Michael Jackson was in a far different place when the gates of Neverland Ranch first swung open in 1988: "Bad" had spent a record-breaking year riding the top of the charts, Captain Eo was still thrilling children who marveled at how their space-voyaging pop hero was practically reaching out to grab them, and the term "Jesus Juice" was decades away from entering the popular lexicon as a catchall term for any number of boy-plying intoxicants. Of course, all that was millions of dollars and surgeries ago, and now the fate of Jackson's prepubescent pleasuredome hangs in the balance. Despite what you're hearing, however, the Ebony cover subject won't allow a foreclosure to deprive him of his abandoned estate, even if that means sinking further into debt:

"Mr. Jackson is in the final stages of refinance and will not lose Neverland Valley Ranch," [Jackson spokeswoman Raymone K.] Bain said.

A notice from a San Francisco title default company suggested that Jackson's ownership of the ranch could be at risk.

Posted on the Web site of KSBY-TV, the notice from Alliance Default Services said that as of Oct. 12 Jackson, owed $23,212,963 on a $23 million loan.

Why Jackson so desperately wants to hold on to the property isn't entirely clear: There are, after all, Limerickland adventure parks and laser-blasting Las Vegas casinobots to erect, and salvaging a relic of his past seems oddly backwards-looking for a man so committed to reinvention. What it probably boils down to is that there are simply too many fond memories lurking along the halls and behind the sliding comic-book library walls of Neverland to say a final goodbye to his personal Touch Mahal.

• Jackson's Rep Says Neverland Ranch Safe [AP]