Photo Essay: The Peabody, A Grand Hotel of Marching Ducks and Memphis Royalty

When we were planning our Memphis trip months ahead of when we'd actually travel for my birthday, our hotel options always boiled down to one clear choice: The Peabody. 

 

I'd heard of it from a friend who'd stayed there several years ago for a work conference, and who'd been delighted by the daily duck parade. That was enough to seal the deal for me. 

 

But then I also realized that it also fit the theme of my destination birthday celebration—that is, Elvis, whose manager Colonel Parker closed a record deal for the rising star with RCA Victor right there in the lobby in 1955. (The budding performer had previously visited the Peabody to attend his senior prom there.)

Photo Essay: The Life and Career of Elvis Presley, As Seen Through Graceland's Costume, Car, and Airplane Collections

It actually never really occurred to me that going to Graceland would mean more than just visiting the mansion that Elvis Presley lived in until his death in 1977. 

 

But actually there's more—a lot more—across the street, including the "Elvis: The Entertainer Career Museum."

Photo Essay: An Emotional Visit to Graceland, A Trippy Voyage Back to the 1970s

Memphis had been on my bucket list for a long time—but I kept regretting not going when I was a lot closer to it geographically while I was living in New York City. 

I couldn't fit it in during my trips to Tennessee when I flew to Knoxville for a wedding in Chattanooga in 2005 or Nashville for the Kentucky Bourbon Festival in 2007. And after moving to California in 2011, Memphis has just always felt so far. 

It was the type of trip I hadn't allowed myself to splurge on, which made it the perfect way to celebrate a milestone birthday. 

The lynchpin to my birthday trip was, of course, Graceland—the historic home of Elvis Presley from 1957 until his death in 1977. 

Photo Essay: The Memphis of Elvis, Beyond Graceland

The easy explanation for my recent Memphis trip was that I was celebrating my 50th birthday at Graceland. 

But the truth is, I went to Memphis for Elvis. All of Elvis. 

After all, most casual Elvis fans seem to segregate his career into two eras—young Elvis (à la Jailhouse Rock) and Vegas Elvis—and typically prefer the "earlier" one versus the "late" one. But my favorite Elvis era is a middle era: the '68 Comeback Special, when he was coming out of his Paramount movie career and getting back into performing live, right before he started his Las Vegas residency in 1969. 

And I have much affection for the cape-wearing, lei-laden, karate-chopping Elvis of Aloha from Hawaii, That's the Way It Is, and his final album (a live-and-studio combo) Moody Blue. 

I'd already chased all those Elvises around two states—like at the Honeymoon Hideaway and other sites around Palm Springs, and at the former International Hotel on the Vegas Strip. But now, it was time for me to finally experience what remains of The King in his longtime hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.

And that's more than just Graceland (pictured above, of which at least one photo essay is forthcoming.)

Photo Essay: How Southern California Inspired the Creation of This Memphis Cemetery's 'Crystal Cave'

I took a trip to Memphis for my milestone birthday at the end of September, mostly to finally visit Graceland and cross that off my bucket list. 

I really wanted an Elvis-themed weekend, so I shied away from attractions that weren't rooted in the history of rock and roll or its king. 

But there was one exception to my rule, something I definitely did not want to miss: the Crystal Shine Grotto. 

It's touted as "the world's only man-made crystal cave" (I guess the Crystal Cave in Yucca Valley, CA doesn't count because it's foam?)—and from the outside, it looks like a geological oddity tucked away in the middle of East Memphis's Memorial Park Cemetery. 

 

 

Photo Essay: Kicking Off Yet Another New Year at the Rose Parade (2025 Edition)

I don't go to the Rose Parade every year. After all, I didn't even go at all until 2015. And I skipped 2019 and 2022.

   

But this year, on the first day of 2025, the pull to watch those floats, marching bands, and horses crawl down Colorado Boulevard was so strong...

 

...that I woke up with a start (and without an alarm) at 8:15 a.m. after just five hours of sleep and made a beeline to Pasadena.

Photo Essay: A Celebrity Estate for the Ages, the Kirk Douglas Residence in Palm Springs

Late actor Kirk Douglas hadn't lived in his Palm Springs estate at 515 Via Lola since 1999...

Poster courtesy of SenseiAlan via Flickr (CC by 2.0 DEED)

...but after he spent 40 years' worth of vacations there, it will forever be known as the "Kirk Douglas Residence." 

Photo Essay: SoCal's Other Christmas Tree Lane, In Oxnard (ft. the F Street Railroad)

I'd already been to Christmas Tree Lane in Altadena, just northeast of the city of Los Angeles—but it's not the only Christmas Tree Lane around in Southern California. 

 

There's another one in the city of Oxnard in Ventura County, north of Los Angeles in the other direction—and this year I finally got to go (once again for a shoot for work).

Photo Essay: Chasing Down Elvis in Vegas

It didn't really occur to me when I visited the then-Las Vegas Hilton back in the late 1990s (for Star Trek: The Experience, which ran there 1998 to 2008) that I so close to the legacy left by Elvis Presley at the former International Hotel.

