Elvis singing on stage with a guitarist and a double-bass player — On stage with Scotty Moore and Bill Black, 1956. TV Radio Mirror (uncredited) · Public domain

Head-and-shoulders portrait of Elvis Presley — Elvis Presley, 1958. Modern Screen (uncredited) · Public domain

Elvis in a dark denim jacket and striped shirt, mid-dance between two sets of bars — Jailhouse Rock, 1957. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. Reproduction Number: LC-USZ6-2067 Location: NYWTS -- BIOG · Public domain

45 rpm · Tupelo · Memphis · Las Vegas · 1954–1977

Elvis
Presley

His life plays like a record. Drop the needle on any groove and stand where it happened.

Side A

Side A:
the rise.

A small white two-room wooden house with a porch — The house where Elvis was born, Tupelo, 2018. Bubba73 · CC BY-SA 3.0

The Elvis Presley Birthplace · 306 Elvis Presley Drive, Tupelo

Elvis is born in the two-room house his father helped build.

The two-room house was built in 1934 with $180 of borrowed materials; Elvis was born there on 8 January 1935.

Tupelo bought the house in 1957 and restored it with furniture of the period.

Monday to Saturday 9am–4pm, Sunday 1–4pm; tickets only at the front desk, which closes at 3pm. House, church and museum: adults $25.

Liner notes

What it cost

Less than $200,
then $102,500.

Four prices from Graceland’s own timeline, the birthplace and the history books. Ring them up.

Memphis & Tupelo
1934–1957

No sale.

Total$0

A white open-air bandshell at dusk — The Shell in Overton Park at dusk, 2013. Debby white · CC BY-SA 3.0

Overton Park

30 July 1954.
The first paid show.

Elvis played his first paid show here on 30 July 1954. The shell was built in 1936; it took back the name Overton Park Shell in 2022.

Free to see in the park; concerts all year, many of them free.

Liner notes

Germany, 1958–1960

Private Presley.

Elvis in uniform during army training — Elvis in training in West Germany, 1959. U.S. Army photograph. Jack R. Thornell, U.S. Army · Public domain

He reached Germany on 1 October 1958 for an 18-month posting. Elvis served at Ray Barracks from 1958 to 1960; a statue stands across from its old main gate, and the Army left in 2007.

A monument on a traffic island in a German town — The monument at the old Ray Barracks gate, Friedberg, 2023. Chivista · CC BY-SA 4.0

A public monument across from the old barracks gate; the base itself is being redeveloped.

Liner notes

Elvis kept a home off the base in Bad Nauheim with his father, his grandmother and friends from Memphis. The house at Goethestraße 14, Bad Nauheim, is a private home.

Liner notes

Las Vegas

Same hotel,
two names.

The International, then the Las Vegas Hilton

Elvis opened a 57-show engagement at the new International Hotel on 31 July 1969.

The hotel counts 636 sold-out shows by him over seven years, ending in December 1976.

A working resort and casino; theatre tours are sold around its Elvis weekends.

Liner notes

Westgate Resorts

Westgate Las Vegas

Las Vegas

The old International Hotel, where the residency opened in 1969; its theatre still stages Elvis shows.

Check rooms

The people

Scotty, Bill, Sam, the Jordanaires
and the tailor on Beale Street.

Elvis in a check jacket standing in a line with the four Jordanaires — Elvis with the Jordanaires, who sang behind him on record and on stage, 1957. Press Department, Capitol Records. · Public domain

Sam Phillips, head and shoulders — Sam Phillips, 1955. Cash Box · Public domain

Priscilla Presley outside a courthouse — Priscilla Presley, 1973. George R. Fry, Los Angeles Times · CC BY 4.0

Elvis in a high-collared dark jacket and open white shirt — Elvis Presley at the White House, 21 December 1970. Photograph by Ollie Atkins. Ollie Atkins, chief White House photographer at the time. See ARC record. · Public domain

A grand hotel lobby with a fountain and ducks — The Peabody lobby, 2015. TonyTheTiger · CC BY-SA 4.0

Lansky at The Peabody

In 1952 Bernard Lansky saw a young man looking in his Beale Street window and showed him round: Elvis. The family says it dressed Elvis for his first Ed Sullivan appearance; the shop now trades in the Peabody’s lobby.

The shop is in the Peabody’s public lobby; check opening hours before you go.

Liner notes

The Peabody

The Peabody Memphis

Downtown Memphis

The hotel says a young Elvis signed one of his first RCA contracts on its letterhead; Lansky, his tailor, trades in the lobby.

