Downtown there is a parking garage located inside a converted movie palace. When entering the garage, you must drive under its marquis which now reads:

on either side.

I have walked under a movie palace marquis before, and I have driven into an underground parking garage before, but I have never entered this particular location in either of its forms. I do not know anyone who has been to the theatre before or after its renovation either, but I imagine what it would be like to hear them talk about it. Perhaps there wasn’t always valet parking, but ticket costs were comparable.

As a child my father went to other movie palaces which had later not been repurposed but rather demolished. He had a horse and liked to pretend he was a cowboy, so he mainly saw westerns, which were often teamed up with a cartoon segment and newsreel. He remembers that when he came early, a man would play prelude music on the organ before the show. If he happened to miss this performance, the organist would also play between segments and again, at the end of the showing. He doesn’t remember how much these shows cost, but it was a Saturday afternoon matinee special, and less than a full priced-evening ticket.

I learned about the garage palace while watching a special on local architecture. I also learned there is an administrative building a few blocks from the garage palace which has casts of statues from the pediment of the Parthenon located on either side of its entrance steps. I have neither been to see these casts, nor have I seen the actual statues in the British Museum. I have, however, seen casts of these actual statues while visiting the Parthenon of Nashville, which is in itself a scale replica of the Temple of Athena Parthenos. You must enter the Parthenon of Nashville below the actual double bronze door entrance. The tickets cost only $2 after four pm, which is half price.

Before leaving Tennessee, I also visited Memphis. In Memphis there is a great pyramid-shaped convention center along the Mississippi River. At the entrance steps stands a seemingly misplaced statue of Ramses. I am unsure of the size of the convention center in comparison to any actual pyramids in the Valley of the Kings, though its not nearly as impressive, I’m sure.

While in Memphis you can also visit Graceland, the actual home and gravesite of Elvis Presley. The house sits on top of a hill, and in order to get beyond the gates to see the building, you have to purchase some sort of tour. The cheapest tour is exactly eight times more than it costs to see the Parthenon of Nashville after four pm. You enter Graceland through the front door, but one of the first stops, and my favorite stop on the self-guided tour, is down the stairs, in the basement, where you can view the yellow and blue TCB lounge.

After visiting Graceland, I called my father to tell him about the various rooms and costumes and the Presley family burial site. My father was also stationed in Germany at the same time as Elvis, and also met his wife in Germany, the same place as Elvis, although in a different location. I thought he might be interested in visiting Graceland because it is actually a farmstead complete with a fair-sized horse ranch. While Elvis and my father both enjoyed westerns, my father did not enjoy Elvis’s movies.

The movie palace downtown was transformed into a parking facility somewhere in the midst of Presley’s film career, although it had never shown a film featuring the musical or acting talents of Elvis, since it had closed nearly a decade before. My father tells me that Elvis made more money from his movies than his records, although he doesn’t remember if this is true. Today Elvis’s estate makes a great deal through the sale of tickets to Graceland, which his daughter arranged to have converted into a museum especially for his fans. She continues to take care of the finances, and in return, receives much of its revenue.