‘Jacko’ Called Valley Home Until He Beat It

Far south of the bustle of Encino’s chichi strip of Ventura Boulevard sits “Hayvenhurst,” the house that Jacko built.

Michael Jackson--the narcissistic King of Pop, Wizard of Odd, “Wacko Jacko” to the British tabloids--razed a generic-looking California ranch house and erected the mock Tudor mansion in 1981 after paying Jackson family patriarch Joseph $500,000 for a half-interest in the property.

A decade earlier, Joseph had moved his brood from Gary, Ind., flush with the first successes of the Jackson 5--Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, Marlon and Michael--and three consecutive No. 1 hits.

Younger sister Janet later launched a solo singing and acting career that rivaled her brothers’. Another sister, LaToya, would become famous in her own right, mainly for her flamboyant style and network of psychic friends.

According to one unauthorized biography, Jackson spent hours in his room at Hayvenhurst, kept company by Bubbles the chimp, a series of “special friends” and his collection of Peter Pan posters, pickled human brains, the bones of the Elephant Man and a family of mannequins he considered his “family.”

Despite, or perhaps aided by, these eccentricities, Jackson sold more records than anyone else. “Thriller,” released in 1982, spawned 10 Top 10 singles and sold 42 million copies, knocking the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack off its perch as the top-selling album of all time.

In March 1988, he purchased a Santa Ynez Valley ranch he named “Neverland” for $17 million. He moved out of Hayvenhurst a few weeks later.

Since then, he has survived a 1993 sex scandal and a failed marriage to Lisa Marie Presley. In November, he married Debbie Rowe, a 37-year-old Van Nuys woman who worked for his Beverly Hills dermatologist. Their son was born just in time for Valentine’s Day.