wa123

   I just got back from another trip to Graceland...sad, real sad. I made this trip in '88 and also in '97 for the 20th Ann., I went at this time of the year because I had business in Chattanooga and took my wife because she had never been to Graceland (we married in '99). It seems that EP Blvd. gets worse every time I go. In '88 I don't remember it being that bad and I guess in the crush of Elvis activity around the 20th I didn't notice it. Memphis overall wasn't too bad, Beale street for example was nice and was patroled very well - Elvis Presley's Memphis club was awesome and the Dempseys rocked! This is a must for anyone going to Memphis. But, EP Blvd. is crap - it made me sad to think of Elvis driving up and down on his motercycles, he would probably be shot today. To think of all of the fans that used to hang out at the gate and all of the excitement around that area when Elvis was alive, what a shame. Today it is right in the middle of shitsville and nobody around there gives a rat's ass about Elvis unless they are making money off of him.    Unfortunaltely I couldn't get a room at the Heartbreak Hotel, so we stayed at the Days Inn across the street. The rooms were terrible: A bathtub that wouldn't shut all the way off, toenail clippings on the nightstand, old mattressed thown up against the fence outside of our room, a continental breakfast that featured week old doughnuts and other assorted junk, and 24 hour Elvis movies that went off the air for 30-45 minutes after every movie (guess the person changing the tapes wasn't too concerned.) When we made the short walk to Graceland, we couldn't do it without bums making catcalls at my wife.   Don't get me wrong, WE LOVED GRACELAND, my wife got a real kick out of seeing everything. Too bad it isn't on the outskirts of town like when Elvis bought it. Memphis should take more pride in that street. I will go back, but probaly only during Tribute week when there is safety in numbers. Went to Tupelo again and it is just as nice as ever. There we had locals coming up to us in a diner to share Elvis memories, what a difference. This isn't to depress anyone going soon, but if you have never been just remember - this isn't 1957. TCB-Jeremy

    I just got back from another trip to Graceland...sad, real sad. I made this trip in '88 and also in '97 for the 20th Ann., I went at this time of the year because I had business in Chattanooga and took my wife because she had never been to Graceland (we married in '99). It seems that EP Blvd. gets worse every time I go. In '88 I don't remember it being that bad and I guess in the crush of Elvis activity around the 20th I didn't notice it. Jeremy, serves you right. You were going to call me when in town and didn't. I could have gotten you better accommodations; made your wife's experience more positively memorable. You are seeing why I and most whites have abandoned the Whitehaven area where Graceland sits.  When I moved down there, one month before Elvis did, I could hunt rabbits at the end of my block. Even 9 years later when I built my big dream home down there (without Tom Sanocki's $$$s), I saw foxes and rabbits on my property, which was 1 minute from Graceland. Graves School was the county's #1 elementary school by far in every sense of the word. The 1980 Census, Whitehaven was 90% white.  There was a sense of community, of family down there.  Everyone pulled together to make all the neighborhood schools better; to keep the area clean.  I had dreamed of living down there since 1944 and for 28 years I did. But between the 1980 and 1990 Censuses, Whitehaven went from 90% white to 90% black.  The drug dealers moved. in. EP Blvd. became a shooting gallery with the drive-by shootings.  Hell, a drug dealer even bought my house and it took the law 9 years to gather enough evidence on him to arrest him! Property values plummeted. The schools are a disgrace.  What once was, year in, year out, the nation's cleanest city, is now fast becoming a garbage dump in certain areas. And the feeling of the natives driving up and down EP Blvd. are exactly as your wife experienced.  The bawdy remarks to her are probably shouted at women, in particular; and tourists, in general, 1000 times a day.  The natives aren't content to just drive by Graceland and keep their big lips shut.  They HAVE to say something. I fear for the future.  You can't move Graceland.  And with G's operations on both sides of the Blvd., what can you do to protect your visitors from this kind of verbal (and sometimes physical) abuse? Also sorry to read your report on the Days Inn-Graceland.  This is the one on the corner across from Graceland, isn't it?  NOT the rat trap one down on Brooks Road that once was the Elvis fans' #1 hangout every August. If it's the DI-Graceland, I'm doubly sorry because that one is owned by an Indian family we know and they have, in past years, truly kept up the property; whereby, all their other properties are kept exactly as you described. This is another evolution in the general Graceland area.  The Indians

property; whereby, all their other properties are kept exactly as you described. Absolutely! I have stayed there twice a year since they opened.Always pleased. Friends that have stayed at HH have similar complaints, as do others about other hotels,sometimes ,somewhere  once in a while..But please don't judge , you other folk, till you see it yourself. A lot of verbal damage can be done to Graceland with these kind of posts. I believe the individuals of course,but it's really not the majority. Mary

I visited Graceland last April but I have to say I didn't notice any remarks when me and my grlfriend were there. We visited Whitehaven Highschool, the Whitehaven mall , Humes Jr. High (and I can't say this school is in a very good neighborhood), Graceland ofcourse and we walked the area at the back of Graceland (Dolan Drive, Old Hickory Rd., Hermitage Road etc.). We didn't see too many people but the ones we encountered were very frriendly. And we are white! We stayed at Heartbreak Hotel and we really enjoyed our stay: very friendly people, service OK and nice, clean rooms. The only minor was the mediocre breakfast. We had diner at some restaurants near Graceland and again very friendly people (esp. at KFC!). Maybe because my girlfriend is very attractive and made people speachless as we walked by, but no one bothered us. This is our experience and just to show not everyone has bad experiences visiting Memphis.

This is exactly why I always advise friends who visit to stay in East Memphis.The hotels are wonderful and the neighborhoods are pretty safe. It's well worth the 20 minute drive to Graceland to have a clean, well appointed place to stay. Before moving here our favorites were Embassy Suites,Homewood Suites and LaQuinta. It really is a shame that Graceland has to sit in the middle of that crime infested area.............it's hard for me to imagine the foxes and rabbits. Dawn