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Headed for Memphis this Weekend

Hankster

By Hankster
in Tennessee

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Rural King Town

Rural King

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A few suggestions I would offer would be the Zoo (to see the Pandas), Beale Street of course, Mud Island, the Peabody's ducks and skyview deck, and the Civil Rights Museum. If the Redbirds were still playing I would recommend that, but the seasons over, so thats not an option.

As far as places to eat go I would suggest Rum Boogie Cafe, which I highly recommend for BBQ or Red Beans and Rice. There is also the Rendezvous which is a pretty neat experiance and a Memphis legend for BBQ (esp ribs). There is also used to be a great Thai restaurant downtown on Union I believe. Panchos is a classic Tex-Mex joint downtown too, if you're interested.

Locals could tell you more about places outside of downtown then I could though.

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HKG Unincorporated Area

HKG

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Hankster, that's not the sort of question that's easy to answer. I'll pitch a few softballs, though.

Black Crowes at Mud Island Friday night. Art of the Motorcycle at the Pyramid saturday or sunday.

Zoo saturday or sunday. Eat on Monroe Ave downtown (McEwen's, Felicia Suzanne's, LoLo's) or Automatic Slims on Second. Could eat at Cooper Young, many restaurants there in a village-type setting. Could get drinks at Cooper Young until late. If you've never had rendezvous, go there. Otherwise, if BBQ or ribs are on your mind, try Central Barbeque or Barbeque Shop. You could test South Third Street (I wouldn't after dark), where the best BBQ is found (Interstate BBQ). Actually, scrap that. There's no best. They're all good in Memphis, especially compared to Chattanooga. Could go to the civil rights museum; it's better than you would think.

There's more to do, I'm just tired of writing.

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sleepy Burg

sleepy

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Go to Cozy Corner for BBQ located on the northside of downtown--they close around 5 PM. Most locals have mixed feelings about the Rendezvous--sorta hit or miss. There are tons of other restaurants downtown. Just ask around.

Ride the Riverfront streetcar line--a 4 mile RT--for a real feel of all the downtown neighborhoods. There's the Main St. line as well, but it doesn't go along the river. South Main is a cool neighborhood.

Go to Earnestine and Hazel's bar on South Main at Patterson by the Central Station apts. It's a genuine slice of old Memphis.

Beale Street on weekends can be fun. There's a lot of street groups performing gospel right on the street of course, and whatever--good stuff. Check out Handy Park right off of Beale--usually there are free blues bands performing there.

Check out Mud Island for new urbanism--I don't much care for the place.

Midtown Memphis is cool--goes for about 4 miles east of downtown, full of eclectic neighborhoods. Take a spin down Madison Avenue, full of restaurants, bars, and Memphis' Little Saigon.

Also in Midtown--Central Gardens, along Peabody Avenue and Central Avenue--full of the old 100 yr. old homes of the dissolute cotton planter gentry.

The Redbirds season is over, but my experience is that they'll still let you in the stadium to take pics and whatnot. The folks are real nice about that.

Suspend your preconceptions when you come to Memphis. It's sort of an oddball place. The rich live next to the poor, and many folks in Memphis consider that what passes for ghetto in other cities is, in Memphis, a desirable, attractive neighborhood. In other words, it's an urban type of city.

Place to stay--I'd recommend the Sleep Inn at Court Square in the heart of downtown--$95 a night for 4 people. If you're on a budget--the Best Western downtown is OK at $65 for the same. I've read bad things about the BW, but it's always been OK with me. The Sleep Inn is superb.

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Clobber Burg

Clobber

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Take a riverboat ride.

Check out the music museums (Stax, Sun, Smithsonian, maybe even Graceland. Stop by Beale and check out the clubs.

To eat, Cooper Young has been mentioned. There are also some nice restaurants at Overton Square.

Get some Gus's Fried Chicken.

Walk around Tom Lee Park and/or the Greenbelt by Harbortown.

