Walking in Memphis

THE ARCADE

Despite the vast quantities of food consumed the previous day, a vow of abstinence was quickly forgotten when we kicked off the day at the Arcade Restaurant, a local landmark and the oldest café in Memphis. Elvis himself would come here of a morning, and given the enormous breakfast portions it’s no surprise he was somewhat larger by the time he took up his residencies in Las Vegas! The restaurant itself is frozen in time in terms of decoration, and it’s this historical accurate look which has attracted numerous filmmakers to the place. The list of movie credits filmed here includes Mystery Train, Great Balls of Fire, The Client, The Firm, 21 Grams, Elizabethtown, Walk the Line, My Blueberry Nights and more, and several tv shows have featured the establishment. The food is great, the staff attentive, the surroundings otherworldly. It has a lot of hype around it, but it easily lives up to it. It’s location in historic downtown across from Memphis Central Station is perfect these days, with the trolley bells ringing and historic buildings aplenty. However, it’s amazing the restaurant survived at all. In it’s heyday, there was so much going on that the crossing outside required a policeman to direct traffic 24 hours a day! However, in the late 60’s the area was largely abandoned as the railroad declined, there was a business migration from downtown and the final nail in the coffin was the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr nearby.