For Little Elvises
Where to Kid Around in Memphis
For those born well past any of Elvis' living heydays, the fabled King may be just about as real as Santa Claus. And as for the blues? Teals and midnights in Crayola. But Memphis has plenty to offer the littler people -- and the parents who come with them.
Peabody Hotel
Everything's ducky
149 Union Avenue
You don't have to be a kid to get a kick out of the Peabody Hotel's daily procession of ducks. Every morning, this historic hotel just around the corner from Beale Street escorts its flock of mallards -- by elevator -- from their rooftop penthouse to the two-story lobby where a red carpet is rolled out for their trek to the grand marble fountain. In the evening, after a full day of cavorting, they head back up the elevator for a good night's rest. Crowds pack the lobby for both events -- Donald and Daffy would most surely be envious.
Hot stuff
Fire Museum of Memphis
118 Adams Avenue
Budding pyro-philes can get their fill -- safely -- at the nation's first Fire Museum, set to open in early 1998. The museum, lodged in a 1910 firehouse downtown, will feature a "Fire Room," where spectacular fires will be re-created through special effects. Visitors will be able to slide down a fire pole and climb on a new fire engine. And an interactive education center drives home the message about fire safety.
- Phone: (901) 452-9973
- Fire Museum
Playground for the mind
The Children's Museum of Memphis
2525 Central Avenue
The Children's Museum of Memphis dubs itself the place where "Children learn to play and parents learn to play again." With exhibits ranging from a tot-sized grocery store where kids can do their own play-shopping and ring up purchases to a 22-foot-tall, mesh-encaged vertical maze, the museum offers plenty of hands-on experience for children ages 12 months through 12 years. "The mission is definitely educational. There's a playground feel, but there's learning going on," says Kathy Martin of the museum.
- Phone: (901) 320-3170
- The Children's Museum
Rock the boat
Titanic: The Exhibition
Front Street and Auction Avenue
A perennial of disaster fascination, the Titanic exhibit at Memphis' landmark arena, the Pyramid, has lured more than 400,000 visitors in about four months. In addition to an unprecedented collection of more than 300 artifacts recovered from the doomed ocean liner, the exhibit features an 18-foot model of the ship and re-creations of state rooms and a deck area. Tracy Paden of Wonders!, the Memphis cultural group that organized the exhibition, says it is designed with kids in mind. "It's emotional, but people take it well," she says. The exhibit runs through September 30.
- Phone: (800) 263-6744
- Wonders! Titanic
Shake, rattle and roll
Libertyland
940 Early Maxwell Boulevard
Few amusement parks can claim the heritage of Libertyland. Its Zippin Pippin -- the oldest operating roller coaster in the country -- was, by some accounts, Elvis' favorite. And the park's 1909 Grand Carousel, with hand-carved wooden horses, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. General admission, just $7, includes all kiddie rides, the carousel and shows. Children under 3 are admitted free.
- Phone: (800) 552-PARK
- Libertyland Homepage
Lions and tigers and bears, oh my
Memphis Zoo & Aquarium
2000 Galloway
The Memphis Zoo is shiny and new, having just completed a $30 million renovation. View the four-acre Cat Country, an open habitat featuring African lions, spotted leopards, jaguars and cheetahs -- or venture into the more prosaic Once Upon a Farm. The zoo is open seven days a week (except Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day) and is free on Mondays from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. (the zoo closes at 6 p.m.).
- Phone: (800) 288-8763
- Memphis Zoo
In the pink
Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium
350 Central Avenue
What began as a pink stone mansion built in 1923 for the founder of Piggly Wiggly (the first self-service grocery store) is now one of Memphis' largest museums featuring such kid-magnets as dinosaur fossils, an extensive mineral collection, a planetarium and an IMAX theater. While Piggly Wiggly founder Clarence Saunders never lived in the mansion (he lost his fortune on the stock market), his legacy does -- the eclectic museum contains an exact replica of his original store.
- Phone: (901) 320-6320
- Memphis Guide
Related sites:
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Music! Music! Music! | Museum-o-rama
King Calendar | Memphis Links
Meet Me in Memphis
Graceland Tour de Force | Jumpsuits Across America
Destination: Elvis
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