Until now, you had to go to Tennessee to visit Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley.
But a new pop up is recreating the king of rock n roll's famous living room.
Michelle Castillo is on the scene with more.
That's right.
I'm here in Love Me Bartender, which is put on by the Memphis Tourism Board.
I'm here with Kevin.
Thank you so much for joining us. Now, this is a recreation of Elvis's Graceland
jungle room.
So can you walk me through some of the cool
aspects that you guys recreated here in New York City?
Well, we've brought the tiki style influence furniture that is at Graceland.
So this is an exact replica of the bar you
would have found in the jungle room at Graceland,
made by the Witco furniture company.
Elvis bought out the entire collection
green shag carpet on the floor and ceiling.
And we've recreated that as best as we could here inside Pana
on the upper West side here in New York, lots of faux
fur on the furnishings here in
the jungle room at Love Me Bartender.
And this of course is headed off to Boston and
Chicago after New York but we've got a really comfy couch
is
incredibly comfortable.
And Elvis would typically actually start his day at this end of the couch at the
couch just like this in jungle in the jungle room in Graceland.
And of course, we've got a faux chair with a guitar and a teddy bear.
This was actually a young Lisa Marie Presley's favorite
spot to nap in the afternoons at Graceland in Memphis
in front of this waterfall. So this is very, very close to almost
to the t an exact replica of the jungle room in Memphis.
If I have my Elvis history, right?
I heard he might have recorded some songs
while sitting in this replica of this chair.
Yeah, he actually recorded songs in the jungle room.
A portion of two albums because not only did the
jungle room in Memphis have Shaq Carb on the floor.
It also had it on ceiling. So it made for great acoustics for recording.
So it was kind of like a little home studio
slash Dinner man cave. You might call it today.
Now, you used to work for Elvis. I
did and why do you think we're still so obsessed with his music?
After all these years, we just had the movie come out as well.
I think Elvis is just one of those pop culture
icons and he really helped change the force of music.
You know, John Lennon said there would be no Beatles with Elvis Presley Paul Simon,
heavily influenced by Elvis Presley.
So many artists of today influenced by Elvis Presley.
So I think he's just one of those pop culture icons, one of the first to attain
that first name status. We know we don't need the last name.
And of course, Memphis was his home.
Graceland was the Kings Castle and over 23 million
people have visited since it opened for public tours.
And even more folks are coming after the movie and Memphis of course,
is a great place to come and experience.
Not only the blues soul and rock and rock and roll of our destination,
but also the best barbecue on both sides of the
Mississippi and some great culture and history as well.
Those are fighting words barbecue are, they sure are.
But tell me a little bit more about Graceland. I mean, we've heard about it.
What else can you do there besides go to the original job?
There's so much more than just the mansion tour at Graceland.
There's an automobile museum. Elvis love anything with an engine that moved fast.
So of course, he's known for Cadillacs, but we also have his Mercedes Benz
and a Ferrari in there as well.
There's an exhibit that actually is inspired by artists that have been influenced.
It's called the influence of Elvis Presley.
Artists that have sent stage costumes and other artifacts.
We've got John Lennon's piano in there.
So there's a lot of things to see and do. Besides just take the mansion tour
at Graceland.
It really can be a full day experience and then
explore Memphis from Beale Street to the National Civil Rights Museum
to Sun Studio and Stax Museum of American soul music. There's a lot to do in Memphis.
All right, if you come to the jungle room,
whether you're here or Boston or any future cities,
what are some Easter eggs that you should definitely look at?
I think you should definitely look for the details.
Do a little research on the jungle room and just see how close this is because
the furniture is exactly like it is at the jungle room in Memphis made by Witco.
This is not furniture that is acquired easily.
You have to find it from collectors and
here we've assembled it all in one spot and taking it on the road.
That's so great.
So stay tuned because we're going to tell you a little bit more,
especially about an Elvis inspired alcohol that's made at Graceland.
So back to you,
I can sense those jungle land vibes. Michelle Castillo on the scene, Michelle.
Thank you. And of course, we can't wait to hear more. OK.
Well, for over 20 years, Elvis Presley helped pioneer the rock and roll
genre with 18 songs hitting number one on the billboard charts.
But you may not know that he recorded some of his final songs from his living room.
Michelle Castillo has more.
That's right.
Kristen we're actually here at the Love me bartender pop up,
which was a recreation of the jungle room.
And they're actually showing us some cocktails they've made that's
inspired by the city of Memphis and also Elvis.
I'm here with Kevin Curn from the Memphis Tourism Board.
So tell me a little bit more about this Elvis Rye.
Well, we've got a little Tennessee Elvis whiskey here.
Is it too early for a cocktail?
It's
never too early for a cocktail.
So in our Memphis soul fashion, we do have the King Elvis, Tennessee whiskey,
which is an officially licensed Elvis whiskey that you can find here in New York.
And of course, all across the country
and it is the main ingredient in our Memphis soul fashion,
which is your traditional old fashioned with a little bit of an orange twist.
And then we also have our burning love here,
which is uh has a little rum and a muddled jalapeno has a little bit of hot kick to it.
And then of course, we have our balls
on Beal, which is uh has uh our vodka and blue car. So
the main ingredient,
Elvis wasn't a big drinker.
Elvis was not a big drinker, but when he did drink,
he have sometimes have a vodka beverage.
So
um we, we did have to have of course a vodka beverage and blues on Beal,
which Beale Street in Memphis was a huge influence to the king and his music now,
you know, this is very you have the tiki
container
earlier. So did Elvis really like Hawaii?
Is that why you see a lot of that in the jungle room? Yeah.
So Elvis loved a vacation in Hawaii.
He was a very private person,
which is also why he made his primary residence in Memphis.
He didn't live the true Hollywood lifestyle.
And when he went to vacation in Hawaii, he really felt at peace there. So
uh the,
as it was known then was sort of themed after Hawaii.
So you had the green shack carpet and the tiki
influence furnishings. And of course, the rest as they say is history.
And now the jungle room is here in New York and on its way to Chicago and Boston.
So if you want to see the jungle room, it's here for this weekend.
But there are plenty of other us cities that it's going to pop up in Boston is next.
And you said Chicago, Chicago.
So you can go to Memphis travel dot com forward slash love bartender.
Make your reservation today because I think we are just about booked up in New York.
So Boston Chicago open now for bookings. So do that. See you soon.
Michelle. Amazing. Always a good sport early in the morning.
Uh We appreciate Michelle's report.