Graceland Driveby

After our wonderful trip to Stax, the sun was on its way down. We had had a full day and were so proud of ourselves that we got it all in, with much time to spare. As we had mapped out our day back in the hotel, we both said, “Well. This is a lot to get in. Let’s see how it goes.” Our drive out to Whole Foods took us longer than expected, but we hit Overton Park at around 12:30. We hung out there for a while. Then Jen went into the Memphis Zoo for an hour (I am not a zoo person), and I mooned about on the Overton Park Shell stage. After that, we went and found Elvis’ high school, like two crazy stalkers (although I am sure the teachers there are used to it). We got there just as the kids were getting out, so we definitely felt crazy, pulling up in front of the school. At first afraid we would arouse suspicion, I then said, “They probably take one look at us and immediately know what we are there for.” I just HAD to see it, and it was extra cool to see it with kids pouring out of the doors.

Then we went off in search of the Lorraine Motel. We hung out there for an hour or so, and then drove off to find Stax. Our trip to Stax was extensive. By the time we emerged into the parking lot (with Stax artists blasting over the speakers), it was getting to be sunset-time.

Early the following morning, we would be waking up at the crack of doom and heading to Graceland for the gospel concert, which started at 8 a.m. I didn’t want to get lost early in the morning, and also I just wanted to see Graceland, so after we emerged from Stax, we took up Jen’s last hand-written set of directions and headed out to find Elvis’ house. It’s a bit of a ways from town. South on 51. Which is now Elvis Presley Boulevard. But we had to get on a freeway for a bit to get there. I called it our “dry run” for the following morning.

We got off at our exit and found ourselves on Elvis Presley Boulevard, which, frankly, is a shithole. Used car lots, rickety souvenir shops, empty lots, and really nothing else. You get the sense of how far away it is from the urban area. There is nothing out there. It’s all just preparation for what is coming. You can feel Graceland approaching. The motels start popping up, and they all had marquees outside which said “Welcome Elvis fans” or “Happy Birthday Elvis”, everything started having to do with Elvis. You see a used-car lot and there would be a billboard of Elvis outside. I know regular people also live in the area, but there is literally no reason to go to that area of town as a tourist except for Graceland. It’s not set up for pedestrians. There are sidewalks, so you could walk down the street, but Elvis Presley Boulevard is a big road, two lanes on each side, and it’s pretty bleak territory. It’s not a walking area of town. It’s not a city at all. It looks like any stretch of boring road in any suburban area, except with less areas to stop. Gas stations and car lots. There’s barely anywhere to eat. Everything is just pouring you down the road towards Graceland. When I saw the marquee for the Heartbreak Hotel coming up on the right, I knew Graceland was imminent on the left. The fields started appearing on the left-hand side, with brown wintry grass, and trees – “That’s all part of Graceland” – there was a big sign that said GRACELAND PARKING RIGHT LANE. I was peering out of my left window like a maniac.

Graceland is a place that would be instantly recognizable to me, because I have seen so many photos. It’s like the Eiffel Tower or the Tower of London. You have seen these images so many times that they are KNOWN, even if you have never been there. I felt that way on the extraordinary moment in my life when I got my first glimpse of the Grand Canyon. There it was. The vastest most awe-inspiring thing I had ever seen, my mind couldn’t even comprehend it – and yet somewhere, in my consciousness, it was a place that was already-known to me. It existed already in my imagination, through all the photos I have seen. So one of my first thoughts upon seeing the Canyon was, “Well, yes, of course. There it is. I know it. Yes, that’s what I have already seen.”

The photos I have seen of Graceland are just of the house and the surrounding areas. It is difficult to get the context of the neighborhood, and what that front lawn is like. I have seen home movies of that front lawn, with Vernon and Gladys driving up the circular drive in her pink Cadillac, and pictures of Graceland at Christmas, when Elvis always went apeshit with the lights and the decorations on the front lawn. A gift to people passing by. (It was pretty cool to go to Graceland so soon after Christmas to see all of those decorations – which were his personal ornaments. He loved Christmas and went all out with decorations.) But still: the footage I have seen of Graceland has been isolated, and I had the impression (false) that Graceland was far back from the main road. There were the musical-notes gates onto the street, but I assumed that the drive wound back into the acreage Elvis had, and that the house was set far back. I kept looking out the window as I drove (it was getting dark, the last rays of the sun in the sky), looking mainly for the famous gates, because that was what I assumed would be visible.

But then there it was. The gates, yes, but the sloping front lawn, with Graceland clearly visible, perched on the top of that small slope. A beautiful home, not at all set back from the street. Yes, there was a drive up to the house, but the house wasn’t hidden at all. There it was, and the sunset light gleamed in its windows. “Oh my God – that’s it – that’s it – ” My eyes drank it in. We turned around and then drove back the other way to get a closer look. It was getting dark, the lawn wreathed in shadows. The life-size nativity scene was on the lawn. Elvis had rented it for years, he loved it so much, and after he passed away, his father bought it so it is now Graceland property. There was the big sign hanging between two trees, that I have seen in other photographs from the 60s when Elvis lived there: MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ELVIS.

I couldn’t get over how close to the road it was and I am not sure why I thought it would be so much further back. It’s high up, too, so it’s on display. The wall surrounding the property is stone, and easily scale-able. I could climb over it by myself.

We didn’t stop. We did a driveby and then headed home.

I was a bit overwhelmed from my first glance at this place I have gotten to know so well, through home movies, descriptions of it, and Elvis’ own well-known love of his home. He bought it in 1957. He bought it for his mother, mainly. He had it as his home-base for 20 years. He died there.

I wasn’t expecting it to be bigger than it was. I knew it was a fine house, but not a palatial mansion or anything like that. The house looked exactly as I pictured it. But it was its visibility that really struck me.

I know Elvis used to go down the drive to the gates at dinner time and sign autographs for the gathered fans, when he was home. There are no trees shielding the house from view. There are trees on the lawn but they are scattered and don’t provide cover. It’s an interesting thing. It’s clearly a private home, and there were heavy drapes on all the windows. No wonder. You could clearly see inside the home if you were standing out on the sidewalk. If you walked out the front door, you would be seen. If you took a high dive off the diving board, you would be seen from the street.

A fascinating and yet not surprising blend of private comfortable hominess and complete stark visibility that seems to me to be perfectly Elvis.

Elvis signing autographs through the gates at Graceland