Question #106426. Asked by shalomnow.
Last updated Apr 19 2023.
185 Winchester Street, Apt. # 185, Memphis, TN Sept. 20, 1949 Elvis and his family were accepted into this Memphis Housing Authority property called Lauderdale Courts. This two-bedroom apartment cost them $35 a month. In February 1952 they were allowed to sign a new lease with the rent raised to $43 a month. By Nov. 17, 1952 they were evicted because they made too much money to live in assisted housing. The combined family income was $4,133.
185 Winchester Street, Apartment 328 - Memphis address of the Lauderdale Courts, where the Presleys lived from September 20, 1949, to January 7, 1953, in a two-bedroom, ground-floor apartment. Their telephone number was 37-4185. The rent in the federally funded 433-unit housing project was #35.00/month. Bill Black's mother, Mrs. Ruth Black, also lived in the housing complex. The previous tenant of the Presleys' apartment had been Hoseph P. Massey and his family. A fellow tenant, Mrs. Mary Guy, sometimes complained that Elvis played his guitar at night.
698 Saffarans Street - Memphis apartment house where the Presleys lived from January 7, 1953 to April, 1953 after being evicted from 185 Winchester Street. The monthly rent there was $52.00.00
462 Alabama Street - Memphis address of the two- story brick apartment building where the Presleys lived from April, 1953 to late 1954, after leaving their apartment at 398 Cypress Street. The paid $50.00 a month rent, plus electricity and water. The Presleys' telephone number was 37-4138. innie Mae Presley slept on a cot in the dining room. Elvis lived at 462 Alabama when he recorded "My Happiness"/"That's When Your Heartaches Begin" at the Memphis Recording Service in the Summer of 1953. Ruth Black, the mother of Bill Black, lived in apartment B at nearby 465 Alabama Street. The landlady was named Mrs. Dubrovner.
The Presleys had been notified in November of 1952 by the Memphis Housing Authority their income was high enough (at $4,133 a year) that they no longer qualified for public housing. Vernon received an eviction notice on November 17th, stating they had to be out by February of 1953. On January 7, 1953, the day before his eighteenth birthday, Elvis and his family moved into a flat at 698 Saffarans Street, smaller and more expensive than their Lauderdale Court home. This was a depressing situation for the Presleys. This particular apartment shared a bathroom with the other residents, a bathroom so dirty that Elvis developed an aversion to bathing, showering when only absolutely necessary and wearing large amounts of Aqua Velva. Perhaps as a consolation, Vernon bought Elvis a 1941 light green Lincoln Zephyr for $50. This was Elvis' pride and joy: he drove it all over town.
In April of that same year, the Presleys moved from that uncomfortable apartment to the bottom floor of a large house at 462 Alabama Street, where Elvis remained for a year and a half. He often practiced guitar here in front of his grandma, Minnie Mae. Their neighbors, Jeanette and Alfred Fruchter, became good friends with Elvis and his family. On April 9, 1953, the Humes High Band presented its "Annual Minstrel" show in the Humes Auditorium at 8:00 p.m. Elvis performed "Till I Waltz Again With You", and was enthusiastically received by his classmates. He also sang at the homeroom picnic at Overton Park. The picture at left shows Elvis with a classmate at that picnic.
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