Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

36 Hours

36 Hours in Memphis

A new bike share program, museums, music and, yes, barbecue await visitors. Of special interest this spring: the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Lorraine Hotel, part of the National Civil Rights Museum, and the site of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.Credit...Robert Rausch for The New York Times

Blues, Elvis and barbecue tend to dominate popular perceptions of Tennessee’s second-largest city. But there are plenty of other diversions, including new developments in entertainment: the opening of Ballet Memphis theater; adaptive reuse projects with significant public art spaces; and an expansion of the museums devoted to Elvis Presley. A bike share system is set to debut this spring, and there is much to discover in lively art districts like Broad Avenue. On April 2 to 4, the city, and specifically the site of the former Lorraine Motel, will mark the solemn 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. there with a symposium, day of remembrance and evening of storytelling exploring the question, “Where do we go from here?”

After a $27.5-million renovation in 2014, the National Civil Rights Museum, which encompasses the original Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, was transformed into an immersive, multimedia experience that begins in a replica slave hold on a ship and covers five centuries of oppression and civil rights struggles (admission $16). Visitors pass through rooms dedicated to the Jim Crow era; a replica of the Montgomery bus where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat; and lunch counters where students held sit-ins in the 1960s. Transitioning to King and his civil rights activism, the emotional journey culminates outside room 306, the well-preserved hotel room he occupied before he was shot on the balcony.

The exit from the museum annex across the street delivers visitors to South Main Street, a historic district undergoing renewal, including the transformation of the former train station into a hotel. On the last Friday of every month, the South Main Historic Art District Trolley Night offers free transit between shops, galleries and restaurants (other times, the fare is $1, or $3.50 for a day pass). The vintage trolleys, temporarily replaced by wheeled versions, are currently being restored and set to resume operations in April. Ride or walk to Stock & Belle to browse caps, patches and prints by Rowdy Dept., and geometric-patterned Kreep Ceramics, both local lines, then hit the beloved dive bar Earnestine & Hazel’s to play the reportedly haunted jukebox.

The celebrated chef duo of Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman have collaborated on several Italian-meets-the-South restaurants, including the popular Hog & Hominy. With downtown’s new Gray Canary, they change the pattern, serving up oysters and wood-grilled dishes — from charred kohlrabi salad ($11) to romesco-sauced pork chop ($24) — in a romantic room overlooking the distant Hernando De Soto Bridge spanning the Mississippi. Start with a rum-ginger Wild Rumpus cocktail ($15) and end with the soft-serve ice cream in red wine ($7) to explore their range. Diners seeking the partners’ great Italian ragù — actually, David Hudman, Michael’s father, still makes the family recipe for “maw maw’s gravy” at the restaurants — should hit Catherine & Mary’s two blocks away where the rigatoni with meatballs ($17) warrants an encore meal.

Image
Patrons enjoy downtown’s Beale Street, lined with blues clubs and restaurants.Credit...Robert Rausch for The New York Times

Restoring buildings, as opposed to demolishing them and starting over, is a point of pride among Memphians (see the former pyramid-shaped sports arena that now houses a swamp-themed Bass Pro Shop). Once a substantial block of blight, a former Sears distribution center has been rebuilt as the vertical village Crosstown Concourse. The new one-million-square-foot mixed-used development includes apartments, nonprofits, shops and restaurants. Its public art arm sponsors artists in residence and plans to open a performing arts theater in fall. Grab a café au lait ($3.75) from French Truck Coffee and take a self-guided tour of the second-floor gallery including murals, videos and installation artwork.

One of the nation’s largest urban parks, Shelby Farms Park, on the east side of town, encompasses 4,500 rolling acres shared with a herd of buffalo. Show up for Saturday’s popular 9:30 a.m. yoga class (free), held on a lake-facing lawn outside the visitor center on fair days, or indoors if it’s raining. If yoga is not your thing, rent a bike ($10 an hour) and cruise the paths. The park lies along the 10.65-mile Greenline, a rails-to-trails conversion that leads back to Midtown Memphis.

Image
Shelby Farms Park is one of the nation’s largest urban parks, encompassing 4,500 rolling acres and shared by a herd of buffalo.Credit...Robert Rausch for The New York Times

Having worked up an appetite, sate it with a generous New Orleans-style sandwich at the Second Line in Overton Square, where the popular chef Kelly English pays homage to his Louisiana roots. It resides next to his more formal Restaurant Iris and aims to channel the spirit of musical processions in a destination where, the menu notes, “every day is a party.” Lodged in an intimate bungalow with exposed brick walls and black-and-white photos, the convivial quarters draw fans from around the city for his substantial po’ boys made with braised chicken thighs and Swiss cheese ($12) or fried oysters ($16), including savory sides such as red beans and rice.

