With apologies to Elvis, it’s down at the end of West Main Street, it’s Hardware Hotel… in Tupelo, Mississippi.
Continuing our Elvis education our Presleyphile pals are flagging up the 80 years since our hero got his first guitar there.
And because I often do things back to front and I hit Santa Monica Pier first on Route 66.
Before marking off the start of the trail on South Michigan Avenue, Chicago.
My Elvis odyssey then ought to have seen me party with the other Elvises in Las Vegas at the end of the journey.
Or have got his first guitar at Tupelo Hardware and then having to strum an air one at Sun Studio.
The wonder of you
And instead start at the very beginning which is why Presleyphiles should return to sender.
And the address that IS known is 114 West Main Street, Tupelo.
Which is turning 100 next year so would have been well established when Gladys Presley popped by with her lively 11-year-old in 1946.
And famously a shop employee settled the young Mississippian down when he sulked after Gladys refused to buy him a rifle.
Of course, the rest is history and while Tupelo foxes and birdlife breathed a sigh of relief.
The rest of the world sucked in and got ready for the musical trip of a lifetime.
It’s nail or never
Now today’s employees at the Tupelo Hardware Store exude the same good ol’ Southern hospitality that Gladys and Elvis knew back in 1946.
And will be happy to share stories about the Presleys as you browse for guitars, rifles, nuts, bolts and spirit levels.
While you stand in the spot where musical history was made.
Tupelo Hardware Store is one of 14 significant sites in Elvis’ formative years in Tupelo.
All marked with bronze plaques on the Elvis’ Tupelo Driving Tour.
And our Tupelo buddies gladly give us a virtual tour on their site to see what they’re selling,which is still hardware essentials with a little hard rock Elvis.
If I can dream
Mark off all 14 plaques because you’ve come all this way in the first place.
But maybe spend more time at the Hardware Store, compiling stories to tell y’all when you get home.
And the Elvis Presley Birthplace & Museum on 306 Elvis Presley Drive.
The house, built by Elvis’ father with $180, which draws visitors each year from across the world.
And is part of the 15-acre Elvis Presley Park, which includes many exhibits and Elvis’ childhood church.