Friday, June 26, 2009

A Little News About Neverland

According to a well-timed article in the Wall Street Journal, in the months preceding the untimely but not entirely shocking death of Michael Jackson–be honest people, he hadn't looked healthy 10 years–Neverland Ranch was being cleaned up, fixed up and readied for sale by Colony Capital, the real estate investment company that acquired the gigantic Los Olivos, CA estate last year in some sort of joint effort with Mister Jackson to save the property from foreclosure.

Mister Jackson purchased the 2,600 acre property with it's 13,000 square foot Tudor style main house back in 1987 and proceeded to build his own private wonderland that was really more State Fair than private residence.

Since vacating the property in the aftermath of his last child molestation trial in 2005, the zoo has been emptied out, the carnival rides removed and the contents of the house and his personal property catalogued for a highly publicized exhibition and auction that was cancelled at the last minute due to an agreement between the auction house and Mister Jackson's camp.

The status of the objects is in question but it has been reported (somewhere but we don't recall where) that they are (allegedly) in the possession of Mister Jackson's self-proclaimed spokesman and manager Dr. Tohme R. Tohme (who is not a doctor of any kind) and is not the actual physician who lived with Mister Jackson in his $100,000 per month leased mansion in the Holmby Hills. However, if Michael Jackson's history tells us anything, we should expect that (not a) Dr. Tohme will seek to turn a buck from Mister Jackson's belongings and claim it's for the children.

What will become of Neverland Ranch now is any one's guess but, crass as it may be to say out loud, money is money and Your Mama would bet everything we have the good people at Colony Capital, who reportedly think the property is worth in excess of $70,000,000, will make every effort to cash in on their investment in any way can.

Hold on to your boots children, because it's going to get ugly.

67 comments:

:{} avg joe said...

JACKSON ISNT DEAD. HE WENT INTO HIDING WITH ELVIS! BERNIE MADDOFF GOT WHAT WAS LEFT OF HIS MONEY AND HE IS BROKE LIKE THE REST!!!!!!!

I TOLD HIM NOT TO INVEST WITH MADDOFF BUT HE DIDNT LISTEN. LOSER!

Evan said...

Neverland will become what Graceland is for Elvis' estate. It will provide an income stream in perpetuity for Colony Capital. Colonty will make a deal with memorabilia owner. Could be a major attraction if they can get the permits to operate it as a musuem. Wow, they would not have bene able to get half of tehir asking price otherwise.

Anonymous said...

elton john will preform at his funeral. a special rendition of candle in the wind..." one glove in the wind" we love you michael!

angeleyes said...

Thanks for the WSJ link to the Neverland article Mama. Very interesting reading. I heard on the news this morning that AEG Live, the sponsors for what was supposed to be his upcoming tour, may not be as lucky because they were having trouble obtaining insurance for him. It's estimated they had invested some $20 million in the production to date.

Anonymous said...

I doubt Neverland could become like Graceland. MJ hadn't been there in almost 5 years, much of what made it "Neverland" is gone already and what is left is in disrepair. Unlike Graceland, Neverland is the "scene of the alleged crimes". I don't doubt a museum will exist, I just don't think it will be at Neverland.

lil' gay boy said...

Spot on, anon 12:18; it's just not the right venue due to the unsavory associations that caused The White Lady to vacate Neverland in the first place.

Even more cynical is the observation that, sure as the sun do shine, Colony Capital will ultimately claim to have not earned one single penny more than what the estate owes them when all is said & done & liquidated...

Karen said...

You knew MJ would come to a bad end eventually. I am just sorry it happened yesterday. That day belonged to Farrah Fawcett who fought so bravely in her cancer battle.

Anonymous said...

Good luck to the owner of the Holmby Hills house. Try to find somebody that wants to pay $100k per month....now that tour vans and carloads of Jacko fans head-up there to write their names on the wall or do whatever they will do.
Nightmare for the neighbors.....

What street is it on?

Anonymous said...

The rented house is at 100 Carolwood - right off Sunset Blvd.
ZIP is 90077. Take a look via Anywho Maps for a clear look.

