Lauderdale Courts — Elvis's Memphis childhood home

Lauderdale Courts at 252 North Lauderdale Street in Memphis was one of America's first public housing projects, and it's where the Presley family landed after moving from Tupelo, Mississippi, in 1948. Elvis was 13 when they arrived, settling into apartment 328 — a modest two-bedroom unit that would become his home during the formative years when Memphis's music scene rewired his DNA.

Living in Lauderdale Courts put young Elvis within walking distance of Beale Street, where he absorbed the blues, gospel, and R&B pouring out of clubs and record shops. He'd press his face against the window of Lansky Brothers to study the sharp clothes, sneak into gospel singings at Ellis Auditorium, and tune his radio to WDIA — the first station in America programmed entirely for Black audiences. The musical education he received in this neighbourhood fused into the sound that would change popular music forever.

The Presleys were technically evicted in 1953 when the family's income — boosted by Elvis's job at Crown Electric — exceeded the housing project's limits. By then, Elvis was already recording at Sun Studio just a few blocks away.

Apartment 328 has been restored as a 1950s time capsule and is the only Elvis-associated home in the world where fans can spend the night. One-night stays are available for $250, booked by calling the management company directly — there's no online reservation system. The apartment features a spacious living room where classic Elvis films play, an authentic 1950s refrigerator stocked with a recipe card for his favourite fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and Elvis's bedroom with a guitar on the bed for guests to play. One wall is covered in lipstick kisses from visitors, with a sign reading "Kisses Only Please No Writing."

During Elvis's birth week in January and death week in August, the property also offers $10 tours for visitors who want a shorter experience. The building itself — now called Uptown Square — has been renovated into market-rate apartments, but unit 328 remains frozen in time as a shrine to the teenager who lived there before he became the King.