Tens of thousands of Michael Jackson fans are expected to converge on a public memorial event in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

There will be 11,000 free tickets available for the event at the Staples Centre in central Los Angeles. The family is expected to have a private memorial service beforehand at a cemetery in the Hollywood Hills.

The centre, a sports and entertainment complex, has a 20,000-seat arena, home to the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team. Tickets will be allocated to applicants on the Staples Centre website, who will be picked at random in an internet draw.

Huge television screens will be erected in the car parks to allow those who cannot get inside to watch proceedings.

Jackson's brother Jermaine told CNN that a private ceremony "for family and some special guests" would precede the public memorial.

The centre is owned by AEG, promoters of the London series of concerts that Jackson had been preparing for at the time of his death.

As well as the free tickets, the Staples Centre said tonight that an additional 6,500 tickets would be distributed for fans watching a live feed at the neighboring Nokia theatre. Ticketless fans were asked to stay at home and watch a feed of the concert, being streamed free of charge to all news networks, on television.

The Staples Centre is the site of the singer's last rehearsals. AEG released a video clip of Jackson rehearsing at the centre two days before he suffered cardiac arrest and died. The clips showed Jackson looking thin but performing more like his old superstar self.

Meanwhile Jackson's rented mansion where he collapsed is to be turned into a memorial site. Christian Audigier, the French fashion mogul, announced he would buy the building and dedicate it to the memory of the pop icon.

The vast house in the Holmby Hills neighbourhood currently belongs to Mr Audigier's associate and the boss of his fashion company Hubert Guez.

Mr Audigier's press spokesman said the property had been rented by Jackson for several months and the lease would run out in six months' time, after which Mr Audigier would buy it "with the aim of keeping intact the precious moments he shared with Michael Jackson."

Laurent Guyot, a spokesman, said: "Christian Audigier, a friend of Michael Jackson, will buy this property to make it a place dedicated to the memory of the star to which the public and fans will have access."

Jackson, who rented the mansion for $100,000 a month, used Mr Audigier to design clothing and collectors' items that were to be sold at his concerts.

The 50-year-old singer died from an apparent cardiac arrest on June 25.

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