Anonymous said...

Ooops; I should have specified NORTH Carolwood.

Anonymous said...

100 N Carolwood Dr, 90077

It's the large, whiteish looking house boundaried by W Sunset, N Carolwood, and Monovale.

Anonymous said...

Just tried to go into the Celebrity Address Aerial site to look at some addresses relevant to MJ and lo and behold it is suddenly no longer a free site. They are charging $9.99 a month or $24.99 for three months. These are porn prices (well at least the low-brow kind), and they ain't selling porn -- at least the kind of porn that compels folks to fish out the old credit card. Of course, their traffic is going to go down to next to zero, and then it will be free again if they intend for the site to survive. The most viable model for sites like that one would seem to be the model presented here. It may not be a lucrative one, but it allows the content provider to stay relevant, and to use the site as a springboard to other, possibly more lucrative, ventures. . .

June 26, 2009 9:38 AM

Anonymous said...

I agree that the owner of 100 N. Carolwood is screwed. (And who exactly is the owner? Do we know?) However, whoever it is, they must have been pretty desperate to get a little cash flowing if they were willing to lease to MJ and his peeps.

Anonymous said...

It's ok 9:38/1:33. The site was covenient, but not indispensable. Virtual Globetrotting is another site with a wealth of celeb real estate information in case you're unaware of it. After the main page opens, scroll down the right hand column for links.

Anonymous said...

For those interested..

The coroner couldn't find a readily apparent "catostrophic cause" for Michael's cardiac arrest. Further tests will take from 6 to 8 weeks to complete.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tip about Virtual Globetrotting. I'll check it out.

Anonymous said...

I agree that Neverland could NEVER be what Graceland is for Elvis. Neverland, is the major article of the most embarassing and evil party of MJ's life... I personally have a hard time believe Jacko was that nice of a guy, because of the camp he surrounded himself with... that said, I don't know or really care what he did some years ago and still think he was a talented artist (tho I am not a fan) who did things no one ever has or may ever do again.

However, Neverland is not Neverland, as the article states the zoo and carnival are gone... the house is emptied out... there were no plans to make it a muesum and I fear it would fail if they tried. Ultimately... the property will be sold off and when the market improves it will be subdivided and developed... probably illimiating the scene fo the crime and leveling the house the Jacko so loved.

As for Carolwood, eeek... I don't think the owner was desperate to rent it to Jacko, money is money and $100k is a damn good rent... I believe the owner was trying to sell that house when Jacko's camp came along and leased it so I assume we'll see it hit the market again (Think it was listed at $38 million). It will be a tough sell, as it wil have some "Neverland"ish stigmata as the scene of the death now and will be forever haunted by creepy fans hanging out outside.

Anonymous said...

Michael's "personal physician", now missing and being sought for questioning, slammed that Demerol into some still reasonably viable vein, undid the tourniquet, and bam, they had a catastrophe on their hands. Especially when you add some oxycontin to the mix, as they are now reporting. Also Zoloft, some are saying. Certain anti-depressants when mixed with
Demerol are a well known potentially deadly combination, y'all. Google the famous Libby ZIon case. That was what killed her.

Anonymous said...

The house was built by Mohammed Hadid (the developer who has his own estate on Nimes Road in Bel Air for sale for $85 Million). It was sold to the current owner for $18.5 Million in January of 2004. When Michael agreed to rent the home, it was for sale for $38 Million or for rent for the $100,000 a month Jackson was paying. The current owners are Hubert A. Guez and his wife Roxanne M. Guez.

I think it should be said that people should stay away from the house. This is a very painful time for Jackson's family, especially his children. Going to the house and bothering the people there would be beyond disrespectful. Please prey for his children and hope that everything will turn out OK for them. If you truly believe the allegations that were place upon him then I recommend that you watch "Living with Michael Jackson, Take Two" which is Jackson's own rebuttal to Martin Bashir's "Living with Michael Jackson" interview. In Bashir's interview, he made it seem that he was a friend to Michael to gain his trust but then completely twisted the videos to paint Jackson in a very negative way. However, in Jackson's rebuttal, there are tapes from the same interview that were not shown in Bashir's version that show Bashir praising Michael and his parenting as well as many other friends and family who show who Michael really was. It's a very touching interview and it shows just how good of a person Michael Jackson was. This is the link to the first of many parts of the interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvhwWDCV9Bo. The other parts can be found quite easily in the Related Videos section next to it.

