I've never been to Memphis, and know nothing about it..............what part of town or outside of town is the best place to stay? What do I need to avoid?

Places to avoid?  The area around Graceland, from what I have been repeatedly told.  Graceland itself is supposed to be safe, but not the surrounding area.

Where are some good places to stay? Hotel wise?

Just got back from Memphis tonight.

Fuck Memphis.

I would stay at the casinos in Tunica and visit Graceland and leave when done.

We stayed in a Four Points Sheraton on the east side of Memphis which should be a good hotel...once Friday and Saturday rolled around it was thug central.

I love Tennessee (east and middle) and this was my first time truly spending time in Memphis and was definitely not impressed.

Wife turned down the job we traveled there to check out  due to safety reasons.

Dirty as hell, people drive like fucking lunatics and it seems that the Dodge Charger driven incredibly fast weaving in and out of traffic is the ride of choice.

BTW...100% carry and leave space between you and the car ahead of you at stoplights.

East Memphis is the best place to stay.  The Shady Grove Embassy Suites or the Hampton next door are good choices.  Decent dining nearby and it gets quiet in that part of town after business hours.  With FedEx’s exectutive offices right there, it is about as safe as Memphis gets.

You can go downtown as well, but with reduced tourism due to COVID, you may be hassled by bums.  I haven’t been downtown in a longtime, can’t say if safety has been affected much.

recalibrate your wife

when I drive through heading west, I stop and get a full tank no later than germantown, and i don't get out of the car again until i'm in oklahoma or texarkana.

last time i went to memphis on purpose, there was no joke razorwire around the hotel.   the time before that was for a pat rogers carbine class years ago, and there were crackwhores and pimps yelling at each other in the parking lot all night.    since then, i just don't go to memphis.

It’s not that bad here.  Use good common sense and stick to the main arteries and you are going to be ok.  I would not recommend leaving anything valuable in your car though and park in a parking garage if downtown.  If you do spend time on Beale, leave when the demographics change.  It is pretty obvious when the local troublemakers come out to play.

As I recall, two SWAT teams from out of town learned this lesson.  

One had their van stolen from the parking lot of the hotel they were staying at.  It was found later, stripped and torched, with the guns and gear missing.

The other was just passing through on their way to some training event and stopped for lunch.  By the time they got out of the restaurant, their door had been popped and their guns stolen.

Took this picture in the lot of the hotel we were staying at. Saturday night was an experience to say the least.

Unfortunately everyone these days are afraid to confront the people causing the issues from a business standpoint.

The saying inmates running the asylum is true these days.

Attached File

JPN, the van that was full of SWAT gear that was stolen belonged to the FBI.  They were there for a regional training class.

Memphis folks while you are used to the thugs and their antics, us common folks are not.  Thusly please make your suggestions like you would for your own Grandmother, and not one that lives in body armor and carries a minimum of two handguns at all times.

I hated to say that as I used to enjoy my times there working gun shows at both the fairgrounds and Germantown, but that is how folks not from there now view Memphis.  Nashville is rapidly going that way also, and that is the city I was born in.  You couldn't pay me to live there now though.

The best view of Memphis is when it's in your rearview mirror.

Memphis is a special place. Very high crime rate but also a very high level of charitable giving. People who are from there seem to always be hypnotized somehow. They will say "there is crime everywhere" or "it's not really that bad". Inside the city limits of Memphis is all gangland with the exception of one zip code and it's not a large area. Over 300 homicides last year. If it wasn't for the outstanding trauma center there the number would be much higher. Be careful in Memphis. The area around Graceland is no where to be when the sun goes down.



Bob was sitting on the plane at Cleveland waiting to fly to Memphis when a guy took the seat beside him.  The guy was an emotional wreck…pale, hands shaking in fear. "What's the matter, afraid of flying?" Bob asked.

"No, it's not that.  I've been transferred to Memphis.  The people are  crazy there, right?  Lots of shootings, gangs, race riots, drugs, poor schools, and the highest crime rate in the USA." Bob replied, "I've lived in Memphis all my life. It's not as bad as the media says.  Find a nice home, go to work, mind your own business, and enroll your kids in a nice private school.  I've worked there for 14 years and never had the slightest trouble."

The guy relaxed and stopped shaking and said, "Oh, thank you. I've been worried to death, but if you've lived and worked there all those years and say it's OK, I'll take your word for it. What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a tail gunner on a beer truck..."

Stayed in casino in Tunica. Went to Graceland, not impressed but can say I've been there. Same with Beale St.

Memphian here.

The area around Graceland is Mogadishu.

But, Graceland itself is fine. The city has to protect one of the the few sources of tourism INCOME.

I highly recommend The Doubletree by Sheraton, on Sanderlin Ave.

Heart of east Memphis, quite safe and VERY nice steak places and other fare within a quarter mile.

I have had friends and family stay there for both business and just visiting.

I was there during the recent snowstorm with a visitor.

Have been to Graceland twice in the last 15 years, was chauffeur for friends and although I was bored, they had fun.

Might be surprised that the Presley family found a way to spend a million dollars at a wallmart lol

As I recall, somebody had a story about some criminals having a shootout in the parking lot of the police shooting range, while a training class was on the range.

Two or three years ago, I went to Memphis to look at a Jeep.  A guy I worked with, knew the seller and was supposed to meet me in Memphis and serve as a guide, to keep me out of areas I shouldn't be in.  Turned out that he was a little late, and I had already bought the Jeep by the time we met up.  Fortunately, he had gone over a map with me, making sure I knew where I was going, and telling me where to stay away from.  When I got to where the seller lived, I realized that the area that I had gotten the strongest warnings to stay away from, was walking distance from where I was standing.  Initially, I was a bit surprised at the security measures the locals had in place (security gates, alarm systems, etc), but then I started noticing some holes that had been left in their security measures.

I had somewhere around $3500 in cash on me, when I got there.  I felt a little better once the transaction was done and most of that cash was no longer on me, but I didn't start relaxing until I was out of Memphis and headed home.

I attended a Pat Rogers' pistol class near Nashville in 2010.   He had just come from a class in Memphis, maybe yours?

Pat said a black MPD lieutenant asked him where he was staying.  Pat told him.  The lieutenant had some choice words and told him to get a hotel in West Memphis, Arkansas.

Been in Graceland once.  It was when Elvis was still alive and I was on temporary duty at Millington.  Elvis invited me for the weekend as he and my Dad were GOOD friends from their military time in Germany together.  He also owed me for my Mother always feeding him when he was in Nashville.  I still have a S&W Model 10 snub nose he gave me for whenever I was in that section of town.  I asked Elvis once why he kept Graceland and stayed in that section.  His answer, Mama liked that section.  Man would do anything for his Mama.........and Mine as she was his surrogate Mama in the Nashville area.  Now that he is dead and gone, I cannot bring myself to go back to Graceland.

Like I said earlier, I really hated writing what I did because Memphis used to be a NICE town.

I always love these threads about Memphis.

You can stay in east Memphis or Collierville. Bartlert would be a good area to stay also.

You can stay in north Mississippi also and be right down the road (I55) from Graceland


You owe it to yourself to go to Gibsons doughnuts while in town.

Lol, somebody was pulling your leg.