Hey folks, I'm going to show some friends around town, and I've come up with one day hitting a favorite Midtown circuit of mine (Overton Park/Rhodes - Broad - Fairgrounds - Cooper Young - Overton Square). I like it because of what I imagine it will be in the near future. But, I thought about it, and this circuit includes Elvis' first concert venue, one of the nation's top zoos, one of its top 10 neighborhoods, two of Rolling Stone's best record stores, an up-and-coming music festival which I've missed, and AAA Traveler's best children's museum of the South. Not to mention Soul Fish is one of the best catfish joints around, and Central BBQ is, well, you know. Any accolades I have missed? I'm looking forward to seeing Overton Square's emergence as a theater district, and within driving distance will be the Crosstown area in the near future.

A walk down Stonewall north of Poplar on a moonlight night is just magical with the gorgeous homes.
Just outside of downtown is the lake in the middle of Chickasaw Gardens, a beautiful park, esp. in spring and fall. And of course, the Pink Palace.
The homes in Central Gardens, esp. on Central, Belvedere and Peabody. The Galloway mansion on North McLean, and Beverly Hall on Central at Willette.
Just outside of Midtown is the World Famous Poplar Lounge.

Seems like a great tour you have planned.

Hey, Neillis! Any suggestions?

P.S. Try the baked chicken at Soul Fish, too. Best in town.

(12-04-2012 07:40 PM)21-17 Best Time I Ever Ha Wrote:  Just outside of Midtown is the World Famous Poplar Lounge.

Seriously? The REAL ONE (the World Famous one) was torn town. Maybe things have changed, but I checked it out quite a while back and no comparison. They didn't even have Don Dogs and Wally Burgers.

Don't forget the Pink Palace.

Ah yes, the real Poplar Lounge.

(12-04-2012 06:40 PM)kabluey Wrote:  Hey folks, I'm going to show some friends around town, and I've come up with one day hitting a favorite Midtown circuit of mine (Overton Park/Rhodes - Broad - Fairgrounds - Cooper Young - Overton Square). I like it because of what I imagine it will be in the near future. But, I thought about it, and this circuit includes Elvis' first concert venue, one of the nation's top zoos, one of its top 10 neighborhoods, two of Rolling Stone's best record stores, an up-and-coming music festival which I've missed, and AAA Traveler's best children's museum of the South. Not to mention Soul Fish is one of the best catfish joints around, and Central BBQ is, well, you know. Any accolades I have missed? I'm looking forward to seeing Overton Square's emergence as a theater district, and within driving distance will be the Crosstown area in the near future.

You might consider Sun Studio/Museum just a few blocks west of Midtown. At Union and Marshall.

(12-04-2012 09:54 PM)KRB Wrote:  Ah yes, the real Poplar Lounge.

It was tradition for us to hit that place up for a beer on the way back from the tomb of doom

(12-04-2012 10:03 PM)SayWhat? Wrote:  

(12-04-2012 06:40 PM)kabluey Wrote:  Hey folks, I'm going to show some friends around town, and I've come up with one day hitting a favorite Midtown circuit of mine (Overton Park/Rhodes - Broad - Fairgrounds - Cooper Young - Overton Square). I like it because of what I imagine it will be in the near future. But, I thought about it, and this circuit includes Elvis' first concert venue, one of the nation's top zoos, one of its top 10 neighborhoods, two of Rolling Stone's best record stores, an up-and-coming music festival which I've missed, and AAA Traveler's best children's museum of the South. Not to mention Soul Fish is one of the best catfish joints around, and Central BBQ is, well, you know. Any accolades I have missed? I'm looking forward to seeing Overton Square's emergence as a theater district, and within driving distance will be the Crosstown area in the near future.

You might consider Sun Studio/Museum just a few blocks west of Midtown. At Union and Marshall.

Yeah, this was a day of kind of an everyday quality of life tour, not as much the touristy stuff. But very good point, we'll be doing a downtown leg as well; I could put together a music tour, but it's sort of well-tread territory. I will check out the Flyer for concerts or acts that are playing in the area. If Minglewood has something decent, I might add that.

(12-04-2012 07:40 PM)21-17 Best Time I Ever Ha Wrote:  A walk down Stonewall north of Poplar on a moonlight night is just magical with the gorgeous homes.
Just outside of downtown is the lake in the middle of Chickasaw Gardens, a beautiful park, esp. in spring and fall. And of course, the Pink Palace.
The homes in Central Gardens, esp. on Central, Belvedere and Peabody. The Galloway mansion on North McLean, and Beverly Hall on Central at Willette.
Just outside of Midtown is the World Famous Poplar Lounge.

Seems like a great tour you have planned.

Hey, Neillis! Any suggestions?

P.S. Try the baked chicken at Soul Fish, too. Best in town.

Thanks for the neighborhood suggestions.

maybe try and find that dude who walks his pet goats thru cooper young

You seem to have a fairly good list going. Are you going in anywhere or merely driving them around?

You can add the Hein Park neighborhood next to Rhodes and East parkway between Poplar and Central to 21-17's list of gorgeous homes. Make sure you actually drive into the Rhodes campus, it is truly awesome.

When you're in Overton Park, I would imagine that you're already planning to drive by Brooks and the Shell.

When you go to the Square, don't forget to drive thru the backend (south) to check out the HUGE hole in the ground that will end up being the water retention basin / parking garage. If you find yourself in need of a sweet treat, stop in Yolo's.