Anonymous said...

I didn't say that the owner was desperate to rent it to Jacko (lol). I said he was probably desperate for some cash flow, and so was willing to look beyond good sense and lease it them. Had it ever been occupied before, or was it a spec deal? Looks the something that one of the forty-seven odd sons of the Saudi king might go for.

Anonymous said...

New updates on TV are saying that multiple delays on the part of the coroner's office could indicate there may be something substantial to report after all, and supposedly the police can't find the doctor who was at Michael's side when he was stricken. Stay tuned..

Regina Reynolds said...

suicide. he was about 400 million in debt and scared of getting old - could you picture him aging gracefully? or aging at all? plus this "comeback" tour - he wasn't up for it. I never thought he live this long. sad but true.

chobles said...

Celebrity Address Aerial site

I believe that microsoft offers their satellite use for free, as well as yahoo and google but

if they know a site is charging a fee for their free satellite images ??????

that site is FUCKED !!!!!!!!!!

ms, yahoo, goog will sue those dickhead morons for millions or at the very least put up a stop and desist order, how do I know ?

because it happened to me

they want 100k a month lic fee if my site uses their images and my site charges a fee, I had to close it down......

ences said...

he was not 400 MM in debt, he has billions all over the world, and the powers that be got a hold of his accounts and had him knocked off, it was a robbery of the highest level

Anonymous said...

Neverland as the WL's Graceland? Over the dead bodies of residents of Figueroa Mtn Rd.--not to mention those of everybody else in Los Olivos

Anonymous said...

The conspiracy theorists are cracking me up.

The coroner had nothing to say that shed any light on Michael's passing, and said something like a gag order is in effect pending further test results.

About what I expected.

Anonymous said...

My maid's sister's husband's stepmother's mechanic's wife's mother's hairdresser's daughter's school teacher's manicurist's brother is a cook at a truck stop in Nevada. MJ and Elvis came in this morning for breakfast. They are both alive and working on a comeback tour called "The Risen"

CPS said...

He was an enormous talent trapped in a perverse psyche. I only hope and pray that Madge doesn't go after those children!

Anonymous said...

3:47 - you're too funny.

I'd rather see the kiddies with Madge than with ANY of the remaining Jackson family.

Anonymous said...

Anyone with half a brain would figure out that they will sell off most of the land around Neverland for development use and then put the zoo and the rides back in and reopen it as an attraction.
Neverland will destroy Graceland as a tourist attraction.

Anonymous said...

it'll never happen. the community of los olivos is never going to allow that..unless the tax base has declined so much lately they need the bucks.

Anonymous said...

5:04 - It ain't happening. The people in Los Olivos were happy to see MJ leave and even happier to see the Neverland gates come down and the property returned to it's rightful name. They like it nice and quiet out there. You do know how far Los Olivos is from Los Angeles, right?

Anonymous said...

Anon 7:13pm, dummy, if there is one thing that rules this country, it is money.
The "people" of Los Olivos don't control the world like you would seem to think.
If you think the media executives, lawyers etc, especially the Jewish ones would really pass up the opportunity to make hundreds of millions to billions of dollars, you are truly a fool.
These people would sell their own mothers if it would get them into a prime co-op in New york or a beachfront Hamptons home.

Anonymous said...

739

los olivos is in the middle of no where

never land doesnt even exist anymore

its NOT goig to happen

Anonymous said...

okay, clearly anon 8:40 you're the same foul mouthed person who has written a dozen other comments about celebrity address aerial.

we get it it. you're pissed about it and that's cool. but please stop beefing about it here and go grind your axe somewhere else. seriously.

don't you think you'd be better off contacting the guys over there rather than whine about it here?

