Tennesse - Memphis

The drive from Nashville to Memphis is only 300 km, so we slept in a bit and got packed up and was on the road by 8 am. We couldn't leave Nashville without one last trip to the biscuit house, so Rick headed over for some biscuits and jam to have with our breakfast while I got the rest of the things packed up. We have a pretty good routine.. only 45-60 mins to get packed up and on the road, including breakfast.

We got into Memphis in good time and got settled into our place about noon. We are located in the Evergreen Historical district, just

north of Midtown. It is an eclectic mix of small houses that are in the process of being renovated and/or fixed up amongst some large estate styled homes. The little house we rented is very quaint and not far from the Overton Park and city zoo. It is nice to have a whole house to kick up in for a few days. The owner has a very eclectic mix of older furniture and art pieces, very artsy.

Once we got settled we headed down to Beale street for a wander around. It is much like Broadway in Nashville, but more bluesy. The road is closed for 2 blocks for a pedestrian walkway. Makes for a nice outdoor entertainment district.

Beale Street’s heyday was in the roaring 20?s, when it took on a carnival atmosphere. The booming nightclubs, theaters, restaurants, stores, pawnshops and hot music thrived alongside gambling, drinking, prostitution, murder and voodoo. In the early evenings, boxback suits and Stetson hats mingled with overalls.

Young ladies sashayed down Beale Street and inside the bars, gamblers waited for an easy mark to stroll in. If the mark escaped from the dice or the cards, maybe he would fall victim to Little Ora –

always ready to prove her reputation as the best pickpocket between New Orleans and St. Louis. By mid-evening, the street would be packed. A one block walk could mean a detour around the medicine show set up in a little hole in the wall, as much as stopping and listening to the wandering bluesmen playing for pennies and nickels.

One club, The Monarch, was known as The Castle of Missing Men due to the fact that gunshot victims and dead gamblers could be easily disposed of at the undertaker sharing their back alley. Machine Gun Kelly peddled bottled whiskey from a clothes basket back before moving into the ranks of big-time crime. Numerous gamblers set a box next to the card table and slid a share of the take into it for the church down the street.

There were big vaudeville shows at the Palace and the Daisy, hot snoot sandwiches at the corner café, Memphis jug bands playing down at the park, and one block over on Gayoso, the red-light district rivaled New Orleans’ Storyville.

What an amazing place to visit.