Aretha Franklin, 1967. Atlantic Records · CC0. Tap a stitched place on the stole.
Her first records were made in her father’s Detroit church when she was 14. Her last journey went through Detroit’s churches too. In between: one day in Muscle Shoals, seven letters in New York and two nights in a Watts church. Play it like a service, then go.
South Memphis · 25 March 1942
March 1942: a baby girl for the Franklins.
Aretha Franklin was born in this house on 25 March 1942, to Barbara Franklin and the Reverend C.L. Franklin.
Not open to visitors. Look from the pavement and leave the house and its neighbours in peace.
Her father owned a 6,000-square-foot house on La Salle Boulevard, built in 1916. Aretha moved in at five and stayed until she was 18. Nat King Cole, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X were all guests in the house.
A private family home. Named here, never mapped.
New Bethel Baptist Church, Detroit · 1946–1987
New Bethel · Hymns
An empty hymn board. Three cards to slot in.
A working church. Go to a service as a guest, dressed for church; it is not a museum.
603 East Avalon Avenue, Muscle Shoals · 24 January 1967
The session on 24 January 1967 was her first and only one in the Shoals. It gave her I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You), a No. 9 hit.
After four years at Columbia without a breakthrough, Franklin came here with Jerry Wexler, who had just signed her to Atlantic. With Do Right Woman on the other side, it became a million-selling double-sided hit. FAME published Do Right Woman.
FAME began in Florence, Alabama, in 1959 and moved to Muscle Shoals in 1961. The standard tour covers Studios A and B and the stories behind her recordings; the backstage tour shows instruments from her sessions.
Guided tours, about an hour, $20: weekdays at 9am and 4pm, Saturdays at 10am, noon and 2pm. The $40 backstage tour adds Rick Hall’s office. Closed on major holidays.
Atlantic Studios, New York · 14 February 1967
Seven tiles, face down. Turn them in any order.
603 East Avalon Avenue, Muscle Shoals · $20 standard · $40 backstage
An hour’s guided tour of Studios A and B and the stories behind the records made there, hers among them. The backstage tour adds Rick Hall’s office and instruments from her sessions.
Weekdays 9am and 4pm; Saturdays 10am, noon and 2pm
Book a tourMuscle Shoals, Alabama
Live marketplace results for tours of the Muscle Shoals studios. Check that FAME is on the itinerary.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursNew Temple Missionary Baptist Church, Watts · 1972
An empty choir loft under the river mural.
Fill the loft first.
The building began as a cinema, and its pews were once folding theatre seats. The mural of Jesus in a river that hangs over the choir in the film is still there.
A working church. Go to a service as a guest; it is not a museum.
San Francisco · Harlem · Washington
March 1971
Bill Graham moved his main concert hall here in July 1968: a second-floor ballroom at Market Street and South Van Ness. Franklin played three nights here in March 1971, with King Curtis and the Kingpins, the Memphis Horns and the Sweethearts of Soul.
Third night. King Curtis on the bandstand.
Jerry Wexler and Arif Mardin cut the tapes to one LP, mostly from the third night. It went Top 10 on the pop chart and No. 1 R&B.
Graham closed the hall on 4 July 1971. After years as a Honda dealership, its top two floors reopened in June 2018 as SVN West. In March 2025 permits were filed to put a 67-storey tower on the site.
Now SVN West, an events space upstairs, open for its own events only. See the building from Market Street.
1970s
In the 1960s Franklin was one of the soul acts who brought a grittier sound to the Apollo stage.
Her shows in the 1970s were major events. The marquee welcomed her back with two words: She’s Home.
She is honoured on the Apollo Walk of Fame, under the marquee. She was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
A working theatre. See a show, or book a 60–75 minute historic tour behind the scenes.
20 January 2009
On 20 January 2009 she sang My Country, ’Tis of Thee at the Capitol, at the inauguration of Barack Obama.
Her hat nearly stole the show: grey felt, with a big matching bow outlined in rhinestones.
Luke Song made it. He was born in Seoul; his parents had started a family hat business in Detroit. Afterwards women wrote to him asking for big bows of their own. The hat itself went to the Smithsonian.
See the West Front from the National Mall.
253 West 125th Street, Harlem
A 60–75 minute tour behind the scenes of the theatre whose marquee welcomed her home.
Book a tourDetroit · August 2018
Each ivory stop is a Detroit place. Draw one to open it. Draw them all.
Every stop is in. The console is quiet.
Adults pay $15; over-62s and 6–17s pay $12; children five and under go free. The museum is closed on Mondays.
