"To the rear of the valley was the zoo with its unhappy elephant, its shuffling giraffe, its furious chimp and thrashing orangutan and spitting llamas. The artificial lake was dotted with spouting fountains. The Neverland fire station housed a big red engine. Lining all the roads were winsome statues—flute players, rows of graceful grinning kiddies, clusters of them, some holding hands, some with banjos, some with fishing rods, the bronze sculptures of carefree children gamboling among the shrubbery. In front of Michael's house was a statue of Mercury, rising 30 feet, winged helmet and caduceus and all, balanced on one tiptoe, at sunset a syrupy glow lingering on his big bronze buttocks, making them look like a buttered muffin."

-Paul Theroux on Michael Jackson's Neverland in the November 2009 issue of Architectural Digest