on Friday, Dec. 15, 2017, in San Francisco. Lee died early Tuesday after ... more Photo: Michael Macor, Associated Press Photo: Michael Macor, Associated Press Image 1 of / 48 Caption Close Thousands of mourners pay respect to Mayor Ed Lee at SF City Hall 1 / 48 Back to Gallery

Thousands of people, from street cleaners to famous politicians, streamed into San Francisco City Hall on Friday and filed past the casket bearing the body of Mayor Ed Lee, many whispering prayers for the man whose unexpected death cast a pall over the city he led for six years.

As a cellist from the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra played somber tunes, mourners began entering the City Hall rotunda around 8 a.m. to pay respects to San Francisco’s first Chinese American mayor, pausing briefly at the closed casket draped in an American flag. They kept coming, hundreds every hour, until 7 p.m. when the Sheriff’s Department closed the line down. And even then a hushed crowd of more than 100 gathered across the street from the City Hall steps, waiting for the casket to be wheeled through the glass doors, which happened just after 8 p.m.

At times during the day line stretched down City Hall’s Polk Street steps, down the block and sometimes around the corner at McAllister Street. Even for a building steeped in the art of the whisper, the atmosphere inside City Hall was especially hushed Friday as the young and old stopped before Lee’s casket to kneel, pray, salute, bow their heads or simply stop and look. Many wiped away tears.

Mourners came from all walks of life — Public Works employees in yellow and orange vests, City Hall employees in suits, San Francisco police officers in full dress uniform, members of the violence prevention organization United Playaz in sweatshirts that read: “It takes the Hood to save the Hood.” Some were old friends of the mayor; some had never met him.

“I want to pay tribute and pray over his body,” said Carl Giaraffa, 74, of San Francisco, one of the mourners who waited in line to enter City Hall. “I respected the man. I thought he was very fair to people, and he didn’t come off like a politician.”

Giaraffa, who has lived in San Francisco since 1966, added, “I think he was one of our greatest mayors ever.”

For others, the connection was more direct.

“He got me housing,” said Brian Gonzales, who lives downtown and walked over to pay his respects. “It was a year ago, and he shook my hand.”

Lee died early Tuesday morning after suffering a heart attack. He was 65.

Among the politicians who came to bid farewell to Lee were Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.

Pelosi, joined by husband Paul and daughter Christine, entered the Rotunda about 11:45 a.m. Head bowed, she stood for a moment in front of the casket, touched the flag covering it with her right hand, and left quietly.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee looks on during a tour of the new Asian Art Museum exhibit Out of Character: Decoding Chinese Calligraphy in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee looks on during a tour of the new Asian Art Museum exhibit Out of Character: Decoding Chinese Calligraphy in San Francisco, Calif. on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2012. Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 65 Caption Close San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee dead at 65 1 / 65 Back to Gallery

Her voice shook with emotion as she spoke with reporters on her way out.

“It’s heartbreaking, it’s really heartbreaking,” she said. “For now, it’s important for us to remember what a blessing he was to the city.”

Even those who at times had political differences with Lee remembered him as an upbeat man who loved San Francisco.

“He gave his life for the city, in more ways than one,” said former Supervisor John Avalos. “He deserved to live a long life with his family.”

The city’s Chinese community was out in force to honor the mayor. Women, men and families — young and old — stopped in front of the casket and made three ceremonial bows before moving along.

In the large hall just off the rotunda, visitors signed the heavy buff-colored pages of the memory book. Many of those signatures and comments were in Chinese.

“He was one of us,” said Mary Woo, who lives in the Sunset District. “We’re proud of him, and I had to come down and pay my respects.”

The dozens of floral arrangements that arrived throughout the day also reflected the pride of the Asian community. Along with those from employee groups like the Sheriff’s Department and business backers like Facebook and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce were displays from groups including Air China, the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, the Asian Pacific Democratic Club and Sing Tao Daily, a Chinese-language newspaper.

“He’ll be remembered for his civility and decorum, as someone who worked to build consensus and get us all to pull together,” said Assemblyman David Chiu, a former San Francisco supervisor whose district included Chinatown. “And, of course, he was San Francisco’s first Chinese American mayor.”

Before dawn Friday, a black hearse carrying Lee’s body and escorted by police on motorcycles slowly made its way to City Hall from a Daly City funeral home. Outside, firefighters unfurled a huge American flag from two ladder trucks, as city officials, police, dignitaries and pallbearers waited for Lee’s casket to arrive. On the marquee of the Civic Auditorium was a simple message: “Rest in Peace Mayor Ed Lee.”

Many of those in line were city employees, ID badges around their necks. They knew Lee as one of their own, someone who had worked for the city for years, shoulder to shoulder with them.

City employee Jody Monahan said Lee had been personally important to her, dating to when the mayor served as the city’s director of public works.

“He did some kind things for me and my work. It meant a lot to me,” Monahan said. “He’s a kind person. This was sad and shocking.”

Tracy Griffin, who has been a city and county employee for nearly 28 years, choked up with emotion as she spoke of Lee. She carried a single white flower in honor of the mayor.

“I was going to the store to buy a bouquet of flowers, but I decided on this small carnation because for him, it didn’t matter how small you were,” Griffin said. “I’m here because I lost someone really special to me and someone who was really humble and I considered him a friend.”

The last two mourners let in the door were William Bonhorst and Ghazal Sharif, self-described Millennials who appreciated Lee’s support of the tech industry.

“We had to beg to be let in,” said Sharif, an attorney. “I think Mayor Ed Lee was the epitome of what San Francisco is, the heart and the soul of it. He stood up for the poor. He stood up for immigrants. He stood up for Millennials. And did it all without an ego.”

Bonhorst, who works with tech startups, said Lee “embraced us” even though the industry’s rapid growth was controversial. “He allowed San Francisco to thrive,” he said.

Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White couldn’t stay away from City Hall on Friday, making three stops at the casket during the day. While fire chiefs don’t have to wait in lines, she said she found queuing with strangers “therapeutic.”

“The variety of people coming out to pay their respects speaks volumes about the kind of man he was and the kind of mayor he was,” Hayes-White said. “It was an honor for me to work for him, and I think all of the city’s 30,000 employees would say the same thing.”

But even amid the mourning, the city remained the quirky San Francisco that Seattle-born Lee grew to love.

On the steps of City Hall, among the flowers, pictures and other remembrances of the mayor that people had left was a tie-dyed neckerchief with a message scrawled in black ink: “Ed Lee R.I.P. (“What a long strange trip it’s been”) P.S.: Say hi to Jerry,” referring to Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia, who died in 1995.

Sophie Haigney, J.K. Dineen, and John Wildermuth are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: sophie.haigney@sfchronicle.com, jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SophieHaigney, @jwildermuth, @sfjkdineen

Memorial service

A public memorial service is scheduled for Sunday. City Hall will open at 2 p.m., one hour before the service is to begin. Full coverage on sfchronicle.com.