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LA Residents Take Prince's Death Hard, Vigil Held In Leimert Park

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) —   He didn't live here, grow up here or even make the rounds here all that often, but it is clear from his death, Prince's legacy and legend will long shine around the southland.

City Hall is being bathed in a purple haze Thursday evening in his honor.

On Thursday afternoon, CBS2's Jeff Nguyen spoke to fans, CBS2's Kristine Lazar spoke to local deejays at KJLH, 102.3 FM.

On Thursday evening, KCAL9's Tom Wait attended an emotional vigil in Leimert Park.

Whether LA residents met Prince or not, or only knew him from radio or television, he struck a chord.

Walk through the halls of the Forum in Inglewood and you're reminded how often Prince performed here.

The Forum is  was where he kicked off his 21-show run in 2011.

Lindsey Horvath is a West Hollywood council-member and a long time fan.

"I remember he performed a concert at Staples and then came to the House Of Blues on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. And he played piano and just did very intimate concert for people afterwards," Horvath recalls. "When I heard the news today, it was absolutely devastating. I mean you know, I cried."

It's customary for Guitar Center in Hollywood to pay tribute to musicians when they pass.

Mark and Sherry Edwards stopped here first after arriving from Dallas for their vacation with their son.

"I could get my children to listen to him. And there's not many musicians that we can both agree on," said fan Sherry.

The couple got the news through a series of text messages from friends and family back home after their plane landed.

"You start going through lists and realizing all the Prince music that you have in there. Little bit stunning," said Mark.

Down the street at Amoeba Records – fans bought up Prince CDs because vinyl copies of his music were sold out.

Lazar, meanwhile, reported that KJLH was committed to playing all-Prince for the next three days -- 55 hours of music.

"No matter what language you spoke or what side of the city you grew up," said deejay Mal-Ski, "you knew Prince and you loved him."

That love was fairly evident in Leimert Park where tears flowed and people sang. They lit candles and said many prayers for a life lost way too soon.

Fans wept audibly.

"My first contact with him I was seven years old," said one woman. "When he had that big afro. My mom was like, 'who you listening to?' And she said to turn the music off, because he was so different back then."

Prince was found not breathing inside an elevator at his Paisley Park studios this morning.

The 911 call was released earlier.

The dispatcher asks "Where is your emergency?"  The caller says we have someone unconscious. The dispatcher asks for the address and the caller tells them they're at Prince's house. The caller tells the dispatcher 'Prince is dead.' The dispatcher asks do we know how the person died. The caller says I don't know. I don't know.

TMZ is reporting Prince was treated for a drug overdose six days ago. They're also reporting Prince's private jet made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois last Firday, hours after he peformed  in Atlanta. At the time it was reported that Prince was battling the flu, but TMZ says the pop icon was taken to the hospital and given a save shot, which is usually administered to counter the effects of an opiate.

TMZ also posted a photo they say shows Prince visiting a pharmacy just hours before he died.

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