For one last day, Dianne Feinstein ruled.

She ruled this lovely, enchanted, tormenting and deeply troubled city. The city where she was born, the city that nurtured her, supported her, tortured her, and sometimes broke her heart.

Dignitaries arrived and tributes poured in from across the country as those closest to the late U.S. senator and former mayor gathered for a final memorial outside San Francisco’s majestic City Hall.

President Biden praised Feinstein’s character and steely backbone in recorded remarks.

“She was always tough, prepared, rigorous and compassionate,” Biden said.

Senate Majority Leader Charles E.

Chuck

Schumer called her “one of the Senate’s great dealmakers.”

“There are many adjectives that accurately describe Dianne Feinstein,” he said. “Strong. Unflappable. Winning. Practical.”

It was a service befitting a monarch. Feinstein was laid out in the grand rotunda of City Hall on Wednesday and that is how she behaved: regal and sometimes imperious.

Legislators and ex-legislators, Governor of California. Gavin Newsom, friends, former aides and former antagonists all sat in a fan of folding white chairs set up in front of the door.

visual arts

monumental, sweltering in unseasonable 85-degree heat.

For all its grandeur, the ceremony, despite the more than a thousand attendees and the Blue Angels’ repeated noisy flyovers, was also a homecoming, a sentimenta.

l

farewell to a place Feinstein never forgot or left behind.

“Senator Feinstein. That’s her official title,’

San Francisco

Mayor London Breed said this. “It’s how Californians and people around the world knew her. But to us San Franciscans, she was

mayor

Dianne Feinstein.”

San Francisco is arguably a world-class destination. But its size

(

only 47 square miles

)

the rivalries and close-quarters political battles can make it a very small town.

even one with you

excessive influence

.

In a lively program lasting just under an hour, Feinstein was remembered by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Vice President Kamala Harris, former prosecutor and Breed.

All chosen by San at different times

Franciscans

. They all followed Feinstein’s pioneering path.

The memorial service was originally planned as a come-one, come-all affair. But safety concerns changed that

,

And

closed the ceremony

invited guests only

were allowed to be present

.

The move was both a sign of these politically angry times and a reminder of the violence that dominates our daily lives.

Feinstein knew both well.

As a member of the Supervisory Board, she survived an assassination attempt

,

and two years later

became something

the mayor of the city

,

after a gunman killed her predecessor.

The office where George Moscone was shot overlooks the stairs that served as a stage Thursday.

It is it

gold filigree balcony

shone brightly

in the sun.

Feinstein’s determined action on the day of Moscone’s assassination as he stood on those steps announcing the death of the mayor and

here

Fellow supervisor, Harvey Milk, her fellow supervisor braced the city as it teetered and nearly collapsed.

It set a template for the rest of her political career: unyielding, strong, determined.

Feinstein was also clear and focused, and much of Thursday’s service reflected that public face. (Privately, she could be hell to work for, as Feinstein was the first to admit, and the monument contained references to that too.)

Biden

andother

others remembered Feinstein for a wide range of achievements in the face of major setbacks, including a 10-year national ban on assault weapons

S

protection of much of the California desert and efforts to halt the CIA’s practice of torturing prisoners abroad.

But perhaps what was most appreciated by her hometown audiences was how she mastered San Francisco’s knife-fighting politics and won the respect and affection of its discerning residents.

“This city requires its elected officials to participate every day in complex discussions with informed voters that will address the most complicated local issues,” Harris said, “it doesn’t matter whether you’re walking through the Presidio or attending an event on Delancey Street . .

“I believe this environment shaped Dianne’s leadership style,”

Vice President Harris

said, “even after she reached the heights of national and global power.”

Pelosi, a personal friend and longtime neighbor of Feinstein, put it succinctly.

She called her “the eternal mayor of San Francisco.”

“Mayor forever,” Pelosi repeated.

The sweetest eulogy came from Feinstein’s 30-year-old granddaughter, Eileen Mariano, who bears a striking resemblance to a young Feinstein.

Mariano talked about hide-and-seek, gardening, chess, the terrible haircuts Feinstein insisted on giving her.

and of course the first-hand lessons in San Francisco history.

Feinstein taught her resilience, Mariano said, and the importance of humility and hard work. Her life showed that gender was no obstacle to achievement.

“She showed young women everywhere that they too can be leaders,” Mariano said, “that they can make an impact and that they deserve a seat at the table.”

There was practical advice

,

also.

“She also said to me, ‘If you ever go out of town, wherever you go

,

it doesn’t matter if you go to a city or the desert or a beach or the mountains

:

Always take a black pantsuit with you,

‘

Mariano said with a fit of laughter.

“‘There’s no occasion where you can’t wear a black suit.'”

Feinstein, who died

passed

achieved political success the hard way last week at the age of 90.

She ran for mayor twice but lost, only inheriting the job when Moscone was assassinated in November 1978. Five years later, she had to fend off a recall attempt.

Like any politician, Feinstein made enemies.

Gay activists who thought she was too prudish. Supporters of the neighborhood felt that it took too much into account the financial interests of the city center.

Gun owners who thought she was too liberal. Liberals

,

who thought she was too conservative.

But on Thursday all was forgiven, if not entirely forgotten.

The city, her city, sent her away in triumph.