Michael / Neverland Ranch
Location: 5225 Figueroa Mountain Rd, Los Olivos, CA 93441
Size: Approximately 2, 810 acres
Employees: Approximately 70
Acquisition date: 1988
Neverland Ranch, or Neverland Valley Ranch, is owned by American pop musician Michael Jackson, although Jackson currently resides outside the United States. It is located at 5225 Figueroa Mountain Rd, Los Olivos, CA 93441, about 5 miles (8 km) north of Los Olivos, Santa Barbara County, California . It was operated as his private amusement park and home when it opened in 1988. The name Neverland came from the fictional island in the story Peter Pan.
 Background
Sitting as a high sand dune in a valley, Neverland is located about five miles (8 km) north of Los Olivos (about eight miles north of the town of Santa Ynez), in the Santa Ynez Valley.
Long before Michael Jackson made Neverland his home, the area surrounding Neverland was made of working ranches. Today, the neighbourhood is made of vineyards. Neverland, which is over 2,800 acres (11 km²) in size, contains, among other things, a zoo and a theme park, with a Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, and bumper cars. As with much of Neverland, little is known about the value of Michael Jackson's former home. In early 2004, news program Entertainment Tonight estimated Neverland Ranch to be valued at approximately $12.0 million. However, the Santa Barbara County assessor's office believes it is worth $6 million. Forbes estimates the ranch may be worth a lot more than that.
While Neverland was open, it served as the venue of numerous parties held by Michael Jackson. In 1991, Jackson hosted friend Elizabeth Taylor's wedding to Larry Fortensky. On September 13, 2003, he held a grand party to raise money for Oneness, the Make-A-Wish foundation, and pop artist Romero Britto's Brazilian charity, "E Ai Como E Que Fica?" It was dubbed "Michael's mother of all parties". According to a Jackson spokeswoman, groups of children continued to visit the ranch during the 2005 trial, but Jackson had little time to meet with them. After the trial ended in June 2005, Michael Jackson made his primary residence in Bahrain.
Some allege that children at Neverland were reckless at times and were not bound by many rules. Children were told to follow a few rules, and were allowed to go about Neverland at will. The children were free to eat whatever and whenever they wanted and sleeping hours were not very regular. Kiki Fournier, a former housekeeper, compared Neverland to Pinocchio's Pleasure Island.
 Police searches
In both 1993 and 2003, Jackson was accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour towards young boys who had spent a great deal of time at Neverland. These accusations resulted in police searches of the ranch. The 1993 allegations did result in criminal charges and preliminary hearings, but the 2003 allegations lead to a trial in which Jackson was found not guilty on all charges. In connection with the 2005 molestation trial, detectives searched Neverland twice. The first search was conducted on November 18, 2003 by more than sixty police officers. The second search took place a year later on December 3, 2004.
 Neverland's main mansion closed
After the 2003 police search of Neverland, Jackson decided he would no longer reside at the ranch, and lived at a number of other residences including one in Beverly Hills, but returned to Neverland in late 2004. "I won't live there ever again," he said. "It's a house now. It's not a home anymore. I'll only visit." When the 2005 molestation trial came to an end, Jackson left the United States and Neverland for a stay in Bahrain.
Speculation was rampant about the fate of Neverland, but on March 16, 2006, the main house was officially closed and most of the employees were terminated without benefits or pensions (though approximately $400,000 in back wages were paid). However, all workers finally were compensated under full compliance of law. It was announced that Jackson would not be returning to the United States in the foreseeable future. According to his spokesperson, Raymone Bain, Jackson closed his house for good.
Animals still at Neverland are currently being cared for by a Neverland employee. Despite allegations of animal mistreatment, the driver of a delivery truck that provided Neverland's animals with food stated, "The animals are well taken care of...". The County Of Santa Barbara removed nearly all of the animals. USDA investigators echoed the same beliefs when they found no credible evidence to suggest that mistreatment claims were true.
In July of 2005, a month after the 2005 acquittal of Jackson, a Jackson spokesman told a German newspaper that Michael may build a Disneyland style home near Berlin, based on the German fairytale castle Neuschwanstein.
On August 25, 2006, a wildfire burned about 40 acres of the ranch, coming within a quarter-mile of the main residence.
Neverland Valley Ranch Sold
Michael Jackson has transferred his Neverland Valley Ranch to a company. On Monday, November 11th 2008 he filed a grant deed on the property that makes the new owner an entity called the Sycamore Valley Ranch Co. LLC.
Reportedly, Sycamore Valley Ranch Co. is a joint venture between Michael Jackson and an affiliate of Colony Capital LLC. Tom Pearson said the deed did not indicate who owns Sycamore. A listing on the California secretary of state's Web site says the company filed with the state in June 2008. It does not identify its owners, but the company has the same Century City address as Colony Capital LLC. Colony Capital is a Los Angeles-based real estate investment company run by billionaire Tom Barrack. It owns several properties in Las Vegas, including the Las Vegas Hilton. Actually the Neverland property was called Sycamore Valley Ranch before Michael Jackson bought it in 1988 and was a working cattle ranch owned by Bill Bone.
Currently it is not known what the future of the 2,500-acre property in Santa Barbara County will be.
Satellite Images of Neverland
|
