Beale Street Beauty

Beale Street attracts tourists in droves. All day, every day bars blast the Blues into the streets and come nightfall, it becomes difficult to move, with hordes of revellers queuing to get onto the street past the police cordons and burly doormen. The atmosphere is laid back, the people friendly and the beer, super-sized.

My very favourite place on Beale Street, without a doubt, is A.Schwab, the most spectacular nostalgia store, museum, soda fountain and ice cream parlour, you will have the good fortune to stumble upon in Memphis. I love everything about this place, the original windows and facade, the wooden floorboards and the wonderful selection of cute tablecloths, toys, shirts and cigar box guitars. The best bit though, is the ice cream parlour and soda fountain, complete with candy coloured tablecloths, striped paper straws and 'create your own' soda fountain.

I went back to A. Schwabs twice. I couldn't leave Memphis without trying the ice cream could I? I also scooped a green floral 30s style tablecloth to remind me of our visit. Next time I'm in memphis, this place will be top of my Beale Street list!

One thing I find that Beale Street -a street in the city that gave birth to rockabilly via Sun Studios- is sometimes lacking, is good old fashioned rock n roll. Modern and old school Blues can be found in abundance throughout the bars along the street, pop and soul are a mainstay of the karaoke but you will have to weave your way through the crowds to the very bottom of Beale Street to hear the music made famous by the Million Dollar Quartet at Jerry Lee Lewis' Cafe and Honky Tonk.  Admittedly, this place can be cheesier than a Papa John's pizza at times and at some point during the night, someone is fairly likely to don an Elvis jumpsuit circa 1976 but there are moments of genius, particularly if you manage to catch one of Jason James' shows.

At this end of the street you will also come across 2 beautiful theatre venues -The New Daisy and the Daisy. During the week, these venues look derelict in the day time but in the evening at weekends the beautiful facades becomes home to a cocktail and beer bar and a make shift stage area for open air performances from blues bands and DJs. I couldn't resist a little spin in my 1950s 20th Century Foxy dress!

Have you been to a city with some hidden gems? I'd love to hear about them!

Taking Care of Business

As part of the big trip to Tennessee and as an Elvis Presley fan, a trip to Gracelands was clearly in order. I've been to Gracelands before and of course, the house stays the same but there is much more to Gracelands than just the estate itself. Around the edge of Gracelands, owned by EP enterprises is a collection of museums (housing his outfits, planes, cars -including the pink Cadillac- and more), a variety of shops and a handful of diners including 'Rockabilly's Cafe'.

We started the day with tour of the mansion itself, walking up those famous steps and through the front door into what is, by today's rock star standards, a modest, comfortable, personal family home with more than touch of extravagant 70s kitsch!

With my plane, obviously.

Vivien of Holloway at Gracelands, Memphis

I have been a huge fan of Vivien of Holloway for some years now. It's the first repro-vintage brand that  I discovered, back when the shop was over a motorcycle shop at the back of Camden market. Since then the brand has gone from strength to strength and it's very easy to see why! Unlike some of the other authentic reproduction brands, Holloway have a relatively quick turnover of new prints and styles so there is always something new for vintage fans to covet (my poor bank account!). 

I've tried a few different styles of Viv dresses over recent years but the style that fills my wardrobe (like many other fans) is the halter neck circle dress. For those who are yet to sample the delights of Vivien of Holloway, you need to know your waist size and order according to that. If you shop in store, I would recommend going at least one size (maybe two depending on the fabric) up from your modern sizing. The circle dresses are cut to finish perfectly with a standard length petticoat, zip at the back and have a boned and shaped bodice for a super flattering fit that you really won't get from a lot of cheaper vintage brands.

Now, many people reserve these dresses for special occasions but I will generally take any opportunity to wear a pretty dress. I've worn my dresses to theme parks, for days out in the country, shopping in the city and of course, for weddings! Back in February, I was lucky enough to win a picture competition on Viv's fan page and I put my winnings to work on a couple of new Viv dresses -a cherry halter dress and (daringly for me!) a leopard wiggle dress. I recently wore the white cherry halter neck circle dress for my mum's wedding in Memphis and I thought I'd take the opportunity to show this gorgeous dress off in a wonderful location!

At the chapel at Gracelands

Gracelands

Outside Gracelands -fan graffiti!

Sun Studios

Sun studios

Arcade Restaurant, Memphis

Like I said in my last blog post, I am a huge Elvis fan and during my last trip to Memphis, I was lucky enough to see a lot of Elvis related sights. Among the lesser known haunts on the tourist trail, is the fabulously retro Arcade Restaurant. In the 50s, as Elvis' career took off, he found it more and more difficult to go out without being harassed by over-zealous fans. The Arcade provided his favourite food, discrete staff and most importantly, a quick getaway route should the place become swamped with petticoats and bobby socks ;)

I ate here twice during my trip, for lunch and breakfast and both times I wasn't disappointed. Vegetarians are clearly not common customers in the South and it can be a little bit tricky to find anything other than a garden burger in most bars and diners. The Arcade are very flexible when it comes to breakfast, offering to replace the meat with a fruit platter for no extra cost and providing a pretty good choice of salads, pizzas and sandwiches.

Of course my favourite thing about the diner is the history and retro decor which doesn't appear to have changed in the last half a century. The faded atomic print on the diner tables, bar stools and advertisements are authentically mid-century and it is without doubt, my favourite diner.