More than 1,000 people gathered at the Nokia Plaza for the L.A. Live even hosted by City Councilwoman Jan Perry to watch Obama take the oath of office.   People stood silently watching the giant screens, cheering only occasionally in unison with the crowd in Washington and waving flags with pride, as the new president spoke.

For many Los Angeles residents, the election of the nation’s first African American president means more than just hope in a tough time delivered through a new administration.  It is the physical embodiment of the dream of generations before them.

Diondre Neal, a young African American man living in downtown Los Angeles, was moved by being in a crowd that felt so united watching history unfold before its eyes.

"It’s unbelievable.  Everybody that’s out here is out here for the same reason I’m out here to see this historical moment.  It’s beautiful just to be around here – just to see everybody’s reaction and basically I’m just out here enjoying it with everybody else.  I thought it would never happen in my lifetime truthfully," he said.

Cathy Cash, a South Los Angeles resident, said she is, "Just hoping he lives up to everything he says, because we are ready for a change."

Many were visibly moved during the president’s speech.  Inspired and hopeful were words commonly used to describe initial reactions to seeing the nation’s first African-American president address the country.

"I felt it was a great presentation and it’s going to lead to a great change in the way the country is being run.  And hopefully people will give him a chance for the transition to take place, because it’s not going to take place overnight," said Curtis Edwards, another resident of South Los Angeles.

Audrey Larry, who lives in Los Angeles, spoke of the amount of people who came before Obama leading up to this moment.

"Some people wouldn’t believe it if they were living today.  It took a lot of people.  It took his mother, his grandmother; it took a lot.  So, I’m loving every minute of it," said Larry.

Larry also said how Obama’s election is an act of moving forward for the nation saying, "Change is a work.  And this is a big, tremendous change.  I think he’s going to be a great president, and I think he’s going to work out as much as he can."

The new president has many issues facing him.  Many people said the economy is the first thing they would like to see addressed by Obama.  Another great concern is the war in Iraq.

Edwards said the first thing he would like to see Obama do is to close Guantanamo Bay.

"I’m hoping he follows through on that right away.  I feel that has led to a lot of the problems that we’re having over in Iraq and Iran," said Edwards.

Still others felt it should be noted that everything cannot be fixed in the first year of Obama’s presidency.

Ellen Berman, transition services coordinator for Santee Education Complex High School is confident that whatever Obama feels should be addressed first will be the right decision.

"This is the kind of man who’s gonna wake up every morning and do the best he can for what he does, so whatever he feels he needs to do priority-wise, I’m behind him all the way," said Berman.

Phylicia Lewis, who said she was born and raised in the center of Los Angeles, points out that Obama has to deal with issues ranging from terrorism to healthcare in his first term.  She said she really does not expect to see large changes in the first couple years of this term largely due to the amount of time it took for the country to be face to face with so many problems.

Lewis also said she is a big fan of First Lady Michelle Obama. 

"I’m happy to see Michelle Obama because black women are always portrayed as a stereotype and she’s not heavy, she’s well educated, she speaks, she presses her hair, she does everything that I do you know,  I was a single mom with two girls, so you can relate to the person who’s running your country," said Lewis.

Several people in the crowd cheered and waved at the big screens as they showed President Bush flying out of Washington.  The crowd at the Nokia center seemed positive – hugging one another, posing for pictures and talking about what a day like this means for the nation, before going back to their daily lives.