What celebrity family once lived at 2300 Jackson Street in Gary, Indiana?
Patricia Collier of Gary placed a neon pink teddy bear in between the security door bars. She said when she lived in Detroit in the 1980s, she and a best friend would go to his concerts. “My beautician called me and I could not, would not believe it. Then the calls kept coming and I was like, ‘Oh my God,'” she said. Gary Mayor Rudy Clay stood under the Jackson Street sign, where just last year Jackson’s father Joseph Jackson visited Gary and they unveiled another sign — Jackson Family Blvd. “Our hearts are heavy. We have truly lost the world’s greatest entertainer. Gary has truly lost a legend,” Clay said. Clay, who met with Marlon and Tito Jackson here May 22, added that he fondly remembered Michael’s visit to Gary June 11, 2003. “He was a beautiful, warm and friendly person a class act. When he came to Roosevelt High School in 2003, the city went wild and the kids went wild. This is just a sad, sad day.” Elenora Johnson grew up on 23rd and Monroe Street and remembers going to school
Talk of growing up once again led Jermaine to reflect on his childhood and the two bedroom house he shared with his 8 siblings, mother Katherine and strict disciplinarian, father Joe. “Well it was tough,” recalls Jermaine. “sometimes we’d go weeks on end just living on boiled potatoes or vegetables – but we never went hungry – that’s the thing about black families, you always know how to survive – its inherent. That’s why when I was in the Big Brother house things like washing my own clothes and living off a shopping budget were second nature. I think Marvin Gaye might have lost it in the first week! But seriously, it doesn’t matter how famous or rich you become you don’t lose those values. “I definitely think there’s a price to pay for fame. The problem we had in our neighbourhood was more to do with us not being able to play with our school friends because we were forever rehearsing for one show or another. I think that sacrifice affected Marlon and Michael more than Tito, Jackie and
The Jackson family home still stands at 2300 Jackson St. in Gary … CBS2 Chicago – Mike Parker, Suzanne Le Mignot – 21 hours ago In 1989 The Jacksons released an album and song titled “2300 Jackson Street,” paying tribute to their childhood home at 23rd and Jackson streets in Gary Sources: http://cbs2chicago.com/local/michael.jackson.gary.2.1059882.
