Goin' to Graceland: A visit to Elvis Presley’s fantasy mansion is like a trip back in time

BY EILEEN BRADY
The STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

Sometimes it takes only a tank of gas to travel back in time. 
Six hours south of Springfield on Interstate 55, time does seem to have stopped in Memphis, Tenn., first in 1968, and again in 1977. 
The Lorraine Hotel facade, now the front of the National Civil Rights Museum, looks exactly as it did when Martin Luther King Jr. left his room and was assassinated on April 6, 1968. The interiors of Rooms 306 and 307 have been re-created to appear as they did at the time. 
Graceland, the mansion where Elvis Presley lived until his death on Aug. 16, 1977, also is a tourist destination that gives one that “Twilight Zone” feeling of being elsewhere on the continuum. 
The recent trip we made to Memphis was a mid-winter break mainly for my husband’s amusement. He has been an Elvis fan since childhood, when he’d regularly ask his parents to take him to Graceland.

My mother was a major Elvis fan, and although I was just 6 when the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll died, I remember precisely where we were when my dad picked up a newspaper with the news of Elvis’ death. 
To me, though, Graceland always had seemed to be a magnet for Elvis Freaks, those people who make pilgrimages to Memphis every August. Fine for them, just not a big attraction for me. 
Still, I knew my husband would love it, and I figured it would be another tacky American site I could cross off my list. 
Turns out I enjoyed Graceland as much as my husband did. It was like stepping into my childhood dream house. Mind you, my tastes have matured since 1977, but back then, I could think of no more perfect living room than one with shag carpeting on the ceiling. 
I’m sure even in the mid-’70s, the décor of Graceland reeked of nouveau-riche tastes. But that’s what Elvis was. Born dirt poor in Tupelo, Miss., he apparently told his parents that someday he’d be rich enough to buy them a big mansion. And he did. 
From the outside, it’s a stately, Georgian structure on 14 wooded acres. Inside, though, it’s part flamboyant bachelor pad, part “Mama’s formal living room just for company.” 
Across the street from the house is the ticket office, the engine of the well-oiled tourist machine. The lines of people zigzagging up to the ticket counter doesn’t let up. Adult tickets for just Graceland are $16; the $25 “platinum tour package” includes entrance to see Elvis’ automobile collection and his private jets, along with other secondary tours. If you’re going all the way to Graceland, you may as well cough up the extra $9 for the other tours. 
If you call ahead to purchase tickets or order them through the Graceland Web site (www.elvis.com/graceland), you can bypass the long lines and pick up your pre-purchased tickets at a different window. Judging by the number of tourists on a cold day in late February, it’s easy to see why Elvis Presley’s estate still rakes in $35 million dollars a year. 
First, you get headsets to use with a digital audio tour, which allows you to go room by room through the house and into the outbuildings, including Elvis’ trophy building. Flash photography is banned indoors. 
Then, based on ticket number, you’re shuttled across the street in buses, where you’re deposited at the front steps of Graceland, to be returned when you’re finished. 
The digital headsets, although a tad tricky at first, make the tour much more pleasant. You can breeze through or dally in rooms that particularly interest you, listening to a professional narrative that includes music and sound bites from Elvis and Priscilla Presley. Optional audio information can supplement the basic tour. 
The lack of guides turned out to be one of the best aspects of the tour, which lasts 60 to 90 minutes. The audio was well done, and it allowed time to linger at the most interesting sights. 
The spectacle that is Graceland doesn’t even seem to be in poor taste, when you consider that self-promoting Elvis almost certainly would have approved of the circus atmosphere. So it doesn’t feel as if you’re tramping on hallowed ground. His private upstairs area, where nobody went when he was alive, still is closed to the public. The rest is fair game. 
The trophy building, which holds Elvis’ gold records, stage costumes and other memorabilia, is quite impressive, especially considering that the awards — and profits — still are coming in. 
The mansion tour ends in the meditation garden, where Elvis and his family are buried. Graceland continues to accept flowers delivered daily by fans still in mourning. 
The Lisa Marie jet flown by Elvis and his entourage is interesting, as is the collection of cars and other motorized toys. There are plenty of gift shops at Graceland, and you can have your mail postmarked from there. 
In downtown Memphis, Elvis fans can eat fried peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches at Elvis Presley’s Memphis restaurant on Beale Street, housed in the old Lansky Brother clothing store where young Elvis shopped. During Sunday brunch, a local gospel choir performs on the restaurant’s permanent stage, which is host to other musical groups during the week. 
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For more information, contact the Memphis Tourism and Visitors Center at (901) 543-5333 or the Graceland Mansion at (901) 332-3322.