2010 NBA Champions: Thousands come out for Lakers’ victory parade

Kobe Bryant holds the championship trophy during the Lakers’ parade through downtown L.A.  (Christina House / For The Times)

Joyful fans show excitement during Monday’s Lakers victory parade, which ran along Figueroa Street from Staples Center to USC.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Law enforcement officers wave and take photos of the Lakers as they pass under a freeway overpass during Monday’s victory parade downtown.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Fans watch from a tree as the Lakers’ championship parade passes through downtown L.A. on Monday.  (Christina House / For The Times)

Fans scream, and take lots of pictures, as the Lakers’ championship parade passes by.  (Christina House / For The Times)

Lakers fans cheer for their team during Monday’s parade in downtown L.A.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

A happy-looking Ron Artest holds his team’s championship trophy before Monday’s Lakers victory parade.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

The Lakers greet throngs of fans along Figueroa Street during Monday’s parade.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Lakers fans hold poster boards of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol as they cheer for their team during Monday’s championship parade in downtown L.A.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

A police LAPD helicopter passes over the Lakers’ truck as it heads south on Figueroa during the team’s victory parade.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Lakers cheerleaders perch atop a fire engine as they prepare to join Monday’s victory parade.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Construction workers watch the Lakers’ championship parade pass by in downtown Los Angeles on Monday.  (Christina House / For The TImes)

After braving choked freeways and train stations, purple- and gold-clad fans arrived in downtown L.A. to find few toilets and huge crowds. But at least these two got a good view of things.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Lakers MVP Kobe Bryant beams after Monday’s parade, attended by an estimated crowd of 65,000.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Lakers fans cheer for their team during Monday’s downtown parade.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

During the Lakers’ championship parade, Kobe Bryant and his team wave to the crowd from the open-top bus rolling along Figueroa Street as a fan photographs the scene on his cellphone.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Lakers’ MVP Kobe Bryant gets a playful smile and his earlobe pulled by his daughter Gianna Maria-Onore, 4, as the parade float travels Figueroa Street.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

During the Lakers’ championship parade McDonald’s workers crowd the rooftop and the curbside crowd goes crazy as Kobe Bryant and his team’s open bus passes in front of them on Figueroa Street.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

The crowd for the Lakers’ championship parade along Figueroa Street is 20 deep as reflected in the team’s NBA trophy.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Luvy Guzman, 19, gets Kobe Bryant in her viewfinder as the Lakers’ parade goes by.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Fans cheer for the Lakers and snap pictures while the team passes by on Figueroa Street near Jefferson Boulevard.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Kobe Bryant waves to fans lining Figueroa Street during the Lakers victory parade.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Ron Artest and Kobe Bryant react to the crowd along the route of the Lakers victory parade.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

LAPD officers remove an unruly Lakers fans from along Figueroa Street just before the start of the Lakers victory parade.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Eddie Leon paints “Fisher” on the face of Ruby Ayala prior to the start of the Lakers victory parade along Figueroa Street.  (John W. Adkisson / Los Angeles Times)

An aerial view of the Lakers team float making its way down Figueroa Street during Monday’s victory parade.  (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant with the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy as the team rides along the parade route.  (Bryan Chan / Los Angeles Times)

Lakers players board the team float in front of Staples Center before the start of the victory parade.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Lakers fan Julio Lenares, wearing a gorilla suit, poses for photos with fans along Figueroa Street before the start of the Lakers’ victory parade.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Food vendors making fried hot dogs wrapped in bacon feed the Lakers fans who arrived several hours early along Figueroa Street in anticipation of the victory parade.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

A young Lakers fan shouts at the lines of Los Angeles Police Department officers arriving for the Lakers’ victory parade on Figueroa Street.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Lakers fans started lining up several hours before the start of the victory parade; some were able to catch a brief nap before the festivities began.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Lines of Los Angeles Police Department officers march to their positions along the route of the Lakers’ victory parade on Figueroa Street.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)