Elwood’s Shells, the newly opened restaurant in Cooper-Young, is closed for business, according to a Thursday Facebook post.
The restaurant opened in the former Jasmine Thai restaurant spot on Cooper in March.
Facebook: Elwood’s Shells Has Closed
We have no further details on the closing yet. So, stay tuned to the Hungry Memphis blog — we’ll update when we find out more.
In the meantime, read our full rundown of the restaurant back when it opened here.
Do you really want to fight Black Friday crowds and support big-box retailers when we’ve got tons of cool, affordable, locally made and sold gifts available throughout the city? We didn’t think so. To help you tick some items off your shopping list, we’ve compiled a few hyper-local options for you — for an Alternative Black Friday, if you will — with favorite shops, items, makers, and more, to cover even the hardest-to-buy-for folks.
COOPER-YOUNG HAUL
Before you hit that “place your order” button, remember Amazon paid no federal taxes last year, its billionaire founder had the gall to cut health-care benefits for some employees this year, and — most importantly — Amazon is not Memphis AF (like, at all).
Cooper-Young is, in fact, Memphis AF. The neighborhood’s mix of restaurants and shops makes for a perfect, big-city shopping experience. Gleam in the season’s glow as you hustle your holiday gift bags across Cooper-Young’s new rainbow-pride crosswalk.
Plan your shopping spree for Saturday, November 30th. That’s Small Business Saturday, and some C-Y businesses have teamed up for a day of giveaways, drawings, and special deals and discounts. Ten lucky winners will go home with gift boxes worth more than $100 each. Need some C-Y gift ideas? We did some scouting for you. — Toby Sells
Fox + Cat Vintage: Forget fast fashion. This fashion boutique offers a lovingly curated closet of styles and tastes from a 1920s-era flapper girl hat ($150) to an ’80s-style jean jacket with a collection of amazing patches ($112).
Toby Sells
Fox + Cat Vintage
Young Avenue Deli: Barbecue is Memphis’ civic dish. If it had one, the Deli’s french fries might be the culinary standard for Midtown. I took two orders to a holiday potluck once. Folks laughed, but nary a fry was left. And let’s not even talk about those cheese sticks. Walls of craft beer, one-of-a-kind sandwiches, wings … get a gift card for anyone on your list.
Grivet Outdoors: This new outdoor shop has what Memphis needs to run, hike, climb, hunt, fish, or just about anything else. Don’t have an outdoorsy type on your list this year? How about someone who has to go outside in the wet Memphis winter? Try the waterproof duck boots from Sorel (men’s, $155; women’s, $120).
901 Comics: Thanks to a zillion Marvel movies, we know one thing: We’re all comic book nerds. 901 Comics has walls full of superheroes you know, like Batman and Iron Man, and some you might not know, like Bloodshot and Count Crowley. But the store has more than books. Think action figures, figurines, posters, games, shirts, masks, and more. Also, check out the R2-D2 toaster ($34) or the Death Star cheese board ($45) for the food geek in your life.
Toby Sells
901 Comics
Buff City Soap: Give your morning routine a local upgrade: Buff City Soap opened in Cooper-Young last year. All of the products are made in-house. So when they offer a bar of soap called Midtown Phunk, they know what they’re talking about. But it ain’t all bath bombs and body butters. Get that unruly scruff under control with Ferocious Beast beard oil ($15) or Shave and a Haircut beard balm ($15).
Toby Sells
Buff City Soap
Cooper-Young Gallery & Gift Shop: It’s an art gallery. It’s a gift shop. It’s a creative workspace. Sometimes the owners call it the “Cute Shop.” It all makes sense when you walk inside. Want to paint Ruth Bader Ginsberg by numbers? The kit will set you back $22. Pick up some stocking-stuffers like 38104-ever magnets ($3) or mugs ($15). There’s way more to discover in this perfectly eclectic, satisfyingly tidy little shop.