You can add a drive thru Tiger Lane (especially after dark) and Elmwood Cemetary. Victorian Village is pretty cool and a stop across the street for a cocktail at the Molly Fontaine Lounge is unique (only open Wed thru Sat).

If you wanted a more unique alternative to Central, a bar-b-que sandwich and a baloney sammich at Payne's would fill that slot.

Start your morning with some coffee at Otherlands or Java Cabana.

drive through central gardens and look at all the cool old houses...

dive trough Tiger Lane at night...

the Rhodes campus is also very nice...

I plan on parking and showing them the walkability of at least some of these different districts -- Broad and Cooper Young definitely, probably will just drive around the Fairgrounds/Liberty Bowl and Rhodes. Haven't decided on Overton Square yet; depends on time of day I guess and hunger. Might start there, head to Broad for pizza for lunch, Soul Fish or Central BBQ for dinner. Don't want to microplan it either. Check out Goner, Young Ave, Alchemy, maybe some of the new places around Overton Square (Gastropub?).

It'd be cool if there was a shuttle. Won't be able to visit everything I want to show them. I did overlook Otherlands; I'd like to see that stretch of Cooper developed more, it has a lot of potential. We'll prolly at least pick up a coffee there, hit on a barista or two.

Is the Liberty Bowl open for people that want to run the steps if they want to exercise?

(12-05-2012 12:43 PM)kabluey Wrote:  I plan on parking and showing them the walkability of at least some of these different districts -- Broad and Cooper Young definitely, probably will just drive around the Fairgrounds/Liberty Bowl and Rhodes. Haven't decided on Overton Square yet; depends on time of day I guess and hunger. Might start there, head to Broad for pizza for lunch, Soul Fish or Central BBQ for dinner. Don't want to microplan it either. Check out Goner, Young Ave, Alchemy, maybe some of the new places around Overton Square (Gastropub?).

It'd be cool if there was a shuttle. Won't be able to visit everything I want to show them. I did overlook Otherlands; I'd like to see that stretch of Cooper developed more, it has a lot of potential. We'll prolly at least pick up a coffee there, hit on a barista or two.

Is the Liberty Bowl open for people that want to run the steps if they want to exercise?

The local

Cool. Thanks peeps. If anything else comes to mind, lemme know.

(12-05-2012 12:51 PM)tiger2000 Wrote:  

(12-05-2012 12:43 PM)kabluey Wrote:  I plan on parking and showing them the walkability of at least some of these different districts -- Broad and Cooper Young definitely, probably will just drive around the Fairgrounds/Liberty Bowl and Rhodes. Haven't decided on Overton Square yet; depends on time of day I guess and hunger. Might start there, head to Broad for pizza for lunch, Soul Fish or Central BBQ for dinner. Don't want to microplan it either. Check out Goner, Young Ave, Alchemy, maybe some of the new places around Overton Square (Gastropub?).

It'd be cool if there was a shuttle. Won't be able to visit everything I want to show them. I did overlook Otherlands; I'd like to see that stretch of Cooper developed more, it has a lot of potential. We'll prolly at least pick up a coffee there, hit on a barista or two.

Is the Liberty Bowl open for people that want to run the steps if they want to exercise?

The local

ate there
overpriced
dont get the hoopla
but the upstairs is neat

(12-05-2012 03:12 PM)Willie Becton Wrote:  

(12-05-2012 12:51 PM)tiger2000 Wrote:  

(12-05-2012 12:43 PM)kabluey Wrote:  I plan on parking and showing them the walkability of at least some of these different districts -- Broad and Cooper Young definitely, probably will just drive around the Fairgrounds/Liberty Bowl and Rhodes. Haven't decided on Overton Square yet; depends on time of day I guess and hunger. Might start there, head to Broad for pizza for lunch, Soul Fish or Central BBQ for dinner. Don't want to microplan it either. Check out Goner, Young Ave, Alchemy, maybe some of the new places around Overton Square (Gastropub?).

It'd be cool if there was a shuttle. Won't be able to visit everything I want to show them. I did overlook Otherlands; I'd like to see that stretch of Cooper developed more, it has a lot of potential. We'll prolly at least pick up a coffee there, hit on a barista or two.

Is the Liberty Bowl open for people that want to run the steps if they want to exercise?

The local

ate there
overpriced
dont get the hoopla
but the upstairs is neat

Jeff has to get the remodeling costs back somehow

Just found out about the church in CY where Johnny Cash had his first concert. Yeah, I'll be adding that incidental tidbit in my tour... It's now called the Abbey; some students from the Visible School are trying to turn it into a viable regular concert venue.

http://cooperyoung.weebly.com/johnny-cas...young.html

(12-05-2012 08:46 PM)kabluey Wrote:  Just found out about the church in CY where Johnny Cash had his first concert. Yeah, I'll be adding that incidental tidbit in my tour... It's now called the Abbey; some students from the Visible School are trying to turn it into a viable regular concert venue.

http://cooperyoung.weebly.com/johnny-cas...young.html

very cool.

You could always show them the campus and follow it up with breakfast at Brother Juniper's. Is that Mideast Town?

(12-05-2012 11:07 PM)georgiatiger Wrote:  You could always show them the campus and follow it up with breakfast at Brother Juniper's. Is that Mideast Town?

No, its Purgatory, halfway between Midtown and East Memphis. It's where all good East Memphians go before they are admitted to Midtown.

I've been stuck here for about 30 years, by choice. I grew up in Midtown and lived for a few years in east East Memphis. This is a fine place to perch, midway between the two.