Background

First time in Memphis (other than a one night stop during cross country trip way back in 1992), coming from Southern California, and prior to this living in the NYC suburbs.  Looking to get a strong sense of the city, its culture, its vibe, while visiting the main attractions as well as hitting some local hot spots.  We are also mini-“foodies” and enjoy the nightlife scene to some extent.  Thus we are also looking to partake in the native foods, famous restaurants and bars, and local food and beverage hangouts.  While we are certainly conscious of how we spend money, we are fortunately not on a tight budget, and can splurge, if warranted.  It should be noted that this trip was planned only a month in advance as a way to visit our niece who is temporarily living in Starkville, Mississippi, a 3 hour drive away.  Nevertheless, we, in general, are very conscious of not wasting time when on vacation, and even though this was an unplanned outing to some extent, we did our research using the standard guide books, internet sites, etc. and had a good idea of what we wanted to accomplish each day.

Overall Impressions and General Summary

The main drag, Beale street, is quite small and very neon traversing a mere three short blocks.  Spawning from this, the entire city center is quite walkable. Lots of “D” words can describe the Memphis environs – Dirty, Degraded, Deteriorated, Dilapidated.  That said, there were gems all around to Discover.  Though we came in basically ignorant on the blues, jazz, early Rock and Roll music scene, there was a sense of American music history in Memphis, (including the melding of early-mid 20th century African American music with the beginnings of jazz and Rock and Roll) that is palpable, and just plain super cool.  Though the Dinginess of the city was a negative surprise, there are not-to-be-missed attractions that can rate as some of the finest in the entire United States.  At the risk of sounding too “touristy”,  “bucket list” items – Graceland (Elvis Presley’s home), and The National Civil Rights Museum in the Lorraine Hotel (where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated) did not disappoint and even surpassed moderate to high expectations.  Our understanding is that these both went through giant upgrades over the past decade or so, and kudos to those who executed, as both are extremely well done and packed with items, information, etc.  Add to this the local BBQ joints and some other less monumental attractions and outings and our 3 day visit to Memphis was superb (and, of course, visiting our niece was amazing too).

First Night – Friday night

Arrived late, checked into hotel.  With its neon lights, Beale street beckoned and our hotel was conveniently located a block away (but what isn’t a block or two away in Memphis).  As a lead in, we’re Las Vegas veterans, traveling there several times a year, so a “strip” of bars and drinking is not alien to us at all, and can be quite a good time.  Miniature in scale, the grunginess of Beale was front and center.  Open containers outside are acceptable and this was absolutely fine with us, as so few cities allow this, New Orleans and Vegas being the only ones that come to mind.  While the street was pedestrian only and somewhat lively, the bars themselves were not crowded and we noticed this throughout the weekend.  Though going in late February, we were certainly in the off-season.  The bars were low down and dirty, but this is what it is supposed to be.  Red solo cups would have been a 3 step upgrade from some of the plasticware enveloping our drinks. We stopped in 2-3 places, heard the tail end of one band and got a “feel” – being our first night, we weren’t looking to put the hammer down, so we took it easy.  The plane flights and time changes played havoc with eating, and we hadn’t had dinner, though probably close to midnight, we grabbed some BBQ from a famous place on Beale, Blues City Cafe, and headed back to the hotel, thinking we had time to fully embrace the music and drinking scene another night.

Day 2, Saturday

The hotel came with breakfast – a big cost savings, we then grabbed my nieces car and headed out to Graceland, which (while not knowing the geographical makeup of Memphis, TN) seemed like a half suburban/half rural location.  Neither necessary nor enjoyable reading to detail this attraction step-by-step, we’ll leave it like this:  The tour of Elvis’s home was THE BOMB, and certainly the highlight of this attraction.  Frozen in time in the mid 1970’s, juiced up with a flair that only Elvis can do, it was truly something to be seen.  While Elvis’s mansion stole the show, this takes nothing away from the museum dedicated to him across the street. 

His planes and cars were a hoot, and the history, costumes and general memorabilia stored and arranged in the museum was exceptionally well done, and extremely thorough.  We spent basically all morning there, and easily could have done  another solid hour, if we were up for it, and knew the extent of what we were in for at the onset.  (Then again, after numerous large rooms of stuff, I was a bit Elvis’d out).

As a testament to the quality of this attraction, our niece who was born decades after his death and only really knew the famous name, became a fan and downloaded a few classics.  Heading back to Memphis proper, we stopped at the luncheonette, The Arcade, where Elvis would eat his infamous peanut butter and banana sandwich.  Though this  eating establishment was also stuck in the 70’s, we partook and it didn’t disappoint.