Burke’s Books: The Burke’s holiday window is a C-Y tradition. Neighbors make annual treks just to see what yuletide treat awaits them there. Inside the store is a book-lover’s treat year ’round — new releases, photo books, kids books, and more. Burke’s specializes in rare and collectible books, like a nice leather-bound copy of Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls ($18).
VINTAGE FINDS
For 35 years, Flashback has been the vintage place to go. Shoppers can find oodles of kitschy, cheesy delights — items of perfect pop culture, things so bad they’re good (ugly Christmas sweaters), designs you’d never have in your house until you realize you have to have them. But mostly you’ll find wondrous objects of beauty and rarity. Some are new, and many wear their age remarkably well: lovely backlit lithophane porcelains, frequently tasteful glassware and dishes, jewelry, singular shoes and clothing, including rude socks. There are Danish mobiles and bookmarks made from filmstrips (The Wizard of Oz is very popular). Elvii are everywhere.
Jon W. Sparks
Flashback
Proprietor Millett Vance has an eye for items that are just right, for yourself or as gifts for your wide range of friends and family. And she knows the price point you’re looking for. “Everyone looks for presents for people, and they end up buying something for themselves.”
Flashback is at 2304 Central, with the seated mannequin and pink flamingos al fresco. 272-2304. flashbackmemphis.com.
— Jon W. Sparks
SILVER BELLS
In her days at Memphis College of Art, Tootsie Bell wasn’t particularly thinking about becoming a silversmith. She needed a job, and a friend at a jewelry store hooked her up. She loves woodworking and sculpture as well, particularly when it’s at a bigger scale than the usual silver projects she does daily. That got her some commissions for public art, which you can see around town. But go into her shop — she’s been at it for 24 years — and look at the work on display. You’ll see a wonderful attention to detail. If you really want to take it to the next level, have her make some jewelry for you.
Tootsie Bell Silversmith
“My work, whether it’s large or small, has a theme to it,” Bell says. “I like there to be a meaning or a narrative behind it. When I work with customers, I like to get a background, a story of either the person that I’m making the piece for or something like that.”
And if you have a hankering to create some of your own baubles, she can help with that, too. She offers classes on how to craft a piece of jewelry. At present, she teaches four students at a time. “I help them come up with what they want to make and assist when I need to,” Bell says. “You make it and take it home.” When the new year gets underway, she’ll have more classes to accommodate bigger projects. She also offers gift cards, so you can let the giftee choose how they want to take the classes.
Tootsie Bell Silversmith is at 4726 Poplar. 763-4049. quenchstudiomemphis.com. — JWS
BLACK LODGE AND CHILL
After the temperature drops and the hyper-social holiday season winds down, your loved ones are going to want to spend some time quality time in their living room this winter.
If you’re looking for gifts to help you chill, the first place to go is Black Lodge. The independent video store that graced Cooper-Young for 14 years has recently reopened in a new space in Crosstown — and not a moment too soon. The Netflix-led streaming video revolution that put video stores out of business in the last decade is rapidly becoming fragmented and expensive. With the launch of Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and Apple TV (to name a few), you have to subscribe to multiple services to get what you want. That’s where the Lodge comes in. Its selection of almost 30,000 titles dwarfs Netflix, and the knowledgeable staff will help you discover new movies and TV shows you may have overlooked. Gift recipients can use their Black Lodge gift cards to pay for the $10 per month membership or to snag something from the ever-expanding lineup of cool Lodge merch.
Justin Fox Burks
If reading is more your friend’s speed, Two Rivers Bookstore has a curated selection of science-fiction and fantasy books, such as Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, the acclaimed sequel to the author’s dystopian classic, The Handmaid’s Tale. Two Rivers also carries local art and jewelry, and if your gift target is into tabletop role-playing games, you can get Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks and dice bags made in-store.
For the “chill” part, the place to go is Wizard’s. The Midtown smoke shop now carries six brands and 13 flavors of CBD flower for your stress-relief needs. To really take the edge off healthily, a Pax 3 or Firefly flower vaporizer will get you there without the cough and smell. Or you can go whole-hog and invest in the newest of the pioneering Volcano vaporizer line.
