In the footsteps of Elvis Presley: The seven locations every fan of the King should visit
Elvis Presley: the king of rock 'n' roll
Hard to believe, but Elvis Presley – the King of Rock’n’Roll – would have been 90 years old next week. Perhaps his famous hip movements would have been less swivelly by now, but it’s almost certain that his smile would have been just as dangerous.
This year, it’s also the 100th anniversary of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, the show on which Elvis first appeared in October 1954.
His manager at the time, Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records, was told by Opry manager Jim Denny that Elvis was ‘not bad’ but not quite right for the programme...
Some accounts would also have us believe that the young performer was told to ‘stick to being a truck driver,’ or words to that effect.
Last year, an estimated 10,000 visitors flocked to Graceland for the anniversary of Elvis’ 1977 death, despite the fact that temperatures were grazing 44 degrees.
But why not skip the crowds, the heat (and the torrential rain that often accompanies the latter) and get some pilgrim-style winter sun instead?
Nor do you need to limit yourself to Graceland – there are many locations around the US (and beyond) with a connection to The King that your respect-paying travels could take to you.
Let’s start with the obvious one. Elvis bought this (relatively modest, by today’s celebrity standards) mansion in 1957, for US$102,500 (about US$1,151,443 in modern currency) and it remained his home until his death 20 years later.
The 90th birthday celebrations will be held here this January, with live music and talks, but the house is open to visitors every day of the year (other than Christmas and Thanksgiving).
Tours grant access to the Jungle Room, as well as the kitchen, pool room and kitchen.
There is also accommodation on-site, as well as a brand-new ‘Presley For a Day’ offering, which lasts for seven hours and offers insider experiences, photo opportunities and ‘white glove’ artefact handling.
About a 15-minute drive from Graceland, Sun Studio is widely hailed as ‘The Birthplace of Rock’n’Roll’ and the place where, in 1953, Elvis recorded his first record, paying $3.98 for the privilege.
Side A was called My Happiness; Side B, That’s When Your Heartache Begins.
On a tour of the legendary studio (Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis also had their beginnings here), you can stand in the exact spot where Elvis stood to make his first record.
Visitors can also listen to outtakes from artists who recorded in the studio and, depending on budget and vocal chords, you can stay after hours and leave with your own Sun Studio track.
Afterwards, head to Beale Street, a mile away: it’s lined with blues bars and restaurants, and a key historical location in the evolution of Memphis music.
- sunstudio.com
- American Airlines flies from Dublin to Memphis via Philadelphia from €444 return in January, aa.com
On October 16, 1954 – just a few weeks after his lukewarm reception on The Grand Ole Opry – a young Elvis walked onto the stage at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium and, dressed in a pink suit, sang That’s Alright Mama.
The Auditorium was home to the Louisiana Hayride, a live show broadcast over the radio, which launched the careers of many, including Hank Williams.
The audience was generally young and vocal, with dangling microphones cunningly placed to catch their enthusiasm and give the folks listening at home an extra shot of FOMO.
Within a few weeks of this first appearance, Elvis was contracted to appear on the Hayride every Saturday night. He was paid $18 per show (take a look at the price list above the kiosk – today, a bottle of water is $8) and tickets were 60c.
It’s astonishing to think that you might once have seen Presley perform for such small change.
This is also the venue where the words “Elvis has left the building,” were first uttered.
In the second year of his contract with the Hayride, Elvis’ increasingly busy schedule meant that he was no longer able to travel to Louisiana every Saturday, so Colonel Tom Parker bought the singer out for $10,000 and the promise of a performance at a special charity show on December 15, 1956.
The phrase was used after Elvis’ last song to encourage show-goers to stay in the auditorium for the rest of the show.
Today, you can join a tour of the Auditorium to learn more about its fascinating history.
- shreveportmunicipalauditorium.com
- American Airlines flies from Dublin to Shreveport via Charlotte and Philadelphia from €444 return. aa.com
In 1935, Presley was born in a two-bedroom Tupelo shack into relative poverty, and grew up surrounded by a large extended family, few of whom would ever have suspected how his life would play out.
