Graceland: The home of Elvis

Where The King never quite left the building

Graceland
3765 Elvis Presley Blvd., Memphis, TN.
tel. 800-238-2000
www.elvis.com/graceland
Closed Tuesdays Nov-Feb
Required tours: $25

The King is rock n roll royalty, and Graceland is America's Versailles, the nation's second most visited home after the White House.

It's a holy pilgrimage site for fans, cultural curiosity of Americana kitsch for the unenlightened.

The 90-minute tour of the perfectly preserved mansion covers the famous jungle room, TV-lined den, the bedroom Presley kept for his mamma, and a vintage kitchen where the King scarfed peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

Outbuildings house the memorabilia—guitars, clippings, rhinestone-slathered jumpsuits, video snippets, and a wall of gold records.

Additional tickets get you in to see Presley's cars, jet planes, and the "Sincerely Elvis" collection of personal items.

Tours end on a somber note, paying respects at the grave of Elvis Aaron Presley—though for some, the King never died.

In July 2002, Elvis even managed to score a new no. 1 hit with the dance remix of "A Little Less Conversation." Long live the King!

Getting there

Elvis Week
Area hotels are booked solid during the week leading up to the Aug 16 anniversary of Presley's death.

Taxis (901-577-7700) from the Memphis airport (www.mscaa.com) to Graceland cost $14; from the airport downtown about $30 (there's also a $15 airport shuttle to nine downtown hotels).

Also, a free bus runs from the blues clubs of Beale Street downtown, past Sun Studios (where Elvis crooned alongside Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis), to Graceland.