Wizard’s
Then again, maybe your loved one’s “chill” is more euphemistic. In that case, a visit to Coco & Lola’s lingerie shop is in order. They are the exclusive Memphis home to the Kilo Brava line of teddies, bustiers, and exquisite two- and three-piece lace bra and panty sets.
You won’t regret it when you see your loved one slip into a silk kimono, pop in a Blu-Ray, hit the vape, and let the magic happen. — Chris McCoy
WORK IT
My sister said she had a surprise for me. My only instructions: wear athletic clothes and show up to the provided address at a certain time. I pulled up to a small building on Flicker Street. It was Recess 901, a local gym that bills itself as providing a “diverse, curated fitness experience.” Inside, I was met by Nick Davis, one of the instructors. My surprise was a one-on-one, 30-minute boxing class with him. With his guidance, I hooked and jabbed my way through the session. Beginning in December, Davis will lead small-group boxing classes through a program called Go Boxing & Fitness. The eight-person sessions, featuring boxing training and bodyweight exercises, are designed to enhance one’s mental and physical state.
Justin Fox Burks
Recess 901
Davis believes the small-group format is optimal for boxing and brings out “healthy, natural competition. Go Boxing & Fitness not only changes your body,” he says. “It changes your mind, your attitude, and your mood.”
There are plenty of gifts like this one around town for the fitness junkies, as well as the outdoor lovers, in your life. For the runners, Fleet Feet has gear and accessories at all price points. From hoodies for cold days to reflective vests for night running to the best running shoe, it’s all there. Or help your loved ones reach new heights at Highpoint Rock Climbing and Fitness. The gym offers gift cards, so you can give the gift of bouldering and belaying. Finally, do you know anyone in need of a kayak, tent, or bike? Outdoors Inc. has everything for the outdoor adventurers on your list. — Maya Smith
UNUSUAL MERCH
For many musicians, the travails of touring can leave you in the lurch, unless you’re crafty with unorthodox merch. Music fans need only stroll over to the merchandise table. The expeditionary noise band Nonconnah, for example, can always make up for a low door take by selling jars of homemade jam or pickles. If they shared a bill with Neighborhood Texture Jam (NTJ), who’ve been known to shower the audience with Slim Jims, you could have a full meal. Then wash it down when seeing Seance Fiction, from Florence, Alabama, who have offered packets of powdered beverage mix in a Dixie cup sporting the words, “Drink the Kool Aid! Join the Cult!”
For all your romantic needs, merch of a more intimate nature can be had. The Rhythm Hounds, Fuck (the band), and NTJ have all offered underwear emblazoned with the group’s logo or name, though in the latter case, it was adult diapers. But Fuck, long hailed as kings of wacky merch, took intimate fandom to a new level by getting inside your eyelids: a camera flash, masked with a stencil of the band name, could be set off in your face, thus burning the word into your retina for a good 10 minutes. Oh, joy!
Some unorthodox merch actually honors the music. When the Lost Sounds were just another struggling combo in need of a deal, Alicja Trout would hand-paint CD-Rs of their albums, each one unique (and highly collectable now). And for those who love the lyrics of Cory Branan, he’ll write them out by hand on acid/lignin-free archival paper. One fan framed the words to his “Sour Mash” alongside two Prohibition-era prescriptions for bourbon.
Alicja Trout handpainted CD
So when you’re out at a show, be sure to peruse the merch table, perchance to discover that perfect gift for the music fan who has everything. — Alex Greene
PETS, ART, & ‘CUE
Personally, I love shopping for friends and family, so when they tell me they have everything they need, I take it as a challenge. It’s fun to defy your giftee’s expectations and give someone something nice that they wouldn’t normally get for themselves, doubly so when you’re supporting a local business with your purchasing power. So let’s get started.
Sure, the pet supply store Hollywood Feed has grown big enough to take a St. Bernard-sized bite out of the national market, but the first Hollywood Feed opened on Hollywood and Chelsea in Memphis in the ’50s, and the company still keeps its headquarters here. That’s local enough for me. And because even the most selfless or Spartan family members will at least pamper their pets, the store is a great place to shop for people who are, well, hard to shop for.
