By Douglas MacMillan

A Public Funeral

A throng of camera-toting locals, tourists, members of the media, and police gathered outside the Lehman Brothers (LEH) headquarters in Midtown New York on Sept. 15, the day the 158-year-old firm filed for bankruptcy. As distressed workers streamed out to the sidewalk, they darted into the subway or hopped into taxis to avoid the fray. Some carried cardboard boxes filled with remnants from their offices. One woman clutched a painting, using it to cover her face from the field of cameras.

In this BusinessWeek slide show, we meet the many unlikely spectators at the grim scene, such as a television reporter from New Delhi and a couple visiting from Germany. And we talk to more familiar faces among Lehman's neighbors—a food cart vendor and a woman who lives three blocks away—to hear why this is the end of an era for more than just Wall Street.