What happened to Gary, Indiana ?

Being a huge Michael Jackson fan, I thought it only right that I pay tribute to my icon while traveling through Indiana.
My friend, Stuart, told me Gary, Indiana was not worth the stop, but I had to see MJ's hometown for myself.
I expected to see a town reminiscent of Harlem, with jazz clubs advertising local bands on their marquees.
To my dismay,Gary is a ghost town. Buildings are boarded up, businesses have left town long ago, and there isn't a soul walking on the street.
I felt I had entered the scene of a scary movie, and expected to see zombies walking down the alleys.
Trying to lighten the ominous feeling in the car, I pointed out a beautiful ivy covered brick building, to which my daughter replied, 'The windows are all shot out'.
I stopped a man getting in his car with his son and asked where we could get something to eat.
He told me I should drive on to the next town.
My daughter wanted to leave immediately so I made a u-turn and headed back to route 80.
A huge poster board sign with an arrow and 'Michael Jackson's Childhood Home' caught my eye and I made a quick turn.
First of all, imagine the worst street in Newark, and there is where you will find Michael Jackson's home.
It is tiny, and the current owner has erected a huge stone memorial in the front yard, you'd think MJ was buried there. He has Jackson 5 music blaring from the driveway, and the neighbor across the street has also capitalized on living here. She sells t-shirts, dvd's and all kinds of Jackson 5 souvenirs. I was impressed.
Can you imagine Brad Pitt's neighbor in LA selling Angelina Jolie t-shirts on the street corner?
But getting back to the house, how the hell did they all fit in this little home?
There were 9 or 10 of them. This home is the size of a shed- and with all their instruments-impossible.
In all, it was a sad day, to see a town that is the birthplace of such amazing talent to become a boarded up, shell of an existence. The towns people could have capitalized on their famous hometown boy and replicate a Graceland-type tourist spot to revitalize their dying town, but instead they let it just fall by the wayside.....