Justin Fox Burks
Hollywood Feed
What’s more, the friendly folks at Hollywood Feed are knowledgeable and understanding. A month ago, when, after adopting a kitten, I wandered inside in a daze, my head buzzing with questions about litter (clumping? non-clumping?) and food (grain-free or not?), the staff patiently walked me through the ins and outs of what I needed to keep my newly rescued furry friend safe and satisfied. Compared to that, shopping for my family’s fur-babies is a varitible romp in the puppy park. I just scoop up some dog toys and handmade treats from the animal-safe bakery, and I can mark a few folks off my list.
When it comes to local, Art Center knows what’s up. The full-service art supply store opened in 1974 and has plenty of experience helping Memphians with their custom framing, paints, charcoals, decoupage, and more. And since the owners require their employees to have a strong background in art, says general manager Jimmy Sanders, the staff is qualified to help even the most hapless of customers. Their prices span the spectrum, too, so you can stuff a stocking without unstuffing your wallet, or spoil your little Michelangelo in training to your heart’s content. Next!
My brother-in-law lives in Middle Tennessee, and he loves to cook. So I’ve been buying him barbecue sauce and dry seasoning every Christmas for seven years because, while you can get decent barbecue fixings out east, you can’t get Memphis barbecue sauce anywhere else.
Though I mix up which sauce I buy from year to year, The Bar-B-Q Shop on Madison has been winning awards for 32 years, with a 50-year-old sauce recipe that dates back to Brady & Lil’s Bar-B-Q Restaurant, making it a shoo-in for my brother-in-law’s stocking.
Justin Fox Burks
The Bar-B-Q Shop
For bonus points, round out your holiday haul with something seasonably sessionable to sip from one of the local breweries, some coffee from one of the Bluff City’s local roasters, a little something to nibble from The Peanut Shoppe at 24 S. Main, and some candles from Maggie’s Pharm.
Boom! You’ve got yourself a very Memphis holiday basket.
— Jesse Davis
TREASURE HUNT
I’ve always been a big fan of flea markets and arts festivals — you just never know what types of one-of-a-kind treasures you’ll find. The hunt is where the excitement lies, and it’s even more exciting when you’re directly supporting local creators.
This season, WinterArts brings a bit of that thrill with a showcase of functional and decorative work from nearly 50 of the region’s top artists, including several based right here in Memphis: Dorothy Northern (jeweler); Bryan Blankenship, Lisa Hudson, Becky Ziemer, and David James Johnson (ceramics); Felcitas Sloves, (fiber: weaving); Cheryl Hazelton (wood: marquetry); and others.
WinterArts
Treasure hunters will find handmade work crafted in glass, metal, wood, fiber, and clay. Think beautiful cuff bracelets, vases, wooden trinket boxes, ornaments, and more. Participating artists will have video at their booths, providing visitors virtual demonstrations of their creation process.
WinterArts
WinterArts is presented by ArtWorks Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is to help artists grow and thrive. In its 11th year, WinterArts runs November 30th through December 24th at 888 White Station (between Poplar and Park, next to Bed Bath & Beyond). Browse the wares for unique gifts Mondays-Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Fridays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sundays from 1 to 5 p.m. — Shara Clark
ELVIS SOCKS
In “Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me,” Elvis sings, “Fill my sock with candy.” Now, you can fill Elvis socks with — your feet. Lansky Bros. at The Peabody sells socks with Elvis’ likeness on them. Elvis playing guitar. Elvis in his “Jailhouse Rock” pose. You even can get black, pink, and white socks — the argyle type Elvis wore in some of his 1950s photos. He probably bought those socks at Lanksy back in the day.
Justin Fox Burks
Lansky Bros.
The black socks with the gold lightning bolt on them are their biggest sellers, says owner Hal Lansky. They’re inscribed with “TCB.”
“If you’re an Elvis fan, you’ll know what it means,” Lansky says. “Even if you’re not, you will.”
