Most people who visit Graceland take the tour and head home. Elvis Presley’s own family had another option, at least on a few special nights.
Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis’s only child, sometimes wanted to stay overnight in the Memphis mansion where she grew up. When she did, she took her kids along. Her daughter Riley Keough, the actress who now owns Graceland, has talked about those visits. They sound like a lot of fun, with one very odd wrinkle.
“There were some nights that [Lisa Marie] wanted to stay there, and she would bring us with her,” Riley said on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” as quoted by Hello! magazine.
The sleepovers didn’t happen often. Graceland’s archivist Angie Marchese, who looks after the Presley collection, was once asked if Lisa Marie ever stayed upstairs over Thanksgiving. “Lisa did a couple of times, but normally not,” she told Express.co.uk.
Riley went on Seth Meyers’ show to talk about finishing her mother’s memoir, and the way she speaks about Lisa Marie makes the whole chat worth your time.
Riley Keough with Seth Meyers on finishing her mom’s memoir
So why would a night in your own family’s house need a rule?
It comes down to the tour schedule. Visitors walk through Graceland’s downstairs rooms from the morning until late afternoon. The upstairs is a different story. “Elvis’ room and my mother’s room are not part of the tour,” Riley explained. Her grandfather’s private bedroom and her mom’s childhood room stay closed to the public.
Only a handful of people have ever been allowed up there. Riley told NPR it’s “just our family.” Lisa Marie even kept a key with her.
And that’s where the rule came from. Once the morning tours started, the family couldn’t come downstairs. They had to stay up in the private rooms that tourists never see and wait until the last tour of the day was over.
“The tours start in the morning and they end at 4pm, so if we were to stay in the house,” Riley said, “we would stay upstairs and have to wait, we’d get stuck until the tours were over.”
Elvis’s granddaughter, stuck upstairs in her own family home while strangers wandered through the living room below. It’s the kind of problem no other family in America has. A Presley fan channel shared a clip of Riley recalling those mornings, so you can hear about getting “trapped” up there from her.
Riley remembers getting stuck upstairs during the tours
Riley doesn’t sound like she minded much. Her mom loved the place.
“She was very happy to be at Graceland. And in general, like if we were in Memphis, she just loved it there. She wanted a house there,” Riley told NPR. She added that “it was where she grew up and had some of her best memories as a child. We always had a lot of fun there.”
Growing up, Riley visited once or twice a year. These days she goes much more often, and she has already taken her own daughter, Tupelo, to see the house. She opened up about it on “Live with Kelly and Mark,” and this short clip is a chance to hear how she feels about Graceland today.
Riley Keough on her feelings for Graceland
The next time you see a line of fans waiting outside Graceland in the morning, think about those upstairs rooms. On a couple of rare nights, Elvis’s daughter and grandkids were up there too, waiting for the crowd to go home.