Anonymous said...

7:39 - By the people of Los Olivos, I mean not only the property owners (many of whom are wealthier than the White Lady) but the municipal officials who can, yes, CAN block/impede/delay for decades development on the land. They already made it clear last year that they are opposed to any other use for the land other than ranching. These people didn't want him there and were happy to see his circus pull out of town.

Colony Capital got the ranch for a bargain at 22 million. They will make a profit just for flipping the ranch back on the market. They don't need to invest anymore money or take any risk.

So that leaves you and the rest of your fellow fans to come up with the 70 million Colony says the land is worth and then the millions more to make it into something people might want to drive 2 hours outside of Los Angeles to get to.

You got the money? I didn't think so.

Anonymous said...

You can see the Carolwood house easily on Google Earth for nothing. Right off Sunset. Is that really Holmby Hills?
Now, what is most disgusting about all this is the stupid comment that he was a "musical genius." My dears, Wagner was a musical genius, Beethoven was a musical genius, Bach was a musical genius, but MJ was a little weirdo twerp who wrote some rubbish music to which he slid, and gyrated and "danced" on the stage before lots of cultural nincompoops who never heard of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, etc.

erk said...

does anyone know the address to Neverland so that I can google map it? Thanks to all
e

Anonymous said...

1215-- so what's got you Google-Earthing the place where this non-musical-genius died? Shouldn't you be looking for Wagner's or Bach's or Beethoven's grave or something?

Anonymous said...

Some of y'all are just so angry about the most meaningless things. It's sad really.

Personally I think Jackson was a weirdo twerp (and many other very unsavory things) AND an entertainment genius. He's not Bach, but he wasn't trying to be Wagner. And whether you like his music or not, he did change pop music forever.

It's like contemporary art. You might not like abstract expressionism or whatever but it still has it's place in the lexicon of "art." To not at least be able to see that (even if you hate Robert Motherwell canvases) is to be the Philistine you seem to think all fans of Jackson's music are.

It's true. Now tell me to go fuck myself because that's what so many people around here seem to like to do.

Framba Italy said...

I Don't think tha Mister Guez (Owner of 100 N Carolwood Drive) is Screwed!!
I Think that now he can Overprice the Home, now the home is famous for to be the Last Residence of MJ, and this is Good for the owners if they want sell it

Anonymous said...

No one who pays tens of millions of dollars for a home gives a shit about Michael Jackson or where he lived.

enscoi said...

that is true

they have celebs at their tea parties, cocktail parties all the time

celebs do not impress them, for that matter little impresses them

Guez lucked out with MJ then again maybe he may luck out with someone else ???? time will tell

but 100k a month ??????????

need to do a 90% chop and offer the place for 10k a month, that would be far more realistic

Anonymous said...

4:57, I hear you, but there are also a good number of relatively sane, interesting people too.

Mama's blog is popular, and like anything popular, it can be a bit of an a**hole magnet at times.

Tracy said...

Neverland Ranch is at 5225 Figueroa Mountain Rd Los Olivos, CA 93441, for those looking it up on Google Earth.

Anonymous said...

Thanks alot for the addy Tracy!

cmvbbay said...

According to David Charvet's Tweets, his uncle is the owner of the Carolwood house.

http://twitter.com/davidcharvet/status/2343752850

Anonymous said...

this is as big as gets for Charvet since Baywatch

Anonymous said...

I got something between my legs that will get big for David Charvet. Hard too.

Anonymous said...

i just heard on CNN that they don't think drugs had anything to do with jacksons death...

that they infact think it may just be a case of food posioning...

evidently he got a hold of a 7 year old weiner

Anonymous said...

a real knee-slapper, that one

Anonymous said...

In an effort to make some sense out of him, I watched parts of the long, multi-segment MJ documentary that MSNBC rebroadcast over the weekend.