The socks, which are very comfortable, sell for $25 and $27.50. They’re fit for a king. Or the King. “Elvis is still the King,” Lansky says. “You know that.”
After the lucky gift recipient wears these Elvis socks, he’ll probably decide to hang up all his other socks and stick with these. He might want a complete selection of Elvis socks. Then he can have a blue Christmas, a green Christmas, an orange Christmas, a red Christmas — you name it. These socks come in various colors.
— Michael Donahue
Jerred Price/change.org
Work begins Saturday on what project officials are calling “the state’s first rainbow crosswalk” in Cooper-Young.
A petition for the crosswalk, designed to celebrate LGBTQ+ pride, started in May by Jerred Price, who was then running for the Memphis City Council’s District 7 seat. After a series of meetings, the project was approved by the council in September.
Rainbow Crosswalk Comes to Cooper-Young Saturday (2)
In the original petition for the project, Price said among the neighborhood’s “quirky stores,” “artisanal coffee spots,” and “boisterous pubs” is “one thing you may not know about Cooper-Young.”
“…It has the highest density of LGBTQ+ people in the west portion of Tennessee!” reads the petition. “It is also home to OUTMemphis. Through their hard work and sacrifice, they built an ‘oasis in the desert of our struggle.'”
Work on the crosswalk begins Saturday morning. The crosswalk will be welcomed in a formal ceremony at the corner of Cooper and Young on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Rainbow Crosswalk Comes to Cooper-Young Saturday
“Come on down to the heart of Cooper-Young (home to the highest concentration of identifying same-sex households in the southeast United States!) and let’s make state history!” reads the Facebook event page. “Special guest speakers as well!”
Name Game
Facebookers in the Preserve Cooper-Young group played the name game last week for the modern-looking apartment building planned for a spot across the street from Soul Fish Cafe.
Amanda Ball: (CY’s very first) Horizontal Tall Skinny [or] Pill Box Gone Wrong.
Noel Clark: Cubistro.
Ansley Murphy: USB Port of Call.
Mag Trisler: 1974 State College.
Dan Spector: Cheezball School of Architecture.
The Graceland Test
Many Memphians pride themselves on never having gone to Graceland. Even the Terminator knows that.
Posted to Reddit by u/slphil.
Stepping High
Shout-out to the Central High School Band for their second win at the High Stepping Nationals. Shelby County Schools posted a photo of the band to Twitter last week.
Preserve Cooper-Young/Facebook
SkyCop cameras could soon watch the streets of Cooper-Young and not everyone is happy about that.
A Tuesday-morning statement from the Cooper-Young Business Association (CYBA) said the board bought seven cameras from SCIT Technologies, Inc. last month. Two of those cameras will read license plates. If installed, all video and license plate information captured would go directly to the Memphis Police Department’s (MPD) Real Time Crime Center (RTCC).
The statement, from CYBA executive director Tamara Walker, said “this action is a direct result of the active and ongoing violent assaults that have been taking place in our business district over the last several months.”
In May, several men were robbed and beaten in the Young Avenue Deli parking lot, according to WREG. Two men left the bar and were heading to their car “when three vehicles pulled up. Men wearing bandannas and masks jumped out,” according to WREG, and one of the attacked men said the attackers had pistols and assault rifles. The men attacked and robbed another man before fleeing in their cars.
WREG
Last month, police told WREG that a man kidnapped and robbed a woman and then robbed an Uber Eats driver.
“We believe that these cameras, in addition, to the armed security patrol that businesses are hiring, new lighting that is being installed, fencing around property, regular clean up and maintenance, as well as individual business surveillance will bring an immediate impact on this violent activity happening in the business areas in our district,” Walker said in a statement.
However, some Cooper-Young residents say the SkyCop camera project was done without any feedback from the community and are urging residents to contact the CYBA and Memphis City Council member Jamita Swearengen to comment.
“If these blue blinking lights are able to deter crime along the business corridor, where do you think crime will spread if those arteries are watched?” asked Patrick Durkin, a Cooper-Young resident and adminstrator of the Preserve Cooper-Young Facebook page. “Is it out of the question that a would-be criminal may slink into the neighborhood and target residential streets because those in front of the businesses are being surveilled? Is 24/7 government-recorded surveillance that may force criminals onto our residential streets the answer to summertime crime upticks?”