 

Year In Review: 2022 Updates to Past Posts

I wish that all this blog was for was to brag about cool stuff I do. 

But I sense a greater purpose in my documenting these places and experiences. It all feels like they'll be gone one day. 

And I feel a duty to report back when they unfortunately do go away. 

It happens more and more every year. 

But thank goodness it's not all bad news. Because sometimes I get to update on a historic place being saved from demolition, rehabilitated, or even reopened. 

I think it's important to keep these entries current with the present condition of the places I've visited. That means sometimes I have to keep going back to check on them. Or to say goodbye. And then share what I've seen (or what can no longer be seen).

So, for the third year in a row, here's a recap of all the updates I made to my Avoiding Regret entries from SoCal and Vegas over the last year—the good, the bad, the ugly, and the complicated.

Closures/Losses/Deaths/Preservation Threats

 

1. Photo Essay: The Cloistered Nuns of Hollywood and Their Stately Home (Closed—Updated for 2022)

2. Adventures on Pico: From a Chili Bowl to An Oil Well (Updated for 2022)

Photo Essay: The Most Vegas-y Football Stadium Ever Is Now Home to the Raiders (And the 2024 Super Bowl)

Once again, football season has rolled around—and although I took the tour of Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas back in May 2022, I waited until now to post about it.

 

It was purpose-built (on land that's always been a vacant lot, according to HistoricAerials.com) as the National Football League stadium of the Las Vegas Raiders—formerly the Oakland Raiders (1960–1981 and 1995–2019) and, when I was growing up and watching American football with my dad, the LA Raiders (1982–1994). They relocated to Vegas in 2020, although that year they played to an empty stadium because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Photo Essay: Melody Ranch Movie Ranch Evolves Beyond Its Western Town Legacy

When I last toured Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio in 2014, it was during the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival. But the movie ranch, located within LA's "30-Mile Zone" for filming, no longer hosts that festival—and it's gotten progressively hard to access it at any other time.

 

But Historical Society of Crescenta Valley managed to catch it during a rare quiet time of production, when no filming was taking place and previously super-secret sets from the Westworld TV series were being dismantled (and mostly still couldn't be photographed).

Photo Essay: Palm Springs' House of Tomorrow, Exorcised of Its Elvis 'Sideshow'

Although Elvis did have a house in Beverly Hills, Palm Springs seems like it was more like the West Coast home-away-from-Memphis of our dearly-departed King of Rock and Roll.

 

And that's where there's the modernist home leased for him by Colonel Tom Parker for a year starting in 1966—built in 1960 as "The House of Tomorrow" by architect William Krisel.

From Country to Rock and Glam: The Sunset Strip's First High-Rise Hotel (With the Tallest Rooftop Pool In All of L.A.)

When I would have to visit Los Angeles for my work in the music industry back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it had become passé to stay at the Hyatt House, a.k.a. the Riot House—where bands like Led Zeppelin had famously partied in the 1970s.

But the Sunset Strip was still cool back then, even 20 years ago. We just stayed across the street at hotels like The Standard Hollywood (now closed), the Mondrian, or The Grafton on Sunset (now Hotel Ziggy)—and we felt the Riot House's presence, looming over Sunset Boulevard.

circa 2020

Photo Essay: Buck Owens' Crystal Palace, Home of the Bakersfield Sound [Updated for 2025—Closed]

[Last updated 8/12/25 11:30 AM PT—The Owens family has permanently closed the Buck Owens Crystal Palace.]

[Updated 8/29/24 12:29 PM PT—A July 3, 2024 Facebook post announced that the Buck Owens Private Foundation is listing Buck Owens Crystal Palace for sale, citing rising costs of food and labor. All events will continue as planned until a sale goes through. ] 

I explored Bakersfield twice in 2012—and then not again for nearly another 10 years. (I figure the tiki bus trip with Tonga Hut to Tiki Ko in October 2019 doesn't exactly count.)

The biggest draw for my return was Buck Owens' Crystal Palace, located right next to the historic Bakersfield sign.  

A Hawaiian Village Hideaway in the San Fernando Valley Holds Its Annual Luau, 2556 Miles from Honolulu (Updated for 2024)

[Last updated 10/14/24 12:00 PT PM—Photos of the bomb shelter in the museum added, plus details about the luau.]

In the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Sherman Oaks, there's a 10-acre community of resort-style residential living that captures the mid-20th century perception of Hawaii and living in island style—though it's—a whopping 2556 miles from Honolulu. 

circa 1963 (Joan Huntington on left, Heidt on right) via LAPL

What began as a horse ranch had begun to transform into the hidden oasis it is today—Horace Heidt's Magnolia Estate Apartments—when 1930s big band leader Horace Heidt started building in 1955. 

Photo Essay: Noshes and Late Nights at Canter's Deli on Fairfax

The Beverly Grove neighborhood of Los Angeles has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to groovy and historic coffee shops to visit—from Norm's on La Cienega to Swinger's Diner on Beverly and Dupar's at the Original Farmers Market. 

 

But Canter's on Fairfax—at the edge of the nationally-landmarked Beverly Fairfax Historic District, one block north of Beverly Boulevard on Fairfax Avenue—holds a special place in my heart, as it's located in a former movie theater. 

