We cruised into Memphis from Little Rock on a sizzling August Second, starving for Bar-B-Q. Arnold’s was hard to locate, but the pork-buttload of five-star reviews promising amazing old-school Memphis dry-rub Q lured us in. It was late afternoon, so of course the rib tips and brisket were sold out, but the wings and southern fixings were still amazing.
We checked into our AirBnB, rested up from the drive and Bar-B-Q feast, then made the 7-minute walk to Beale Street. The sun was setting and the Tuesday-night crowd didn’t arrive ’til well-after dark, which made exploring this iconic stretch of music and amusement history easy.
The “Father of the Blues” W.C Handy wrote “Beale Street Blues” in 1916. His two-room shotgun house was moved from south Memphis to the epicenter of the black entertainment district in the 1980s. Late one night on Beale Street, Handy stopped at a local barber shop and asked the owner why he hadn’t closed yet. The barber’s reply, “Ain’t nobody got killed yet.”
Beale Street’s heyday lasted from the 1890s to the 1960s. Historic Marker #1 states. “You’re standing on the street where W.C. Handy wrote the first published blues; where Robert R. Church Sr., the South’s first Black millionaire, made his mark; where General Ulysses S. Grant had a Civil War headquarters and where he returned years later to speak as President; where President Dwight Eisenhower visited; where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched; where B.B. King and Elvis Presley got their start.”
The Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968 is now a National Civil Rights Museum. On the stone tablet is written: Genesis 37:19-20 “And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.”
The 321-foot tall Memphis Pyramid is the sixth-largest pyramid on Earth. It opened in 1991 as a basketball arena, it was a Hard Rock Cafe, college football hall of fame, and short-wave radio station before ending up as a Bass Pro Shops.
We waited in a slow-moving line to ride the 28-story glass elevator to the best view of Memphis on the Mississippi River. Built to compete with the St. Louis Arch, the pyramid has a wild history, that includes the Lennox Lewis vs. Mike Tyson Fight on June 8, 2002.
Our reward for waiting in the long line was an exceptional sunset over the Mississippi River. We are standing on glass panels that made many visitors too squeamish to venture outside the restaurant on the top floor. Karen told a frightened boy, “Just, don’t look down.”
When the sun sets in Memphis, it’s time to go to Beale Street.
The free Downtown Memphis Trolly is a great way to explore Memphis. The venerable Orpheum Theatre was built in 1928. If you attend a show, their dress code is, “All guests must wear tops, bottoms, and shoes. No see-through fabrics. Clothing MUST cover breasts, genitals, and buttocks, and must be opaque.”
Our Wednesday night visit to Beale Street was a mind-blowing surprise. Incredible motorcycles were closely aligned, side-by-side on both sides of the street for two blocks.
Bikes came and went, running the gauntlet down the middle of the street constantly. Bikers raced engines, admired each others rides and greeted friends like it was “Old-Home Day.” While we were there, it was exciting but peaceful. A cop told me, “They just want to show off and hang out. Happens every Wednesday on Beale Street.”
Every type of bike imaginable was there in numbers I could not count. It was hard to stand out in such a crowd, but this bad, black, bling machine was one of my many favorites. “Got Chrome?”
We wrapped up our last night on Beale Street with cheese fries smothered in seafood gumbo in front of the stage at Blues City Cafe. The food was hot and so was the band. Memphis music rocks and Beale Street still delivers. Andrew Chaplin Jr. said, “Well, old Beale Street, just like Broadway. That’s what it was! Broadway in miniature. All the entertainment and everything to eat. All the sharp men, pretty girls. The works! It was right here.” It still is, Mr. Chaplin, It still is.