Neverland Ranch

Desiree Crossley, her two daughters and a friend left Lancaster in their PT Cruiser at 1 a.m. Wednesday to be among the first in line for what they thought would be a public memorial for Michael Jackson at his Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County. About 5 a.m., they began pitching their tent on the side of Figueroa Mountain Road, taking turns hammering in stakes and trying to keep warm. They packed a portable toilet, heater and plenty of food and water to last them. But at 2:30 p.m.

Smiling docents, green-clad rangers, music piped in everywhere — for Michael Jackson fans, Neverland State Park would no doubt be a thriller. But state park officials say it's an idea whose time may never come. Assemblyman Mike Davis, a Los Angeles Democrat, said Tuesday that he's going to push for a study of the possibility when the Legislature meets again in August. Jackson "was one of the world's preeminent entertainers and California is fortunate to have such a site in its jurisdiction," said Davis, chairman of the Assembly Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism & Internet Media.

Ever since Michael Jackson died, Al Williams' family had begged him to take them to Neverland Ranch. And each day, Williams, 42, a roofer from San Bernardino, said no, that there were too many people crowded outside Neverland's gates. On Thursday night, he finally gave in. Williams, his wife, Josie, and their two children woke up at 4 a.m. Friday and piled into their burgundy Scion for the roughly three-hour drive to Jackson's fabled Santa Barbara County hideaway.

Plans begin for Jackson park Work is expected to begin this year on a 100-acre Michael Jackson entertainment complex in Gary, Ind., that would include a museum, performing arts center, hotel, golf course and theme park inspired by the pop singer's Neverland Ranch. "Everything is in the planning stages at this point, but we're moving on a fast track, and we're looking forward to actually breaking ground sometime in 2010," said Odie Anderson, president of the Jackson family project in the pop singer's hometown.

A wildfire burned about 40 acres of Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch on Friday and came within a quarter-mile of the main residence, officials said. No structures had caught fire at the 2,500-acre estate, said Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Jeff Ross. About 100 firefighters were battling the blaze along with water-dropping helicopters, he said. Jackson, 47, has been living in the Middle Eastern nation of Bahrain since being acquitted of child molestation charges in June 2005.

Smiling docents, green-clad rangers, music piped in everywhere — for Michael Jackson fans, Neverland State Park would no doubt be a thriller. But state park officials say it's an idea whose time may never come. Assemblyman Mike Davis, a Los Angeles Democrat, said Tuesday that he's going to push for a study of the possibility when the Legislature meets again in August. Jackson "was one of the world's preeminent entertainers and California is fortunate to have such a site in its jurisdiction," said Davis, chairman of the Assembly Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism & Internet Media.

Pop star Michael Jackson sidestepped a foreclosure auction of his Neverland Ranch after an investment company bought the loan on the troubled Los Olivos property, a spokeswoman said Sunday. The loan purchase by Colony Capital LLC was the latest deal to keep the 2,500-acre ranch from being sold off. In March, Jackson, 49, reached an agreement with his creditors, Fortress Investment Group, to postpone an auction until this week.

A grand jury looking into allegations of sexual molestation by pop superstar Michael Jackson heard more testimony behind closed doors Thursday. A woman identified as Norma Staikos, Jackson's former chief of staff who ran his Neverland ranch in Santa Barbara County, testified for two hours. Sources close to the investigation said her evidence was considered crucial. The Santa Barbara County grand jury began hearing testimony Wednesday.

Scores of Santa Barbara County law enforcement officers descended on Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch on Tuesday morning, scouring the amusement park estate for evidence in what authorities would only describe as an "ongoing criminal investigation." More than 60 sheriff's deputies and district attorney's investigators arrived in unmarked vehicles at 8:30 a.m. to search the 2,600-acre Santa Ynez Valley ranch, which includes a mansion, amusement rides and a zoo.

An ebullient Michael Jackson greeted some 200 children who were brought to his Neverland Ranch on Friday to play in its amusement park. "I hope you have a wonderful day. Merry Christmas. I love you," the pop singer called out to the children from the driveway of his estate. Jackson, who faces trial next year on child molestation charges, appeared happy in the few minutes he spoke to the arriving throng. One of the youngsters shouted, "We love you!"

