Quick back story: I moved from Detroit to Memphis in 1969, I was 10 years old. I joined the Army in 1980 and rarely visited, as most of my family had moved to Mississippi.
In the years following my entry into the Army, Memphis has had a turn for the worse. Here's what has happened since 1980:
The Pyramid was built to replace the Mid-South coliseum as the large scale entertainment venue. A prominent piece of the Memphis skyline, it now sits vacant.
The Mall of Memphis was built and demolished before I could even get to see it. It was really nice, I'm told, until people started getting mugged and murdered in the parking lot.
Mud Island had some stuff built on it, but nobody goes there. Gee, no one wants to go to Mud Island? Imagine that.
Peabody Place was built and now sits empty, and this all happened after I returned in 2000.
Libertyland is gone. No biggie there, it was half-assed from jump. When did Lakeland amusement park close, by the way? That place rocked.
Now, the next step in Memphis' decline? The Mid-South Fair, which called Memphis home since 1856 and had been held in the same location since 1869, is moving to Tunica.
There's not much left. Maybe Beale Street will move to Arkansas or something.
Sad doesn't even begin to describe it.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Memphis in Decay
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2 comments:
I stopped going to the fair when I was 15. Bad shit went down when the sun disappeared.
This year, I'm going to have to find creative places to park for class, because the entrance to my parking lot for school is directly across the street from the fairgrounds.
I'm not happy about the move as a whole, but for purely selfish reasons, I'm glad to see it go.
The Pyramid might become a Bass Pro Shop, which is cool, though, right? I'd consider that a coup.
The Mall of Memphis' redeeming feature was that it had an ice rink.
I went to Mud Island in '93. Had a good time cleaning the Memphis Belle and walking the river model. I also did a color guard in the Pyramid for an Amway convention. I appreciated the irony of that.
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