Word: graceland
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Although Elvis died eleven years ago, Graceland remains an active family affair. The 22-year-old singer bought the 13.8-acre estate from a Memphis physician for about $100,000 in 1957. From the first, it was a lively home base for the Presley clan. Elvis rode his horse down to the gates to chat with fans and had fireworks fights with his buddies and relatives on the lawn. Today, whether they knew him or not, everyone on Graceland's staff, which grows to 450 during the summer season, refers to the singer by his first name. Elvis' septuagenarian uncle...
...decor provokes differing views. For Louisiana State University medical student Chris Gegg, 23, who drove all night from New Orleans with two friends, Graceland is "incredible." But like many visitors, Russell and Betty Hines, a retired farm couple from Atlantic, Iowa, are a little disappointed. Says Russell: "I thought it would be, you know, a little more grand...
...Graceland never quite makes it that far, but in places it sure twists and shouts. Elvis picked all the furnishings for his den, called the Jungle Room, during a 30-minute shopping trip to Donald's, a Memphis furniture store. The huge chairs and sofas are upholstered in what resembles fake monkey fur, and the grass-green shag carpeting that covers both floor and ceiling makes such an acoustically perfect room that Elvis recorded eight hits here for his last album, Moody Blue. The yellow-and-blue TV room sports three built-in sets mounted side by side. Elvis...
Visitors almost did not get to see Graceland at all. By 1981, four years after Elvis died, taxes, security and upkeep cost some $400,000 a year. But, says Soden, "you couldn't just plunk down a FOR SALE sign out front. There are people buried up there." Also, Priscilla Presley, Elvis' ex-wife, did not want to part with the home. Although she divorced Elvis in 1973, Priscilla is the mother of his only child and heir, Lisa Marie, 20, and remains an executor of his estate. She gave the go-ahead to turn Graceland into an Elvis museum...
...Graceland's most intense experience comes in a small plot of shrubs and religious statuary near the pool. Here the graves of Elvis, his parents and his maternal grandmother are marked by large bronze slabs. Fans pluck blades of grass from the plot and leave a variety of mementos, including red roses, teddy bears, hound-dog dolls and religious medallions. Even casual visitors are affected. "The resting place is very impressive," says interior decorator Agustin deRojas, 60, a Cuban refugee who lives in Houston. "I admire Mr. Presley -- how he served in the Army when he really didn't have...