WREG
The CYBA said the cameras will be placed at ”highly-utilized intersections on Cooper Street, Young Avenue and Central Avenue.” Durkin said he was told the cameras would be placed close to East Parkway and Young, Blythe and Young, Cooper and Young, Walker and Cooper, Evelyn and Cooper, Central and Cooper, and Central and Cox.
The CYBA said “these cameras will be pointed at the street. The video will only be used by detectives at Memphis Police Department to solve crimes. The CYBA will not have access to this video. Video will have a 30-day, continuous record.” Walker said she expected the cameras to be up in 30 days.
“How does this look to visitors to our neighborhood?” Durkin asked on Facebook. “Do you feel more comfortable living your best life under MPD’s microscope or is it a signal that you have now entered a crime-ridden neighborhood where at any moment you may become a victim?”
Before the cameras can be installed, the funds from the CYBA to the MPD for them must be approved by the city council. The council is slated to meet again on Tuesday, July 16th.
“If you have comments regarding this, please contact the CYBA at cyba@bellsouth.net or (Cooper-Young’s) councilwoman Jamita Swearengen, Jamita.Swearengen@memphistn.gov,” Durkin wrote. ”Cooper-Young: historically hip and now and forever blinking blue.”
Jerred Price/change.org
An online petition hopes to bring rainbow crosswalks to Cooper-Young.
Jerred Price, running for the Memphis City Council’s District 7 seat, started the petition last week. He said among the neighborhood’s “quirky stores,” “artisanal coffee spots,” and “boisterous pubs” is “one thing you may not know about Cooper-Young.”
“…It has the highest density of LGBTQ+ people in the west portion of Tennessee!” reads the petition. “It is also home to OUTMemphis. Through their hard work and sacrifice, they built an ‘oasis in the desert of our struggle.'”
Petition Seeks Rainbow Crosswalks in Cooper-Young (2)
For this, Price began the petition at change.org. As of Monday morning, the petition had 603 signatures. It needs 1,000 signatures before the proposal can be submitted to local government leaders.
The move, at least, has support from the Cooper-Young Community Association.
Petition Seeks Rainbow Crosswalks in Cooper-Young
Here’s Price’s petition pitch in full:
“Cooper-Young is a hip, arty neighborhood with century-old buildings occupied by quirky stores selling rare vinyl, handmade chocolates, custom drum kits, and vintage fashion. Artisanal coffee spots share the streets with eateries serving Memphis barbecue, sushi, and Italian fare, as well as craft beer bars and boisterous pubs with live music.
“But one thing you may not know about Cooper-Young is it has the highest density of LGBTQ+ people in the west portion of Tennessee! It is also home to OUTMemphis. Through their hard work and sacrifice, they built an ‘oasis in the desert of our struggle.’ This organization, known as the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center, became effective on February 23rd, 1989. Whether or not you’ve ever walked through their doors on Cooper Street or attended one of their events, know that they continue to work to make life better for all in our city!
To celebrate our city, which welcomes all within its limits, let’s ask the city of Memphis to join other national leading cities, such as Atlanta, to recognize this neighborhood and its people with a rainbow crosswalk!
Memphis is turning 200 years old this year, and it’s time for fresh, new, progressive ideas such as this to take place and take us into the next century! Memphis loves everybody! Let’s show some love to our LGBTQ+ population!”
After years of behind-the-scenes work, OUTMemphis will begin building its Youth Emergency Center this week and it will serve as the area’s only LGBTQ-specific shelter and drop-in center.
Work began on the center in 2016. OUTMemphis closed on a piece of Shelby County Land Bank property at 2059 Southern that spans three parcels. But work to clearly identify the problem with homeless youth who identified as LGBTQ here began in 2015, with the city’s first ever survey/count of that population.
