Happy Birthday Elvis!

Today would have been Elvis Presley's 75th birthday. His life was cut short at the young age of 42 when he passed away in August of 1977.

Spokane was fortunate enough to welcome Elvis to town three times in his career where he played at Spokane Memorial Stadium and at Spokane Coliseum.

During Elvis' first visit in 1957, he stayed at the Davenport Hotel. At the young age of 22, he played to a crowd of thousands (at the Spokane Memorial Stadium) made up mainly of young teenage girls.

An article written September 6 of 1957 published in the Spokane Chronicle posed the question: "Is it right or necessary for Spokane or any community to condone an entertainment spectacle based on vulgarity?" Oh, what would Elvis say now!

Elvis played in Spokane in April of 1973 as well as April of 1976 at the Spokane Coliseum. All shows were sold out.

Here are some photos from the 1976 show and as you can see, the girls still loved him!

Here is a link to the article from 1957: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=N5cSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9PYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5659,1291858&dq=elvis+spokane&hl=en

If anyone has an Elvis in Spokane story, we would love to hear it! Please feel free to post comments about your experiences. Thank you to Elvis for entertaining us for many, many years!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpzV_0l5ILI