For music fans, touring Sun Studio (admission $14) is a Memphis pilgrimage. In this modest two-story brick building, the sound engineer Sam Phillips — or, as tour guides like to tell it, his secretary Marion Keisker — discovered a young Elvis Presley. Phillips recorded the future King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s first single, “That’s All Right,” in 1954, but he was a blues fan prior and recorded other legends, including Howlin’ Wolf and the Prisonaires, whose musical clips are played during the tour. In the actual studio, an unglamorous work room where more recent acts like U2 and Bonnie Raitt have recorded, guides invite tour-goers to pose holding the original Shure 55 microphone used by Elvis and other legends.

Memphis’s growing microbrewery scene positions beer as shopping break conveniences in a couple of emerging neighborhoods. Near Sun Studio in the Edge District, High Cotton Brewing Company adjoins Edge Alley, home to a few intriguing shops, including B. Collective, selling artist-made housewares, and Paulette’s Closet, a retailer of fine-condition vintage clothing. Roughly five miles east on an industrial corner next to some train tracks, Wiseacre Brewing Co. anchors the shop-filled Broad Avenue Arts District. Pick up some arty accessories at Falling Into Place then grab a Tiny Bomb pilsner ($5) and hit Wiseacre’s outdoor bocce court and music stage in the shade of a pair of grain silos.

Image
Oysters on ice at the Gray Canary.Credit...Robert Rausch for The New York Times

New and expanding performing arts venues have concentrated around Overton Square, making the entertainment district a magnet for culture seekers. In August, Ballet Memphis, known for its regionally themed works alongside dance classics, opened a new 38,000-square-foot headquarters here. Glass walls invite onlookers to peer into rehearsals, even when no performances are scheduled. A few blocks away, the acclaimed African-American repertory company Hattiloo Theater recently cast the award-winning playwright Katori Hall as its artistic director. Catch August Wilson’s “Jitney,” April 20 to May 13.

Memphis music resounds from downtown’s Beale Street, lined with blues clubs, to venues across town devoted to diverse genres. Begin a progressive listening tour in Overton Square, where Lafayette’s Music Room stages shows from bluegrass to soul in a bi-level room with a raised stage. The retro-furnished Mollie Fontaine Lounge occupies one of the original mansions on Millionaire’s Row downtown, now known as Victorian Village, with music ranging from jazz crooners to D.J.-spun house. Catch boogie fever on the lighted dance floor of the late-night, weekends-only club Paula & Raiford’s Disco downtown.

Image
Beale Street Landing, near the Mississippi River.Credit...Robert Rausch for The New York Times

Touring Elvis Presley’s estate, Graceland, home to the kitschy Jungle Room with a carpeted ceiling, remains a bucket-list trip for music fans the world over. As of last spring, there’s much more to see in the new $45 million Elvis Presley’s Memphis, a 40-acre complex of museums, shops and restaurants across the street that aims to cement his place in pop culture history and extend his musical appeal to the next generation of rock ‘n’ roll fans. Tours (from $59) begin at the mansion, where home movies and artifacts like his and her wedding attire focus on Elvis’s personal life. Tour buses bring fans back across the street where a series of exhibits survey the King’s service in the Army, his influence on entertainers like Elton John and Bruce Springsteen, and his collections of showy cars and spangled jumpsuits. A diner named for his mother Gladys serves the fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches ($4.49) he loved.

Head back downtown for a few lazy hours at the sprawling outdoor compound Loflin Yard. Backing up to the train tracks, the 1.5-acre site encompasses a cocktail bar specializing in barrel-aged drinks in a former locksmith’s shop, a coach house-turned-bar and a sun-dappled yard between them scattered with colorful lawn chairs. Grab a plate of house-smoked brisket hash ($10) and an aged Tennessee whiskey Old-Fashioned ($10), play a round of corn hole and pretend it’s your own Sunday backyard barbecue.


The 1902-vintage Winchester office building has recently been repurposed as the Hotel Napoleon Memphis with 58 crisp rooms. In addition to its pedestrian-friendly downtown location, the hotel houses a restaurant serving breakfast and dinner, and offers free coffee anytime in the lobby. Rooms from $161; 179 Madison Avenue, hotelnapoleonmemphis.com.

The Mississippi riverfront glass pyramid that last served as a basketball arena has been refashioned as an immersive Bass Pro Shop, complete with fish- and gator-filled ponds. Overlooking them and the indoor cypress swamp diorama is the rustic-themed, 103-room Big Cypress Lodge. Rooms from $175; 1 Bass Pro Drive, big-cypress.com.

The hospitable owners of Memphis Music Mansion rent several private rooms in their spacious home via Airbnb, and host frequent pop-up concerts at the site. Rooms from $75; 539 East Parkway South, Airbnb.com.

If you do plan a trip to Memphis, check out these suggestions on what to pack from our Wirecutter team.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section TR, Page 7 of the New York edition with the headline: Memphis. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT