Elvis
Presley Passed Here: Even More Locations of America's
Pop Culture Landmarks ,
by Chris Epting
You might think, after amassing two other
seemingly comprehensive tomes about the places where something
interesting happened, that the indefatigable Chris Epting might
start running out of material. Nothing could be further from
the truth, however, for a couple of good reasons. One is that
American history still contains many rich lodes just waiting
for someone like Epting to mine them. The other is that pop
culture is not like fossil fuel -- it's a renewable resource.
In Elvis Presley Passed Here, Epting serves up a fascinating
collection of events and their landmarks from the dawn of American
history to almost now. From the oldest residential streets --
a contest between Huguenot Street in New York and Elfreth's
Alley in Pennsylvania -- to Napoleon Dynamite's house in Idaho,
Epting creates a mosaic of Americana in categories ranging from
history, tragedy, crime, and celebrity events to movies, television,
art, architecture, and music.
Epting's other two books in this series, James
Dean Died Here and Marilyn
Monroe Dyed Here, have spawned a movement among people
who, like the author, like to go and stand on a spot where
an event of cultural significance occurred. For these fans,
Elvis Presley Passed Here will provide many months
and untold miles of fascinating exploration. But the great
thing about this book is that physical travel is optional.
The book is a journey in itself, a sort of hop-scotch game
through American culture that leaves the reader with an overview
utterly unlike a standard history narrative. What history
book would tell you where Tim Allen was arrested for cocaine
possession in 1978 (Kalamazoo, Michigan), or that he spent
over two years in prison as a result? Easily dismissed as
historically insignificant, such an event offers insight into
American culture that a ream of statistics about drug use
cannot. Ordinary history books also don't mention facts like
this: there once really was a little girl named Mary who owned
a lamb. Epting reveals her full name, the location of the
one-room school in Massachusetts where the lamb followed her
one day, and the author of the immortal "Mary Had a Little
Lamb."
Because it includes locations and events across
the United States and Canada, Elvis Presley Passed Here
is great for those who, like me, enjoy checking for familiar
spots. I smiled when I found Philippe The Original, one of
my favorite Los Angeles eateries, is included as the place
where French dip sandwiches were invented. More sobering to
think about are events like the last public hanging in America
(Kentucky, 1936) and the Boston Molasses Disaster of 1919,
in which twenty-one people were killed when a 2.5 million
gallon tank of hot molasses exploded with enough force to
derail an elevated train.
Epting has profiled more than six hundred
events and locations in Elvis Presley Passed Here,
including the site that inspired the book's title, a park
in Los Angeles where Elvis used to blow off steam playing
touch football. From the dock where the Titanic should have
arrived in April, 1912, to Martha Stewart's "Camp Cupcake"
stay, the book takes a fascinatingly circuitous trip through
American culture. A delight for aficionados of the random-page
approach to reading, it's just as good as a linear experience.
Cover to cover, Chris Epting has most definitely done it again.
Megan
Edwards
6/12/05
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