Memphis Day 1: Beale Street & Lansky Bros.

Plan for today was a drive into downtown Memphis and Beale street.

Primary place I wanted to visit was Lansky Bros. Lansky Bros. was founded in 1946 by brothers Bernard and Guy Lansky, with a $125 investment from their father, Samuel L. Lansky. Starting as an Army surplus store on Beale Street in Memphis, they later shifted to selling trendy clothing, becoming the "Clothier to the King" as the go-to store for Elvis Presley.

The store is riddled with signed photos and guitars from all the stars that have frequented the store. The clothing is high quality, and a price to go with it. A hat, such as a Newsboy Cap can be close to US$200. Stunning and classy clothing though!

I'd previously bought a gold jacket here in a past visit and was wanting to get a silver one to match. They didn't have any in stock but ID picked up a pretty classy black jacket, a replica of what Elvis wore when he got married.

Hal Lansky and his daughter Julie now run the store, Hal recalls meeting Elvis when he was 10, it was great chatting with Hal.

The last two photos show Lansky Bros. original store location. They are now in the lobby of Peabody Hotel.

Immediately opposite Lansky Brothers is the lobby for the Peabody Hotel, most notably known for the ducks!! They have 4 x ducks that are managed by their Duck Master, I kid you not!

At 11am each day, the Duck Master takes the lift to the roof where the ducks sleep at night. They then come down in the lift and walk the red carpet to the fountain in the centre of the lobby. At 5pm each day, they then walk the carpet back to the lift, to the roof top and to bed! During the day they just hand out in the lobby fountain!!

We made our way down Beale Street. It was already pretty hot with a gentle breeze making it feel a little but like standing in front of a hairdryer!

It's still early for Beale Street so not everything was open. We decided to give Rum Boogie Cafe a go. The bar was full of signed guitars and pictures and the walls were lined with signed $1 bills from customers. Chatting to Kylie behind the bar, she informed me that once a year the pull down all the $1 bills and they donate them to the local children's hospital.

It's hot, real hot, but we need to head back up Beale Street to check out another Elvis statue. Pretty impressed with the likeness of Elvis on this one as some can be a little off ;-)

We're going to swing by a games store for Kahn (my grandson) on the way back to the hotel. Rest a little and then we're off to see someone I met from a previous visit to Memphis who's performing tonight.