The black-and-white photos of Michael Jackson are remarkable not only as previously unreleased images of one the last half-century's most photographed men. They also reveal much about the pop superstar's abiding impulses: his impish sense of humor, his fealty to yesteryear's master showmen and his concern about his own place in the pop culture firmament. FOR THE RECORD: Michael Jackson: An article about a new Michael Jackson coffee table book in Wednesday's Calendar section stated that the performer won five American Music Awards last month, including artist of the year.

Michael Jackson was never a fixture on the county fair circuit, but his Neverland rides now are on a never-ending tour. The attractions he set up in his estate's private amusement park have been auctioned off and are being trucked from carnival to carnival, pitched as a chance to take a spin on a piece of history. At the far end of the midway at the Tulare County Fair in the Central Valley this month, signs announced: "Michael ride here! This is one of Michael Jackson's rides from Neverland Ranch!"

Nearly two months have passed since Michael Jackson's death on June 25. But now, after weeks of wild rumors about the state of his remains and Jackson family in-fighting about where to bury the body, the singer is finally going to be laid to rest, his father said. In interviews with the New York Daily News and People magazine published Monday, Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, said the singer would be buried in a private ceremony at Los Angeles' Forest Lawn Cemetery. He said the burial date was set for Aug. 29 -- what would have been the superstar's 51st birthday.

Michael Jackson was fascinated by celebrity tragedy. He had a statue of Marilyn Monroe in his home and studied the sad Hollywood exile of Charlie Chaplin. He married the daughter of Elvis Presley and told her that he expected to die just like her father, lost and alone behind mansion gates. When Jackson did meet his own untimely death on June 25 at age 50, he left a legacy more complicated than any of those past icons. As a child star, he was so talented he seemed lit from within; as a middle-aged man, he was viewed as something akin to a visiting alien who, like Tinkerbell, would cease to exist if the applause ever stopped.

The hundreds of Michael Jackson fans, media and souvenir hawkers outside Staples Center on Tuesday made for quite a circus. And then, out of nowhere, another circus arrived. A real circus. Just before dawn Tuesday, onlookers were treated to the sight of 11 Asian elephants being herded three miles from a train stop to an enclosure at the arena where the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus is set to begin performances today.

Ever since Michael Jackson died, Al Williams' family had begged him to take them to Neverland Ranch. And each day, Williams, 42, a roofer from San Bernardino, said no, that there were too many people crowded outside Neverland's gates. On Thursday night, he finally gave in. Williams, his wife, Josie, and their two children woke up at 4 a.m. Friday and piled into their burgundy Scion for the roughly three-hour drive to Jackson's fabled Santa Barbara County hideaway.

Pop star Michael Jackson has handed out pink slips to much of his Neverland ranch staff but has not completely shuttered his Santa Barbara County estate, a spokeswoman said. Jackson, who now lives outside the country, met a state deadline this week to pay more than $300,000 in back wages to dozens of staff members. But then Thursday most of the employees were notified that they were being laid off. "It is public knowledge that Mr.

Michael Jackson's glittery glove is going on the auction block. The glove, which inspired countless copycats, quips and Halloween costumes after it was unveiled in the 1983 video for Jackson's hit "Billie Jean," will be part of a five-day auction next April, Julien's Auctions said Wednesday. Jackson is also unloading the grandiose gates that once led to his Neverland Ranch, along with more than 2,000 other personal items.

It was while I was bumpily making my way across a rope bridge in a quiet corner of Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch on Thursday morning -- next to an elaborate treehouse crowned with a ship's wheel, and overlooking a bronze sculpture of smiling children -- that I finally figured out what the late entertainer's compound represents from an architectural point of view. Jackson didn't commission Neverland's Tudor-style main house.

Desiree Crossley, her two daughters and a friend left Lancaster in their PT Cruiser at 1 a.m. Wednesday to be among the first in line for what they thought would be a public memorial for Michael Jackson at his Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County. About 5 a.m., they began pitching their tent on the side of Figueroa Mountain Road, taking turns hammering in stakes and trying to keep warm. They packed a portable toilet, heater and plenty of food and water to last them. But at 2:30 p.m.