Graceland

Graceland is the name of the large white-columned estate that once belonged to Elvis Presley, located at 3734 Elvis Presley Boulevard in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. It currently serves as a museum that was opened to the public in 1982, and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1991.

On March 27, 2006, Gale Norton, United States Secretary of the Interior, designated Graceland a National Historic Landmark—joining the White House, the Alamo, Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Dealey Plaza, and Mount Vernon, among almost 2,500 sites in the United States and its territorial authority sharing this designation.

Presley and his family at Graceland

Presley moved into Graceland in early 1957 after he had moved out of a house located at 1034 Audubon in Memphis. He lived there for some time together with his father Vernon Presley and his mother Gladys. According to Mark Crispin Miller, Graceland became "the home of the organization that was himself, was tended by a large vage clan of Presleys and deputy Presleys, each squandering the vast gratuities which Elvis used to keep his whole world smiling." The author adds that Presley's father Vernon "had a swimming pool in his bedroom", that there "was a jukebox next to the swimming pool, containing Elvis's favorite records" and that the singer himself "would spend hours in his bedroom, watching his property on a closed-circuit television."Mark Crispin Miller, Boxed in: The Culture of TV (Northwestern University Press, 1988), p.192.

After Gladys's death, Vernon and his new wife, Dee Presley, lived together with the singer for a considerable period of time at Graceland. Presley even brought his young girlfriend Priscilla Beaulieu, a teen who had stayed for some time in Germany as the stepdaughter of a United States Air Force officer, back to the United States to live at Graceland, "ostensibly under the chaperoning protection of his father Vernon and his new wife Dee."See Tracy McVeigh, "Love me tender", The Observer, August 11, 2002. "Soon after Dee Presley became part of the family, Elvis showed her a picture of Priscilla, commenting that Priscilla was special to him." Robert Segal, Hero Myths: A Reader (Blackwell Publishing, 2000), p.213. Elaine Dundy relates "that Vernon had settled down with Dee where Gladys had once reigned, while Dee herself - when Elvis was away - had taken over the role of mistress of Graceland so thoroughly as to rearrange the furniture and replace the very curtains that Gladys had approved of." This was too much for the singer who still loved his mother. One afternoon, "a van arrived ... and all Dee's household's goods, clothes, 'improvements,' and her own menagerie of pets, were loaded on ... while Vernon, Dee and her three children went by car to a nearby house on Hermitage until they finally settled into a house on Dolan Drive which ran alongside Elvis's estate."Elaine Dundy, Elvis and Gladys (2004), p.329-330.

On August 16, 1977, Elvis died on the toilet of his bathroom at Graceland as a result of an overdose of mixed drugs and complications of severe heart disease. The suggestion that he died has been questioned by some people who think he went into hiding. He was buried at Graceland, and the estate has become a pilgrimage for Elvis fans across the world.

The moneymaking museum

After Elvis Presley's death in 1977, Priscilla Presley served as executor of his estate. Graceland itself cost $500,000 a year in upkeep, and expenses had dwindled Elvis and Priscilla's daughter Lisa Marie's inheritance to $5 million. Priscilla examined other famous house/museums, and hired a CEO to turn Graceland into a moneymaker. She became the chairwoman and president of Elvis Presley Enterprises. After Graceland opened to the public in 1982, the enterprise's fortunes soared and eventually the trust grew to be worth over $100 million.

An annual procession through the estate and past Elvis' grave is held on the anniversary of his death. The largest gathering assembled on the twenty fifth anniversary in 2002. One estimate was of 40,000 people in attendance, despite the heavy rain.

The Graceland grounds include a museum containing many Elvis artifacts, like some of his famous Vegas jumpsuits, awards, gold records, the Lisa Marie jetliner, and Elvis' extensive auto collection. Recently Sirius Satellite Radio installed an all-Elvis Presley channel on the grounds. The service's subscribers all over North America can hear Preseley's music from Graceland around the clock. Two new attractions have been added, Elvis Presley After Dark and Elvis 56; these can be found on the plaza.

Tourist destination

In early August 2005, Lisa Marie Presley sold 85% of the business side of her father's estate. She kept the Graceland property itself, as well as the bulk of the possessions found therein, and she turned over the management of Graceland to CKX, Inc, an entertainment company that also owns 19 Entertainment, creator of the American Idol TV show.

In February 2006, CKX Chairman Bob Sillerman announced plans to turn Graceland into an international tourist destination on par with the Disney or Universal theme parks, sprucing up the area mansion and double the 600,000 annual visitors. Sillerman’s goal is to enhance the "total fan experience" at Graceland to compel visitors to spend more time and money. The company is working with Orlando, Florida-based Bob Weis Design Island Associates to improve the tourist area around Graceland, which is located in an economically-depressed area of Memphis, while keeping intact the historic home.

Sillerman, who has been speaking with investors and developers, said he will ask local governments to help improve some of the public spaces around Graceland. He wants to expand the visitor center and exhibit space to showcase thousands of pieces of Elvis memorabilia that have never been seen. A new hotel is a possibility, or an expansion to the nearby Heartbreak Hotel.

On June 30, 2006, when US President George W. Bush hosted Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for a tour of the mansion, it became the only residence on American soil other than an Embassy, the White House, or any of the other Presidential retreats to have hosted a joint-visit by a sitting US president and a head of a foreign government. (Koizumi, who is the longest-lasting Prime Minister in Japanese history, is an avid Elvis Presley fan and even shares Presley's January 8 birthday.)

Tours

Tours of the museums at Graceland are available, though no flash photography or video cameras are allowed inside. The tour of the Graceland mansion is an audio tour, and the upper floor is not open to visitors. The tour enters through the front door, and living areas and the kitchen are first on the tour. The tour continues through the basement, where Elvis' media room with its three televisions can be viewed. A bar and billiards room can also be found. The tour continues back upstairs, through the famous Jungle Room, then outside to Elvis' grave.

A separate building houses a car collection and not far away his two planes Lisa Marie (a Convair 880) and Hound Dog II (a Lockheed JetStar) are on display.

One of the most impressive displays is the trophy room off of the main house, displaying Elvis' huge collection of gold and platinum records and other awards, stage costumes, photographs and more.

Graceland is believed to be the second most visited private residence in the United States, behind the White House.

Notes

References

Engel, Matthew. "Still stuck on Elvis, fans exalt the King". The Guardian (London), August 17, 2002, p. 1.