Back at the hotel for a quick refresh, we decided it was time to hit the Peabody hotel for the famous lobby walk of the Peabody ducks (or whatever its called).  Getting there almost an hour prior wasn’t early enough and we settled for a spot on the second tier.  The lobby and bar were of high caliber and we sipped a fancy cocktail and waited.  As the place filled up and kids swarmed, the actual duck parade took all of 30 seconds and was as much of an anti-climax as I have ever experienced.   Good news is that the lobby then cleared out, we got a nice seat at the bar, mingled with others, as is our wont to do, had some more cocktails and apps, and importantly spoke to the local waitresses and bartenders and received restaurant, BBQ and bar suggestions that were different or not even listed in the guide books – we then made resi’s on the fly at one of the recommended establishments.  After civilized drinking at the Peabody, 180 degrees different from the experience on Beale the night before, we headed out, unfortunately in the rain, to a bar and restaurant we had just heard about.  The restaurant, Flight, was just as it sounds, featuring flights of wine with dinner.  Super fun, great atmosphere and great food, it was an excellent cap on the day.  Walking passed Beale Street on the way back to the hotel, we had had enough food and drink and had no desire to stop there.

Day 3, Sunday

After breakfast headed out to the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine hotel.  The walk there, which was approximately a half mile south of the main city center only reinforced the “D” phenomena  alluded to earlier.  Add to that Desolate.  Though in all fairness, many US cities when you leave the heart of downtown Deteriorate noticeably.  Again, not going through our experience in any detail, this museum took on much more serious, intense, and at times gut wrenching subject matter then yesterday’s museum and did it superbly.  Ending the tour of the main museum in the hotel room and balcony where Dr. King was assassinated, it was powerful to say the least.  The added tour and history of his assailant at the boarding house across the street where you literally look out the window that James Earl Ray did when he shot Dr. King, was surreal.  Overall, we give this attraction a 10.

Let me pause here and talk about the infamous BBQ in Memphis.  We found out early on by talking to the Memphis citizenship that the “best BBQ” in the guidebooks/internet was viewed only so-so locally.  Once in Memphis, we received rave reviews of Central BBQ, and this was literally next door to the old Lorraine hotel.  The BBQ was authentic and superb and between our late night fare on Friday and lunch here, we feel like we did up Memphis BBQ just fine, given we were only in town for a long weekend.

After lunch we walked back to the hotel and wished our Niece goodbye as she had to drive back to Mississippi for work Monday morning.  There are a few museums dedicated to jazz/blues and the history of Rock and Roll and having the afternoon free, we picked the Memphis Rock N Soul museum, which was down the street from our hotel.  The audio tour was enlightening and informative, and though not a main attraction, we thoroughly enjoyed it.  In the 1950’s and 60’s Memphis was at the heart and leading edge of jazz, blues, the beginning of Rock and Roll, and the civil rights movement, and you can feel this history draped all over the city.  As happy hour approached, we headed to a recommended local place not on Beale street – The Silly Goose, where we had a few good drinks as lively top 40/hip hop filled the bar.  Then onto a speakeasy called The Blind Bear for an app and cocktail before heading to the Majestic Grill for dinner. 

Day 4 – Monday

We had an afternoon flight, so we booked the first tour of the day of the Gibson guitar factory, which was literally right across the street from our hotel.  After breakfast, we had a few hours or so to fill, so we headed north toward the more business district of Memphis, then West to the bank of the Mississippi  River for some pictures.  Nothing stands out too much here, although we were surprised to see trolly/tram tracks running through one of the main streets.  Still not sure if there is an active “tram” in the city – never saw one running, though it was early, and many shops had not yet opened (it wasn’t that early).

Finally at the Gibson tour – not knowing what to expect, this was another positive surprise.  We are by no means guitar aficionados, in fact, we probably know less about guitars than the average person off the street, but the multi-week production process, craftsmanship and customization of these guitars was amazing to see.  As a side note the hollow body electric guitars are produced in Memphis, acoustic and other guitars are manufactured in two other American cities, where tours are not provided.   Icing on the cake for our time in Memphis, we checked out and headed for our flight.  Not to be outdone, we grabbed a Memphis BBQ late lunch at the airport.

Final Thoughts

We believe we were able to get a real sense of Memphis in three nights.  If there was any stones unturned it was not seeing Sun Studios (which is now a museum) where many of the jazz and rock and roll legends including Elvis recorded before they became famous.  Having free breakfast at the hotel, we did not hit any famous breakfast hot spots.  We could have given Beale street one more night with the idea of listening to a few bands at a place or two.  But overall these were minor omissions and one doesn’t expect to hit every single attraction.  A quick word on the hotel – we stayed at what would be considered an above average accommodation, The Westin, nothing too fancy.  There was one glitch, but generally the service was friendly and informative, the room was absolutely fine with a good view, and the location was just superb.  (Though this write-up is not intended to be any endorsement of hotels/restaurants/etc.).  No need to drone on anymore here, the summary above provides our overall impression.  While Memphis is certainly not a tier one American city and could use a good scrubbing, it’s a city that most would find quite entertaining to visit for a few nights, with some attractions simply not to be missed.