84 East Ferry Street, Detroit
Thirty-three rooms in four restored Victorian houses and a carriage house in Midtown, the same neighbourhood as the Wright Museum. A $25 nightly fee covers parking, wi-fi and round-the-clock coffee and fruit.
Check ratesDetroit
Live marketplace results for Detroit music and soul history tours. Check each itinerary for the stops you want.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare tours10 places you can visit. The family house on La Salle Boulevard is private and not on the map.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Not open to visitors. Look from the pavement and leave the house and its neighbours in peace.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Guided tours, about an hour, $20: weekdays at 9am and 4pm, Saturdays at 10am, noon and 2pm. The $40 backstage tour adds Rick Hall’s office. Closed on major holidays.
South Memphis, Tennessee
Aretha Franklin was born in this house on 25 March 1942, to Barbara Franklin and the Reverend C.L. Franklin.
Not open to visitors. Look from the pavement and leave the house and its neighbours in peace.
603 East Avalon Avenue, Muscle Shoals, Alabama
FAME began in Florence, Alabama, in 1959 and moved to Muscle Shoals in 1961.
Guided tours, about an hour, $20: weekdays at 9am and 4pm, Saturdays at 10am, noon and 2pm. The $40 backstage tour adds Rick Hall’s office. Closed on major holidays.
Stay
Restored Victorian houses in the same neighbourhood as the Wright Museum.
84 East Ferry Street, Detroit
Thirty-three rooms in four restored Victorian houses and a carriage house in Midtown, the same neighbourhood as the Wright Museum. A $25 nightly fee covers parking, wi-fi and round-the-clock coffee and fruit.
Check ratesGo there
The studio tour at FAME, the Apollo’s historic tour, and guided music tours in Detroit and the Shoals.
603 East Avalon Avenue, Muscle Shoals · $20 standard · $40 backstage
An hour’s guided tour of Studios A and B and the stories behind the records made there, hers among them. The backstage tour adds Rick Hall’s office and instruments from her sessions.
Weekdays 9am and 4pm; Saturdays 10am, noon and 2pm
Book a tour253 West 125th Street, Harlem
A 60–75 minute tour behind the scenes of the theatre whose marquee welcomed her home.
Book a tourDetroit
Live marketplace results for Detroit music and soul history tours. Check each itinerary for the stops you want.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursMuscle Shoals, Alabama
Live marketplace results for tours of the Muscle Shoals studios. Check that FAME is on the itinerary.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
No events tied to her places are announced from today onwards.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Take it home
Two original posters from our store, two books and three records tied to these places.
An original 1968 poster by Milton Glaser. 19.5 × 24.5 in, folded as issued, very good.
In stock
View posterAn original 1971 poster, art by David Singer and Jim Marshall. 13.9 × 21 in, rolled, mint.
In stock
View posterDavid Ritz
The full biography, from New Bethel to the last years.
Find the bookAretha Franklin with David Ritz
Her own account of her life.
Find the bookAretha Franklin · LP, Atlantic SD 8139, 1967
Its title song came from the FAME session of 24 January 1967.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyAretha Franklin · LP, Atlantic SD 7205, 1971
Three March nights cut to one LP, mostly from the last.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyAretha Franklin · 2LP, Atlantic SD 2-906, 1972
Two nights in a Watts church with James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
11 of 11 places · 16 of 16 Moments
South Memphis, Tennessee
Aretha Franklin is born on Lucy Avenue, South Memphis.
The birthplace is bought at auction to be kept.
La Salle Gardens, Detroit
The family house on La Salle Boulevard, from when she was five.
Linwood and Philadelphia, Detroit
C.L. Franklin becomes pastor of New Bethel.
Her first recordings, made inside her father’s church.
One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, recorded at New Bethel.
315 East Warren Avenue, Midtown, Detroit
Two days of public viewing at the Wright Museum.
Woodward Avenue, Detroit
The funeral at Greater Grace Temple, then Woodlawn.
2600 Atwater Street, East Riverfront, Detroit
Chene Park becomes the Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre.
603 East Avalon Avenue, Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Her first and only Shoals session: I Never Loved a Man.
In New York, Wexler records Respect with three Shoals players.
South Broadway, Watts, Los Angeles
Two nights of gospel in a Watts church, filmed by Sydney Pollack.
Amazing Grace is shown in the church where it was filmed.
10 South Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco
Three nights at the Fillmore West, and Ray Charles walks on.
253 West 125th Street, Harlem, New York
The Apollo marquee welcomes her back.
National Mall, Washington DC
She sings at the Capitol for Barack Obama’s inauguration.
,_April_2026.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}