Last night was the last night for Pat O’Brien’s on Beale Street… they’ve closed down and served their last Hurricane. This WMC-TV article hints at the future of the building. Local businessman/politician Joe Cooper (you remember him from the Main Street Sweeper scandal that sent Rickey Peete back to prison) wants to turn the place into a hotel and restaurant. The hotel would be five stories, all suites, some with balconies overlooking Beale, similar to hotel balconies that overlook Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Cooper’s partner in the venture is none other than professional wrestler Jerry “The King” Lawler.
Speaking of wrestling, this morning I’ve been reading an article on Sputnik Monroe, a wrestler who in the ’50s was even more popular in Memphis than Jerry Lawler is today. Monroe played a key role in race relations in the city. Once he became the town’s biggest draw and was selling out the Ellis Auditorium on a weekly basis, he went to the promoters with a demand: Get rid of the “colored section.” In those says seating at sports events was segregated, and African-Americans were restricted to the nosebleed balcony seats. Monroe demanded that blacks be allowed to sit anywhere they wanted in the auditorium, or he wouldn’t perform. This paved the way for integration at other sporting events and nightclubs.
Whew! Rough start to the day, after my trivia team cashed in its $460 worth of gift certificates last night. We’ll start over at zero on Tuesday. I missed brunch again. Will head to the Saucer about 2. Going to take the laptop with me so I can work on my latest website once I get done beating Pete at pool.