Check rooms

Sun Studio

Sun Studio tour

Memphis · Daily · adults $20

A guided tour of the room where he first recorded, every half hour.

Plan a visit

A white-columned mansion behind a lawn and trees — Graceland, 2018. Bjoertvedt · CC BY-SA 4.0

Elvis Presley Boulevard

Bought at twenty-two.
Home for good.

Elvis bought Graceland in March 1957 for $102,500. He died on 16 August 1977; that October his body and his mother’s were moved to Graceland.

He and both his parents are buried here; it became a National Historic Landmark in 2006. Graceland opened for tours on 7 June 1982.

Daily 9am–4pm, last mansion tour at 4pm. The Elvis Experience, with the mansion: adults $85. Book online.

Liner notes

Graceland

Graceland: the Elvis Experience

Memphis · Daily 9am–4pm · adults $85

The mansion, the museums across the road and his two jets; VIP tours add a guide and the archives.

Book tickets

Guest House at Graceland

The Guest House at Graceland

Whitehaven, Memphis

Graceland’s own hotel, steps from the mansion, with a theatre and packages that include the mansion tour. Pictured: Graceland from the garden.

Check rooms

Where it is now

13 places you can visit. The houses on Audubon Drive and in Bad Nauheim are private and not on the map.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Homes again, as Uptown Square: see the buildings from the street.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Empty and waiting to reopen as an arts school: look from the street only.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Daily 10am–5.15pm; tours on the half hour from 10.30am to 4.30pm, first come first served. Adults $20.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Free to see in the park; concerts all year, many of them free.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Daily 9am–4pm, last mansion tour at 4pm. The Elvis Experience, with the mansion: adults $85. Book online.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The shop is in the Peabody’s public lobby; check opening hours before you go.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Closed since 2006: see it from outside, at the fairgrounds.

Lauderdale Courts, now Uptown Square, 2016. Kenneth C. Zirkel · CC BY-SA 4.0
Winchester Avenue, Memphis
Lauderdale Courts
The Presleys lived in apartment 328 from 1949 to 1953.
Homes again, as Uptown Square: see the buildings from the street.
Liner notes
The entrance to Humes High, 2013. Halpaugh · CC BY-SA 3.0
659 North Manassas Street, Memphis
Humes High School
Elvis graduated from Humes on 3 June 1953.
Empty and waiting to reopen as an arts school: look from the street only.
Liner notes
Sun Studio, 706 Union Avenue, 2022. Riis2602 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Union Avenue, Memphis
Sun Studio, 706 Union Avenue
In the summer of 1953 Elvis paid about $4 to record a demo here, as a present for his mother.
Daily 10am–5.15pm; tours on the half hour from 10.30am to 4.30pm, first come first served. Adults $20.
Liner notes
The Shell in Overton Park at dusk, 2013. Debby white · CC BY-SA 3.0
1928 Poplar Avenue, Memphis
The Overton Park Shell
Elvis played his first paid show here on 30 July 1954.
Free to see in the park; concerts all year, many of them free.
Liner notes
Graceland, 2018. Bjoertvedt · CC BY-SA 4.0
Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis
Graceland
Elvis bought Graceland in March 1957 for $102,500.
Daily 9am–4pm, last mansion tour at 4pm. The Elvis Experience, with the mansion: adults $85. Book online.
Liner notes
The Peabody lobby and its ducks, 2015. TonyTheTiger · CC BY-SA 4.0
149 Union Avenue, Memphis
Lansky at The Peabody
In 1952 Bernard Lansky saw a young man looking in his Beale Street window and showed him round: Elvis.
The shop is in the Peabody’s public lobby; check opening hours before you go.
Liner notes
The Mid-South Coliseum, 2008. bcbuckner · CC BY 2.0
996 Early Maxwell Boulevard, Memphis
The Mid-South Coliseum
Both Elvis and the Beatles played this 10,000-seat arena.
Closed since 2006: see it from outside, at the fairgrounds.
Liner notes

Stay

Sleep across the road.

Graceland’s own hotel, the Peabody of the RCA contract, and the old International in Las Vegas.

Guest House at Graceland

The Guest House at Graceland

Whitehaven, Memphis

Graceland’s own hotel, steps from the mansion, with a theatre and packages that include the mansion tour. Pictured: Graceland from the garden.

Check rooms

The Peabody

The Peabody Memphis

Downtown Memphis

The hotel says a young Elvis signed one of his first RCA contracts on its letterhead; Lansky, his tailor, trades in the lobby.

Check rooms

Westgate Resorts