The Downtown Mobility Center at Main and Beale has its opening this Thursday at 4 PM. The center will be a multi-modal hub for cars, bikes, and public transit. There will be a ribbon-cutting and remarks at 4:15 followed by self-guided tours.
I went as an observer on my new company’s Discovery Tour yesterday. It was every bit as fabulous as the history tour I went on Friday. Here are a few personal highlights I experienced:
- I got to see the I AM A MAN plaza for the first time. It used to be the parking lot of Clayborn Temple and served as a staging ground for the marches to City Hall during the 1968 sanitation workers’ strike
- I got to walk down Adams Avenue and hear the stories of the Victorian Villiage mansions built in the 1800s
- I learned the origin of the term “hooker” to describe a prostitute (hey, these tours are as Memphis as Memphis gets)
- I learned how Johnny Cash became The Man in Black
The Discovery Tour covers more ground than the history tour I went on Friday and therefore took place in an air-conditioned bus. Yesterday’s tour guide drove the bus himself, but I’m told I will have a driver when I conduct the tour in the future.
I will let you know the dates and times when I start leading my own tours.
I have had people ask where they can buy the two excellent books written by tour company founder Bill Patton. One is a history lover’s guide to Memphis, while the other focuses specifically on Downtown. To purchase, I direct you to the company’s About page. It has Amazon links to both books.
The DM has a look at the Skol-Astic Book Fair that will happen at Soul & Spirits brewery on Saturday, August 12. It’ll be a book fair for adults.
FOX 13 reports that Second between Court and Madison is closed for road work. No timetable has been given for its reopening.
Want to live on Court Square? There’s a 6th-floor condo for sale.
Legally change your name to “Subway” and you could win free sandwiches from the chain for life.
There’s a rumor going around that The Rock will return to WWE for the Summerslam premium live event on Saturday, probably in a speaking role as opposed to a match. His cousin Roman Reigns is the company’s universal champion and is involved in a family-based storyline.
There will be a live podcast with Fred Jones, founder of the Southern Heritage Classic, at the Cossitt Library this Saturday, August 5 from 2:00 to 3:30 PM.
That’ll wrap it up for today. Back tomorrow with more news.