Early in his career, Elvis returned to his birth town to perform at the Tupelo Fairgrounds and, in 1957, he donated the proceeds to the city for the creation of a park.
Thanks to this, the house where Elvis was born (which has been carefully refurbished with pieces of the time) now sits within the Elvis Presley Birthplace Park, and the chapel that Elvis and his parents attended has been moved from its original location to become a feature of the park – a highlight, given that it was his early exposure to gospel music that significantly influenced his later output.
Guests today can experience what it was like to be a part of these 1940s sermons, via multimedia displays.
Dotted around the park, there are also several snap-worthy statues, which have been painstakingly rendered by artists from photos of a young Elvis.
- elvispresleybirthplace.com
- American Airlines flies from Dublin to Memphis via Philadelphia from €444 return in January; from Memphis, it’s a 90-minute drive to Tupelo. aa.com
Much to the dismay of fans all over the world, Elvis Presley never performed outside of the USA… the furthest he got, in this sense, was Hawaii, its outlying island state.
Nevertheless, he was prolific amongst the palms, first arriving in 1957 to perform at Honolulu Stadium and, a day later, at the Schofield Army Barracks. Later, he filmed three movies on these paradisal shores: Blue Hawaii (1961), Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962) and Paradise Hawaiian Style (1966). Elvis also vacationed in Hawaii with his wife, Priscilla and daughter, Lisa-Marie.
Most prominent, however, was 1973’s Aloha from Hawaii. As the first solo entertainment special to be broadcast live around the world (and watched by more than 1 billion people), it was – not least because of the iconic jumpsuits he wore – soon to be regarded as one of the most significant performances in modern history.
The venue from which this concert was filmed is now called the Neal S. Blaisdell Center, but there are many other sites from which you can get up close and personal with the King. Book your accommodation at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Waikiki Beach, which was his favoured accommodation, oh, and be sure to visit a pineapple plantation, as Presley’s character, Chad Gates, does in Blue Hawaii.
- gohawaii.com
- Aer Lingus/American fly from Dublin to Kau via Boston and Phoenix from €1798 in January; aerlingus.com/aa.com
Vegas was a recurring theme in the life of Elvis.
It’s here that, in 1956, he sang Heartbreak Hotel, as his manager attempted to move him away from the Southern circuit and make him a national celebrity.
It’s here that, in 1967, he married Priscilla Beaulieu. And it’s here that he made 1964’s Viva Las Vegas, which triggered rumours about his closeness with co-star, Ann-Margret, and is widely considered to be one of his best films.
But it’s the star’s final residency in Vegas for which the city best remembers him: he performed 636 packed-out shows between July 1969 and December 1976. It was a hectic schedule, with Elvis appearing in four-week blocks and performing two shows per night, seven days a week.
The hotel at which his residency took place. and where the singer stayed, was The International, which was later renamed the Las Vegas Hilton. Today, it’s the Westgate, so bag a room there to feel closest to Presley, whose bronze likeness can be seen in the lobby.
When Elvis started his military service in March 1958, his star was already well on the rise, so certain allowances were made for him.
Rather than being stationed at the barracks with the rest of his cohort, he was allowed to stay in a hotel in the nearby town of Bad Nauheim, along with members of his entourage.
Bad Nauheim retains many traces of its association with the singer, not least the Elvis Festival that takes place every August.
Watch out, too, for the traffic lights dotted around the town, which show red and green Elvis-figures.
You can also stand in the exact spot where he shot the cover for A Big Hunk O’Love and see the home at Goethestrasse 14, to which he eventually moved and where he was, fatefully, to meet his future wife, Priscilla.
The hotel in which first lived, Hotel Villa Grunewald, reopened in 2017, but Room 10 – The Elvis Room – has been left as it was during his four-month stay.
Check in, and you can sleep in The King’s actual bed (the mattress is new, but the bedframe remains the same) any time of year, other than around the time of the anniversary of his death, during which it’s open for tours.
- bad-nauheim.de/en
- KLM flies from Dublin to Frankfurt four times a day from €91 one-way; from here it’s around a 1 hour train journey to Bad Nauheim; klm.ie
