I Saw Michael Jackson’s House.
17. Aug, 2009 
5 Comments 
This has absolutely nothing to do with the environment, but I’m gonna share it anyway. It just happened, purely by chance: as we were getting ready to leave Indiana, we told our hosts we’d be passing through Gary.
“Oh, you might want to go around,” Lacy said. “There’ll probably be a lot of traffic for the Michael Jackson memorial.”
WHA!? Who knew MJ was from Gary, Indiana? I sure didn’t. But that’s where he was born, and it was barely two weeks since he’d died… and so of course I had to see his house.
Well, it’s pretty sad out there in Gary. Chicago’s industrial cousin has bright red, pollution-laced sunsets behind a skyline of smokestacks and highways. The King of Pop’s childhood neighborhood is run-down and desolate: most of the windows are boarded up, and the wide streets feel empty.
We got directions from a motel clerk and made our way to the corner of Jackson Street and Jackson Family Boulevard. There it was: a little white house with a mountain of stuffed animals in the front yard. There were signs, too: hand-drawn “WE LOVE YOU MICHEAL”, long letters professing undying love.
I guess what surprised me the most was that the place was so small. Did all nine Jackson kids grow up here? Or just the first five? What could it have been like? I guess I’d never heard anything about the Jackson Family’s past—but I’d always assumed they had some money to start with. Shows what I know.
It was a hot Saturday afternoon, and the place was crawling. Families, tourists like us, groups of bikers: we all took turns standing in front of the house and taking each other’s pictures. Out in the street there was a row of concession tents selling sparkly T-shirts and commemorative posters: King of Pop… 1959-2009… from Gary to Neverland….
A regular circus, but without the glamor and hubbub you might have found at Neverland Ranch. There was only one cop car for crowd control, and the officer looked bored. Even though it was the weekend of MJ’s memorial, we found parking only a block away. The pile of stuffed animals was smaller than I’d expected, too. I guess not many people knew about this tiny little shack in a cruddy neighborhood, where the Jacksons dreamed of diamonds while they played in the dirt.
Anyway we only stayed a few minutes and then moved on. And I only wanted to tell you about it because hey, that really happened.
You can see more of my photos here.
Like this post? Pass it on.
Related Posts:
Detroit and the Myth of the $100 House I went to Detroit following rumors of dirt-cheap housing. What I found there was shocking....
Indiana Dunes State Park I’d never seen a Great Lake before. “They’re huge,” people had told me. “You can’t see across them.” But...
A Trip into Indiana's Prehistory Turkey Run State Park. Yep, that’s what it’s called. There aren’t really any turkeys here: they were hunted to...
Shades of Death and the Devil's Backbone Indiana is full of two things: cornfields and soybean fields. They line the roadsides, flashing past as you drive:...
Detroit Ruinscape: The Heidelberg Project When I first told my friend Landry I was going to Detroit, she advised me to visit the Heidelberg Project....
Author Info
I wish I could be there. I expected more people to be in that area.
Your pictures are so beautiful. I love the color.
No questions that Michael Jackson was the real king of music. We will miss you, man! The memory of Michael will never die. We are sorry to part with you, Michael. Your fans.
That’s lovely that the girl put on the teddy’s tag, he loved teddies and had a lot of trolls…which is sooo sweet!. I hope he finds happiness he couldn’t seem to find here. I know now, from where he is, he will see me with my puppet-Clifford!!. So sad to hear it, his music was brilliant and he will live on through it.
| Michael Jackson is truly the King of Pop. i am a die hard fan of him and we are going to miss him now that he is gone.