My plans for the next day included taking a tour of the Gibson Guitar Factory.
Fun fact: Gibson Guitars was founded in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Orville Gibson started making instruments in 1894 and founded the company in 1902. It was originally named Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co. Ltd.
This is the smokestack from the original plant in Kalamazoo. I used to teach in a school that was kitty-corner from the factory. Gibson closed this plant in the early 1980s. Some of the luthiers got together and formed Heritage Guitars in 1985.
Heritage is a boutique manufacturer, making semi-hollow guitars, large jazz boxes and solid body electric guitars. I tried to track down a good definition of “jazz box”, but I found several conflicting sites. As close as I can tell, a jazz box is just another name for a jazz guitar
While I was waiting for the tour to start, I looked at all the colorful guitars for sale.
A rainbow of guitars.
I’ve always been partial to red.
And just how much would I have to lay out for this pretty little guitar?
$2,799! Plus tax! Yikes!
Uh…I think these mugs are more in my price range.
Eventually all the the members of the tour group made it, and we started into the factory.
Oh, well. No photos on the factory floor. The tour was taking place on Saturday, and no one was working anyway. You can use your imagination. Machines, racks, wood…
At the end of the tour, I got someone to take my photo. There’s a photo, so it happened!
And it’s good that I took the tour in 2018. They have since discontinued tours and moved production to Nashville.
I set out to wander around and see what interesting things I could see.
For instance, I was fascinated by the lengths they were going to preserve their architecture heritage.It would be interesting to see how this project turned out.
And, I have seen standpipes with two connections and with three, but I have never seen one with six links.
I strolled down Beale Street. It’s a tourist mecca, if ever I saw one.
I stumbled upon BB King’s Blues Club. B.B. King named all his guitars “Lucille” and they were made by Gibson!
I wandered into some of the stores, but I really wasn’t into this sort of adventure.
You know what I wanted to do? I wanted to get my shoes polished! I headed back to The Peabody. I figured they had a shoe shine station. I got my shoes polished at The Francis in San Francisco a few years back, so I though I’d check it out.
I headed back over.
Really, I do love those fancy hotel lobbies! I headed down to the shoe shine station.
My goodness! My shoes really needed polishing.
Ah! Much better! I set out to find some food. I checked with Yelp! and headed toward The Majestic Grille.
Along the way, I passed a plaque honoring the Lee sisters.
I arrived at the restaurant, got a seat and perused the menu.
I got a burger. It was good enough to keep body and soul together.
I was impressed with their complimentary toothpick/peppermint/candy corn offerings by the cash register.
I strolled over to Elvis Presley Plaza.
The King!
This is actually the second bronze statue on Beale Street. The first statue by sculptor Eric Parks wasn’t able to stand up to the elements and souvenir-crazed fans. The fans stripped its guitar string and tore the tassels from Elvis’s suit. It was taken down in 1994 and moved indoors to the Memphis T4ennessee Welcome Center.
In 1997, Elvis finally returned to the plaza. Sculptor Andrea Lugar created this statue to show him as he would have looked around 1955, when he played on Beale Street.
This statue was designed to be more sturdy that the previous statue. The fence around the statue helps, too.
At this point, I decided I ought to go visit Graceland. Well, actually, I had no interest is paying to visit Graceland. The basic ticket is $41! But, it doesn’t cost anything to drive over and look.
The thing that really caught my attention is the graffiti.
Fans would write on the stones in the wall.
The bricks in the wall.
They even wrote on the sidewalk.
The gates were Elvis-themed.
I couldn’t go past the gates. If I had wanted to to go inside, you can go visit the Mediation Garden every day FOR FREE from 7:30-8:30. Elvis, who died in 1977, and members of his family are buried there.
Looking carefully (and zooming in) I could see Graceland. That was good enough for me!
I headed over to the river to watch the sun set over the Mississippi.
Tomorrow is a travel day. Destination:Nashville