Graceland, Memphis Tennessee February 28-March 1

Oh Elvis, what have we done? Graceland itself may have a modicum of grace, but there is little grace surrounding it. Graceland is in the south suburbs of Memphis and when Elvis bought the mansion in 1962 it must have been horse estate country. The main house is set back from the road, (Elvis Presley Blvd) and is a genteel southern style home with stone façade, white columns on about 5 acres of land surrounded by a brick wall. In addition to the main house, there are a number of out buildings, which housed his business office, a racket ball court, and horse barn. Most of these buildings now contain exhibits of his hundreds of gold records, music awards, and exhibits of his military service, movies, costumes, and history of his career. At the end of his tour is his grave and that of his parents. (Right next to the swimming pool)

Elvis' Living Room

The interiors of the house are a collection of 1970’s chic. The living room was large and had like a seventeen foot long couch among the other furnishings and an impressive stained glass room devider. It looked nice, but not opulent. The dining room was very formal, huge crystal chandelier fancy table etc. The kitchen while spacious, looked pretty normal, no fancy appliances, Formica counter tops, wooden cabinets. The family room (Jungle Room) had a flagstone wall that was an indoor waterfall, African looking wood furniture, Polynesian wood furniture and looked like a room to have fun in.

In the basement, there was a TV room with 3 TVs side by side as Elvis had heard that LBJ watched three TVs at a time. There was a billiards room with pleated fabric walls and ceiling which was very dark. It also had a quadraphonic stereo system. Elvis and his friends would jam there when not playing pool.

Pool Room with cloth walls

Overall the house is not opulent, it was a place to be lived in, to have fun and to party. It was just one of 3 houses Elvis lived in, he had a place in Hollywood and in Palm Springs as well.

Today Graceland is a tourist attraction. Memphis has pushed its boundaries out way beyond Graceland, and it is now surrounded by used car lots, second tier strip malls, paycheck lending places, and fast food joints. Elvis Presley Blvd is a 4 lane, 45 mph, busy street. The Graceland ticket office, museums, hotel and parking lot are all directly across the street from Graceland. Included are the Elvis car collection, his two airplanes(the Lisa Marie is a converted four jet engine airliner) a movie museum, a kids store, restaurants, the Heartbreak Hotel and RV park, an Elvis fashion museum, and a museum covering his 1968 “comeback”. It is all covered by a PA system that plays all Elvis all the time. At each venue, there was the requisite gift shop.

There are many businesses in the area not part of the Elvis empire that sell their wares in his name. We went to a barbeque restaurant where they picked us up at the RV park in a pink limousine, sat us in the Elvis room, and played Elvis songs all night. We found out later that there is a radio station that plays all Elvis all the time without ads. You would think it would drive people crazy who work there, but apparently not. Elvis has been dead 33 years now, but his legend lives on here in Graceland never to be forgotten.