A Wall of Wishes for 2021

It was New Year's Eve, and I had no plans.  

 

For this year's holidays, I'd gotten in the habit of just jumping in the car and going for a drive to get some fresh air and feel like I was a part of the world outside. 
 

Today, I decided to visit the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California...

...whose New Year-themed "Wishing Wall" runs until January 8. 

I welcomed the opportunity to walk past the Skouras-era ticket booth...

...and tread upon the terrazzo sidewalk...

...to approach the gate to the forecourt...

...where Glendale Arts has wired up some blank tags for the community to record their wishes for the new year.

Most of the wishes are what you'd expect, at least for California...

...including world peace, fame (as famous as Elvis!), and that everyone would become vegan. 

And, not surprisingly, some messages wished for the end of COVID-19 in 2021. 

My wish? For a reason to be hopeful. 

Related Posts:

Photo Essay: Open House at the Restored Alex Theatre, Magic Hour

Photo Essay: A Hidden Theater in the Heart of Times Square

Year-In-Review: 2020 Updates to Past Posts

This year, I finally cut myself a break and relaxed on my goal to publish a new blog post, on average, every other day. 

Up until this year, that meant 15 posts a month—or 182 posts a year. 

But I hadn't actually hit that goal since I started writing full-time at the end of 2015. And I was tired of feeling like a failure. 

So I moved the benchmark. 

Besides, as time wears on, I'm spending more and more time updating older posts with new developments—closures, demolitions, renovations, and sometimes even reopenings—and sometimes even additional, updated photos. 

This year, I thought I'd collect all those updates in one end-of-year post to make them easier to access. 

In no particular order, here are this year's updates:

1. Photo Essay: The Last Movie Theatre of Beverly Hills (Updated for 2020)

added pics of the renovated marquee and new vertical sign

2. Photo Essay: Rancho Los Amigos, Abandoned County Poor Farm, Downey (Exterior—Updated for 2020)

an update on the attempt to save several significant buildings from demolition

3. Photo Essay: A Tiny Tuscan Villa Above the Palos Verdes 'Riviera' (Updated for 2020)

an update on the sale of the property

4. Photo Essay: It's Déjà Vu for Hollywood's Most Famous Imperiled Intersection (Updated for 2020)

an update on the seemingly imminent demolition of the former Lytton Savings bank building

5. Photo Essay: Amboy, A Quintessential Ghost Town Along Route 66 (Updated for 2020)

an update on the restored neon sign for Roy's 

6. Photo Essay: Come Gather Round All Ye Islanders at the Catalina Casino (Updated for 2020)

an update on the operations of the movie theatre inside Catalina Casino

7. Photo Essay: Palos Verdes Bowl, Upon Its Imminent Demolition (Updated for 2020, Now Closed)

an update on the closure of Palos Verdes Bowl

8. Photo Essay: The Gamble House, Pasadena (Updated for 2020)

  

updated with new management info

9. Photo Essay: Farmers and Merchants, the Old Bank with Big Plans (Updated for 2020)

mostly an update of what hasn't happened

10. Photo Essay: Wildflowering at Poppy Peak (Updated for 2020)

 

added information regarding petition advocating against development

11. Photo Essay: The Ghostly Shadow of the Red Car (Updated for 2020)

 

updated with new construction information

12. Photo Essay: Joshua Tree's Barker Dam, Closed to Public (Updated for 2020)

updated to reflect reopening

13. Photo Essay: Elvis' Honeymoon History at The House of Tomorrow (Updated for 2020)

updated with info on the sale of the house and the closure of the public tours

14. Found: The Relocated and Reassembled Streetlights of the Dismantled "Vermonica" (Updated for 2020)

 

updated with new, permanent location of the reassembled Vermonica

15. Photo Essay: Wilshire May Company Building, Miracle Mile (Updated for 2020)

updated status regarding renovations and reopening

16. Photo Essay: Miracle Mile (Updated for 2020)

tweaked some info and added a photo of The Dark Room

17. Photo Essay: Neutra's Lovell Health House and Hollywood Supervillain Lair, Upon Its 90th Anniversary (Updated for 2020)

updated ownership status

18. Another One Bites the Dust: Santa Monica Edition (Updated for 2020)

added new photos and general update of closure and impending demolition

19. Photo Essay: How An East Coaster Helped Turn San Juan Cove Into Dana Point (Updated for 2020)

updated with info on the sinking of The Pilgrim

20. Photo Essay: The Many Lives of LA's Original Farmers Market (Updated for 2020)

added photos of the new rooftop sign that fooled experts into thinking it was neon

21. Photo Essay: Candy Cane Lane, Upon the Centennial of El Segundo (Updated for 2020)

updated with this year's temporary closure information

22. Photo Essay: Upon the 90th Anniversary of the Egyptian Theatre (Updated for 2020—Sold to Netflix)

updated ownership and plans for restoration

I'm hoping there will be nothing torn down, burned down, or closed up in the next 7 days for me to report on—but if there is, I'll amend this post accordingly to include it.