LOS ANGELES — Fans and paparazzi converged on Michael Jackson's family homes and UCLA Medical Center yesterday, blocking streets and blasting the singer's music as they waited for news or a glimpse of the star's famous family.

In Hollywood, about 75 fans gathered at what they believed was Jackson's star on the Walk of Fame, only to discover it belonged to the Los Angeles radio personality of the same name. Jackson's star turned out to be covered by scaffolding for the premiere of Sasha Baron Cohen's "Bruno." So his fans stayed put, covering the surrogate star with flowers and candles and singing Jackson's "We Are The World."

At the Jackson family residence in the San Fernando Valley, neighbor Helene Arthur had to dodge reporters and fans as she returned to her home. Arthur was unaware of Jackson's death but accustomed to sightseers — she has lived next door to the family since 1965, she said, and her children often invite tourists inside to get a better view.

At news of Jackson's death, Arthur burst into tears.

"He used to play over here," she said.

With police guarding the Jackson home, fans and celebrity visitors gathered, including rapper Flavor Flav, sporting his trademark clock necklace.

"Music has lost a king, music has lost an icon, music has lost a friend," Flavor Flav said.

Florence LaRue, one of the lead singers of the Fifth Dimension, stopped by to place pink azaleas among other flowers in front of the house. The Grammy-winning singer appeared dressed all in black, her face wet with tears.

LaRue said she had been awaiting Jackson's European tour and comeback.

"That's why it came as such a shock," she said of Jackson's death. "We're in such a doom and gloom time. The world needed to be lifted up. He could do it."

'I HAD TO COME HERE'

In Gary, Ind., fans formed a prayer circle on the front yard of Jackson's modest childhood home and hundreds more crowded the street after word spread that the Gary native had died.

Stuffed teddy bears and roses were left on the porch of the small white frame house where Jackson grew up, which now sits empty, as neighbors gathered to light candles and pen notes of condolence.

"I had to come here because I literally was going to break down if I sat in my house," said Wyatt Puryear, a truck driver from Gary who said he named his son Michael after Jackson, who died yesterday in Los Angeles at age 50.

"I grew up on Michael Jackson," said Puryear, 38. "Ever since I was a kid, I was dancing and singing like him."

Jackson was born the seventh of nine children in Gary on Aug. 19, 1958. He was 11 years old when the family moved out of the city after the Jackson 5 recorded their first album in 1969.

Gordon Keith signed the Jackson 5 to his Gary-based Steeltown Records in 1967. Decades later, he sued Jackson family members over the rights to their early recordings with Steeltown.

Keith, who still lives in Gary, produced the Jacksons' first record, a 45 with side one "Big Boy" and flip side "You've Changed" released in 1967. Michael Jackson was 7 1/2 or 8 at the time.

"He was super when I first met him and heard him," Keith said. "I definitely knew that about him."

The Jackson 5 played two concerts at West Side High School in 1971, but Michael Jackson did not return to Gary until June 2003. It was his last trip to his hometown.

DUSK VIGIL AT UCLA

At the gates of Neverland, Jackson's former estate in the Santa Ynez Valley, a handful of fans gathered in the late afternoon.

Meanwhile, at Jackson's most recent home, a rented French Chateau-style mansion in Holmby Hills, news helicopters hovered. Vans full of tourists stopped to snap photos of police guarding the gates.

"He's one of the biggest stars in the world," said Swedish tourist Angelina Winkvist, 28.

Earlier, a Starline Tours group had arrived to see Jackson taken to the hospital by paramedics.

Hundreds of fans flocked to UCLA Medical Center's emergency room entrance soon after reports of the star's death. A few saw sister LaToya Jackson, sporting oversized sunglasses and a cowboy hat, racing inside. She was joined soon after by her mother and the rest of Jackson's siblings.

Among the few hundred people singing, holding signs, even dancing at the dusk vigil outside the UCLA Medical Center was Zai Bryant of Inglewood.

"I came because no one around me felt my pain," said Bryant, a customer service representative. "I said, 'You know what — those people at UCLA, they feel my pain. I need to be among fans who know what I'm going through.' "