On This Day in 1957, Elvis Bought Graceland

On March 19, 1957, Elvis Presley put down a $1,000 deposit to buy Graceland, a mansion intended for his parents. It was actually the second home he had bought for them. The first had become overrun with fans.

Located in Memphis, Tennessee, Graceland became Elvis's home base. He lived there with his parents and his grandmother Minnie Mae Presley, and he conducted plenty of business there. He outfitted it with his favorite furniture and his favorite appliance: TV. There are TVs all over the place.

When Elvis died in 1977, Lisa Marie Presley inherited the estate. She preserved it exactly as it was, and opened it in 1982 as a tourist attraction. It is now the second most-visited home in the United States, second only to the White House. You can still go and see what Elvis thought was awesome.

If you can't make it to Graceland in person, there are plenty of nice videos online. There's a GracelandCam live-streaming around the clock. But if you've never visited, I recommend tuning in to the '80s-tastic video tour embedded below. I especially enjoy the part in the second segment, about three minutes in, detailing the TV room in the basement (inspired in part by LBJ) and the closed-circuit camera setup.

And here's a video featuring archivists showing various secrets in "Hidden Graceland":