From Bands to Elvis, America Is on Parade : Celebration: Clinton takes the lead as a diverse mix of 10,000 marchers heads down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Only a day earlier, in his final hours as a private citizen, he had jogged before dawn along parts of this city’s most spectacular boulevard. The sidewalks were deserted then, the street lamps barely beginning to dim.

On Wednesday, as the nation’s new President, Bill Clinton traveled the same thoroughfare once again. But this time he did it in grand style, leading his own parade in a sleek limousine under bright sunshine to the cheers of tens of thousands of onlookers--many waving American flags--lining both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue on a clear, chilly afternoon.

“Hey--how’re you doing?” Clinton called to the wildly enthusiastic crowd through a microphone and a loudspeaker system hooked up to his limousine.

The President and First Lady, Hillary Clinton, accompanied by their 12-year-old daughter, Chelsea, rode in the limo along most of the parade route, waving and throwing the thumbs-up sign to the throngs of people standing five and six deep, many clearly hoping that the new First Family would emerge from the car.

And finally, they did. After reaching the Treasury Building, about 1 1/2 blocks from the White House, the Clintons, without coats, hopped out of the car and began strolling leisurely down the street, waving and holding hands, to the delight of the crowd. No one seemed to care that the parade was already 30 minutes behind schedule.

Behind the Clintons, Vice President Al Gore and his family also abandoned their limousine to walk the final blocks of the parade route.

“We want Bill. We want Bill,” the crowd chanted as the new President and his wife made their way to the reviewing stand in front of the White House.

Those who were standing near the corner of 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue turned out to be among the luckiest parade-watchers in town.

“I was right there and saw him, and he was just as beautiful as he is on television,” said Cathy Tuerk, a Washington psychotherapist who came to view the parade with her husband and daughter. “And he waved right at us,” added her daughter, Jennifer, 21.

The Tuerks, who have a gay son infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, wore red ribbons to commemorate AIDS victims. They said that the spirit of the parade seemed to confirm a more accepting climate for their son and others like him.

More than 10,000 people marched in this quadrennial parade, which began at the foot of the Capitol building and stretched along a 15-block route of Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House.

And if inaugural parades are a reflection of a President’s vision, this procession was a tribute to one of Clinton’s most persistent and recurring themes: the recognition of America’s diversity.

One marching band was composed of the physically disabled. A group of 120 individuals carried 60 panels from the AIDS memorial quilt. A float symbolizing the different elements of American family life included a lesbian couple and two gay men.

One float featured an Elvis Presley impersonator and members of the late rock ‘n’ roller’s original band. Another carried carpenters busily building a scaled-down house.

The Homestead High School Band from Homestead, Fla., one of the communities hit hardest last year by Hurricane Andrew, dedicated their marching music to all those who supported them during their time of need.

While it embraced change, Clinton’s parade also respected tradition. It was rich in pomp and circumstance and sound and color: military units, baton twirlers, a motorcycle drill team, equestrians, Alaskan sled dogs, jugglers, Shannon Boy (this year’s Miss Arkansas), the Hope (Ark.) High School Superband (from Clinton’s hometown) and the Smith County (Tenn.) High School band (from Gore’s home).

From behind the reviewing stand, the Clintons and Gores responded with appreciation--clapping, laughing and waving--even as night fell and the crowd began to thin. Clinton, while appearing a bit fatigued, nevertheless seemed to enjoy the parade, alternately sitting, standing and sipping coffee from a gold-trimmed cup. He seemed especially animated while watching the high school bands, standing and clapping to the rhythm of the music and giving the marchers a thumbs-up sign.

In the reviewing stand with the First and Second Families were key members of Clinton’s incoming Administration, among them Atty. Gen.-designate Zoe Baird, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator-designate Carol Browner, U.S. Trade Representative-designate Mickey Kantor and Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In the streets, the feeling was mutual. Naudain Faber of Gainesville, Fla., standing with her sister near the end of the procession, said she hadn’t been to an inauguration in nearly half a century and “I wanted to see another one. It’s marvelous. I’m really glad I came. It’s nice to include all these groups. It’s kind of like Clinton, like what he’s been saying.”

But the parade was not to everyone’s liking. Imogene Dove, 70, a fifth-generation Washingtonian who watched Herbert Hoover’s inaugural parade as a 6-year-old, said she was enjoying most of the Clinton procession, but still preferred the old-fashioned, straight military style.

“I don’t like Elvis Presley and I don’t like all this modern stuff,” she said. “I think it’s tacky. It’s just not my kind of thing.”

Sachiko McEachin, a Japanese woman married to an American, brought her own ladder and tapped her feet on its metal steps in time with the marching bands. “I like marching, I like parades,” she said. “It’s very American.”

McEachin, who runs a gift shop nearby, said that she is not yet an American citizen but hopes to become one in time for the next election. “I live here, I work here, I pay taxes here,” she said. “The only thing I can’t do here is vote. The only time I wish to be an American is election time.”