The Las Vegas Thriller Villa Tour

"You have to know someone."

"It's not open to the public, you have to be invited."

"They send a car, they won't let you drive there."

Tips from concierges and those 'in the know' in Las Vegas, regarding the fantastical museum collection of the Country's greatest showman, at the last residence of Michael Jackson, sound as if they describe a private club, or speakeasy. And they are accurate.

That wasn't intentional. It's just the nature of the beast. The Liberace Museum Collection is so vast and diverse, never has it all been held at less than three addresses. But occupying Thriller Villa allows a greater diversity of the Collection's artifacts to be stored under one roof, than ever before. That's because the property was built for it.

Thriller Villa is the nickname given a massive custom Las Vegas hacienda built by an eccentric movie theater developer, who himself collected vast amounts of art and artifacts. Constructed to reflect his passion for acoustics in theater, as well as his need to store and privately exhibit art and artifacts, the home is ideal for housing the Liberace Museum Collection, where it became the highest rated tour experience and museum experience on TripAdvisor. A few years before Liberace's collection came to the Villa, it housed the collections of his old friend, Michael Jackson.

Constructed as "Hacienda Palomino" using a legal loophole which allowed the original owner to avoid filing plans, the 28,000 square foot mansion was a mystery from the start. Neighbors were both amused and horrified by the assemblage of interconnected structures forming the main house. They watched in wonder as one key portion with a tower three stories high was built three times. There were rumors of underground tunnels, doors to nowhere and critical doors which were false, listening rooms, spy windows, hidden stairwells, outdoor experiences inside, and more.

It was all true.

Jackson did not entertain friends and family at the property. Here, he was reclusive with his children, heavily guarded and out of the public eye, despite his high-profile forays into the public at the time. The parts of the property he occupied, and the things he left behind are as telling as the book written by his bodyguards about that era, "Remember The Time: Guarding Michael Jackson in his Final Days" (Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard, Weinstein Books 2014).

Liberace's massive collection, curated by the artist himself over his lifetime, came to the Villa in 2015 when his foundation began to run the property, thanks to its generous owner. The Foundation soon saw the collection grow with donations of additional artifacts. Then came the curators from all over the world.

In 2017 the Liberace jewels, seen as the harbingers of hip-hop jewelry, were the first Las Vegas artifacts ever exhibited at the Paris Museum of Modern Art.

Liberace's famed crystal piano, from his 1985 Radio City Music Hall residency, was borrowed by Cardi B, for her 2019 Grammys performance of her new single, "Money." Her pianist, composer Chloe Flower wrote the arrangement that night, playing three solos and stealing the show. Chloe went on to sponsor Liberace's matching crystal costume exhibit at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2019 Met Gala.

His image, fourteen feet high, was simultaneously displayed in the 5th avenue window of Bergdorf Goodman, celebrating Liberace's 100th anniversary. That same year Monte Carlo Fashion Week themed itself for Liberace's 100th, with designers theming accordingly, a sculpture of the entertainer gracing the main runway area, a special birthday part of friends and family at the Casino Monte Carlo. 2020 saw Adidas's licensing of Liberace's arrangement of Love Is Blue air on the mini-movie ad campaign launched by the sportswear brand during the Grammys, while Broadway great Billy Porter used another Liberace piano for the opening of the 2020 Oscars.

Why the attention? Why the reaching back to Liberace by present day artists? In 2018, The series Mozart In The Jungle licensed his name and likeness, borrowing from the Liberace Foundation a costume worn by Michael Douglas as Liberace, in the 2013 HBO film Behind The Candelabra.

Another costume from that film was worn by Michael Ian Black on The Jim Gaffigan Show. Liberace appears in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Ridley Scott's Bladerunner 2049.

His name is mentioned in the lyrics of Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nina Simone, Lady Gaga, Billy Joel, Tim McGraw, Kid Rock, Nicki Minaj and many, many more. He kept his collection in tact to explain why he knew that would happen. He saw it, and perhaps you will too.

In the end, people always come back to what is real, to the genesis. History will not be re-written. A legacy can't be faked. A legend never dies.