The Memphis Rock ’n’ Soul Museum and the Memphis Music Hall of Fame have purchased the former Hard Rock Cafe at 126 Beale Street for $5 million. It will be the new home of the Memphis Rock ’n’ Soul Museum. And much more.
J. W. and Kathy Gibson, Mike and Linda Curb, and the Assisi Foundation of Memphis are the largest donors who stepped forward to make the purchase a reality, says Memphis Rock ’n’ Soul Museum director John Doyle.
“We found out about this opportunity eight months ago when Hard Rock Cafe vacated,” Doyle says. “That’s when we knew the possibility was happening. Memphis Music Hall of Fame was in that building. We stepped forward. That $5 million was raised in eight months and we were able to purchase the building.”
The building, which was home to the original Lansky Bros. clothing store, is known as “The Historic Lansky Building,” Doyle says. “Someone could have bought it and torn it down. It was where Elvis used to shop for his clothes. Isaac Hayes shopped there. B. B. King shopped there. Jerry Lee Lewis shopped there. And Johnny Cash bought his first black coat there from Bernard Lansky on the second floor where the Memphis Music Hall of Fame exhibit is.”
Priscilla Presley, a strong supporter of the Memphis Rock ’n’ Soul Museum as well as the Memphis Music Hall of Fame and Beale Street, will host a press conference and then christen the building at 2 p.m. March 28th.
That’s when Doyle says they will tell the full story “about the impact that we look forward to making for students and musicians, and working with Beale Street.”
