Memphis' Chisca Hotel may be saved by housing redelevopment
The Chisca hotel is known to Elvis fans as a historic Elvis site. In July 1954, for the first time in history, radio airwaves carried the voice of Elvis Presley. The broadcast came from The Chisca and changed the world forever. This was the largest hotel in Memphis at the time. It was built in 1913. It wasn’t a luxury hotel like the Peabody; it was an accommodation for the middle class. Many other historic events occurred at The Chisca hotel. From 1949 to 1956, WHBQ radio’s DJ Dewey Phillips broadcast his legendary show, “Red, Hot and Blue” from the mezzanine level of The Chisca. “Daddy-O-Dewey,” as Mr. Phillips was popularly known, was the first DJ to give Elvis a chance. Phillips played Elvis’s “That’s All Right, Mama” three days after Sam Phillips recorded it at Sun Records Studio. The Chisca Hotel has been vacant for years. It's owned by the Church of God in Christ, which has let the building fall into disrepair. Memphis City Councilman Edmund Ford is proposing a two m