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mandrws1 Hamlet

mandrws1

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There's a new restaraunt next door to Pancho's on 2nd St. called "Bigfoot." The setting and the food is superb. They have a 4lb burger that they say nobody can eat in 60 minutes. (challenge anyone?) The Stax Museum is great! If you have children, take them on a duck boat ride, it is SO MUCH FUN! They take you on a tour of the city and then dive into the Wolf River harbor.

http://www.memphisducks.com/index.html

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Hankster Town

Hankster

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I'm back from my visit to Memphis, and I must say that I had a wonderful time. This was the first time I had spent a whole day in the downtown area, and I was very impressed! I drove in at about noon on Saturday and after driving down Riverside Drive and some of the downtown streets parked a couple of blocks fron the Beale Street club area. From there my girlfriend and I walked down Main street. I think Main Street is one of the most unique streets I've seen anywhere in America, with only Trolley traffic travelling it for a long stretch. That street has so much potential! I can tell that not too long ago, the street hit a low time, but it is quite evident that things have begun to turn around there. A goodly number of buildings are being are being converted to condos and apartments, and there is quite a bit of retail on the street, some new. With the nationwide trend of people moving back into the downtowns of many cities, I see this happening on a large scale in Memphis. I foresee Main Street as a properous, vibrant, mix of residential, retail, and office, that may well be the envy of many a city one day in the future. My walking continued to take me away from the river and eventually to the Peabody Hotel ( a truly wonderful hotel) and to the AutoZone Baseball Park, the home to the AAA Redbirds. Without a doubt, that is the finest minor league stadium I've ever seen! I went into Peabody Place and was amazed to see such a vibrant downtown shopping area there. I had no idea Memphis had 22 theaters downtown and so much shopping. The Theater area reminded me of the theater built at the Green Hills Mall in Nashville, only bigger. After that, we took a ride on the Trolley. The one we choose was full of passengers. I was so amazed at the number of trolleys running throughout the Memphis trolley system, and by the number of people riding on them. I really think Memphis can use this to their advantage as a tourist attraction, and as a way to attract people downtown. At one dollar, I thought the fare was extremely reasonable.

After the trolley ride, we had dinner at The Rendevous. I thought it made sense to try the most famous rib place first. I figured it would be my benchmark to compare other Memphis rib places in the future (I plan to come back and try some of the other which you'll recommended). I really liked it. I think the seasoning they have on their dry ribs is awesome! I can't wait to try some other places out, since many of you think there is ever better ribs to had in Memphis.

After the Rendevous, it was off to Beale Street. What a fun place.! I went into at least five or six clubs and enjoyed live music - blues at BB Kings, Rock and Roll, Jazz, and even a cool Piano Bar at Pat O'Briens with two singers at two pianos playing request after request.

All and all it was a terrific day, and I left Memphis with a newfound appreciation of what a great city it is. Thanks to all of you again, for your suggestions. I'll use some more of them on my next trip to Memphis.

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sleepy Burg

sleepy

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I did take some pictures. I've never posted pictures before, but I'll try to get them posted later. Are there any suggestions as to the easiest and best way to post pictures?

When you go to post a message, you'll see a little icon with a tree in it. Click that icon, and paste the picture's url in the box that pops up.

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sleepy Burg

sleepy

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Were those the size you uploaded to your hosting service? If so, I believe that's as big as they'll be.

If not, you might want to check your host. I know that pbase has small, medium, large, and original sizes, though nothing will be larger than original. I'm not sure if photobucket has different sizes to choose from, but if you uploaded a large size, you might want to make sure you didn't post some smaller size here.

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Hankster Town

Hankster

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Were those the size you uploaded to your hosting service? If so, I believe that's as big as they'll be.

If not, you might want to check your host. I know that pbase has small, medium, large, and original sizes, though nothing will be larger than original. I'm not sure if photobucket has different sizes to choose from, but if you uploaded a large size, you might want to make sure you didn't post some smaller size here.

When the pictures were uploaded, a message came up that the pictures were automatically being resized because they were bigger than 250K each. I had no idea they would end up so small. Is there a way to reduce the file size to something under 250K before uploading?

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mandrws1 Hamlet

mandrws1

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Thanks for all the ideas. It sounds like I should have an awesome time! I find it interesting that no one has suggested Graceland so far. :lol:

I've been to Graceland and its kind of creepy to me. Next time though, check out the Fire Museum of Memphis. I've never been, but I heard its pretty cool. I'm checking it out this weekend. I'll post my experience.

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