The conclusion I reached is that Michael was a dichotomy that ranged from the extraordinarily gifted to the extraordinarily damaged. On the damaged side, he was molded into a stunted, emotional child with an acute inferiority complex and a blurred sense of appropriate boundaries by an abusive father who harshly drove his children, Michael in particular, into providing him a life he wanted but couldn't obtain otherwise.

Now that his life has played itself out to its conclusion, I believe Michael deserves compassion rather than judgement.

Nancy said...

So is $100K/mo. way out of the norm for a house this size in this area? The former nanny is claiming she thought it should've been about $25K/mo. and that MJ's handlers were overcharging him. Thoughts?

Anonymous said...

Joe Jackson's comments to a CNN correspondent at the BET Awards last night was very revealing.

When asked how he's doing he said, "I'm great. Michael is bigger than ever now, and I just wish he was here to see it."

Say what?

Anonymous said...

Nancy, Michael was as bad at managing money as he was good at making it.
He was also continually surounded by leeches whose only concern was profiting from their association with him any way they could.

Anonymous said...

the nany is smoking crack.... its a $38m house....she cant even comprehend what it should or shoulnt rent for or what the house is or isnt worth.

its hard to say on high end properties what they should rent for... cuz usually, they do rent for LESS than they would in standard formula but bc the house is so expensive it still seems like a high rent....

but its fairly common to see a $380k place rent for $2000 / mo. put in the same formula and that would say a $38m house would rent for $200k....

michael didnt get ripped off for the monthly rent, the problem is if you have that much $$$ why waste it on rent... people really dont understand this... but its cheaper to rent than own esp when your credit / debt ratio is F'd like MJ's.

Anonymous said...

Would that be the same former nanny that claimed he wanted to marry her? The one he fired? Has she ever been to this house? He only lived there a year.

Anonymous said...

8:11 --the fact that Joe Jackson was even AT an awards show a few days after MJ died SAYS IT ALL.

Anonymous said...

the nanny was fired in december so i'm sure she was there. not saying she's reputable or without an agenda (was anyone that was around him) but she lived with those kids 10+ years so she was in a position to know something about MJ's lifestyle over the last 10 years if maybe not the last 6 months.

i'm a cynic. i think he was troubled to the point of being broken, addicted to painkillers (and god only knows what else), had an eating disorder, suffered from terrible insecurity and his talent and clearly about his looks. Certainly the pressures he felt in his life led to these things but he was a very rich man who had access to whatever help he wanted. Unfortunately I'm not sure anyone around him really wanted him helped, including his father who had an ugly nerve to show up at the BET awards with his attorney and make asinine comments just days after his son died tragically and, yes, suspiciously. Maybe not foul play, but a lot of factors involved in this guys death beyond simple cardiac arrest. Just my two cents.

Anonymous said...

Hmm. I thought it was longer ago that he fired her. The media is reporting he fired and re-hired her multiple times over the past 17 years (she was an assistant before becoming the nanny). Maybe I'm remembering an earlier firing.

Anonymous said...

Joe Jackson using the press surrounding his son's death to promote his next business venture is just sick.

I can't wait to hear what his kids really think of him once HE is dead.

Anonymous said...

Anon June 29, 2009 11:34 AM -
I agree with you. Well said.

Anonymous said...

This article on MSNBC said the brothers just visited Neverland. That makes me believe they are in talks about turning it into a "Graceland" for Michael. Why else would they go there. I work a block away from the Jackson's compound in Encino.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31599184/ns/entertainment-music/

Anonymous said...

Well then you just run up the block and see if Miz Katherine will sell you season tickets. Then go sit outside the gates and wait for it to open. Check back in 2050.

Anonymous said...

9:28 - Maybe you should have stopped by to borrow a cup of sugar yesterday and the family would have told you about the memorial service planned for Friday at Neverland.

Anonymous said...

Jackson never adopted the children, and neither he or either mother are biological parents. Look for a parade of humanity to show up claiming biological ties, demanding a share of the genetic lottery.

Anonymous said...

1:21 - The rumor about Rowe not being biological mother has already been denied. I think she is the biological mother. Why else would she have attempted to get a custody arrangement in 2005?