Last year, the Community Alliance for the Homeless 2018 Point-in-Time/Youth Count found that 57 percent of homeless youth utilize emergency shelters and 43 percent use transitional housing. In Shelby County, 51 percent of unaccompanied youth are 18-24. LGBTQ young people aged 18-24 make up 40 percent of youth experiencing homelessness.
OUTMemphis piloted several possible solutions to the problem, including host families and hotel vouchers. Ultimately, the group founded The Metamorphosis Project, a long-term approach to LGBTQ-specific emergency shelter for youth.
Memphis and Shelby County Office of Planning and Development
A site map shows how the group would use shipping containers to build its shelter.
“One night, I received three calls in an hour from youths across the state looking for housing services,” said Stephanie Reyes, who launched OUTMemphis’ Youth Services programs and spearheads The Metamorphosis Project. “That very night, we decided enough was enough. We needed to do something drastic to serve our kids.
“For years, LGBTQ youth in Memphis have had to endure shelters that were not safe, free, or welcoming. Now we will have a space of our own, so our youth can not only survive but thrive.”
OUTMemphis has said the center would house 20 clients at full capacity. The Metamorphosis building will start with four beds, a classroom, meeting and office space, a kitchen, laundry, storage, and parking.
The Youth Emergency Center is one part of the overall, three-pronged effort by the Metamorphosis Project. It also includes Youth Emergency Services (YES), which supplies hygiene products, food, clothes, bus passes, case management, and more. The overall project also includes Rapid Re-Housing, which began in 2017. It helps participants with one year of rental assistance and guidance on renting a first home.
When finished, the center will be one of about 20 like it across the country.
This map shows where the OUTMemphis youth homeless shelter will be located.
“This space will be the first and only drop-in center and shelter for youth in Memphis,” said Stephanie Bell, Youth Services Manager at OUTMemphis. “This will be the city’s first chance to change the lives of those most vulnerable.”
Reyes has said in the past that many Memphis-area shelters don’t advertise that they are LGTBQ-friendly. Others are either not free, safe, or welcoming.
Funds for the new building and the Metamorphosis Project came from the Assisi Foundation, Plough Foundation, the Mystic Krewe of Pagasus, Friends of George’s and Manna House.
“It showed us that we were not the only people in this city to see this need and want to help,” said Reyes. “People rallied together to make this happen, and we expect to see that significant support continue as the emergency shelter begins operations and, hopefully, expands.”
Google Maps
In 2016, boarded-up houses stood on the site where OUTMemphis wants to build a homeless shelter for LGBT youths.
The new “Memphis sound” is the chug of diesel engines, the high whine of power tools, and the relentless thwack of air-hammers.
Memphis is growing, like it or not. And, make no mistake, some do like the building boom, while others hate the change. Call it growing pains. Most of that growth is happening in the city’s core — Downtown and Midtown. Developers say they’re simply following the people — the market — as they seek urban living experiences.
Memphis is not growing outward; Memphis is filling in. In fact, city leaders recently de-annexed some outlying parts of the city and cut off new sewer taps to unincorporated areas of Shelby County, meaning no new construction is likely in those areas.
Justin Fox Burks
The Midtown Action Coalition in a meeting at Howard Hall
Developers are turning old buildings into something new. Think Crosstown Concourse, Central Station, or the myriad cotton warehouses Downtown converted into apartments. Developers are also doing “teardowns” and building something new on the site. For example, older homes in Cooper-Young are being razed and the lots are being filled with two or more “tall skinny” houses.
This is called infill development. And. It. Is. Hot. How hot? Historically hot.
“The renewed interest in the core over the past few years has been the most sustained and intense since the founding of the city,” says Josh Whitehead, planning director and administrator of the Memphis and Shelby County Office of Planning and Development (OPD). “I believe a renewed appreciation for urban living is driving these projects, much like is found in many other cities around the country.”
What’s happening in Memphis is a version of the same story that’s played out in cities such as Austin and Nashville. The city got “cool” (possibly due to its low housing costs and music cred), attracted cool people, and got all the cool-people accoutrements — lofts, bike-share and bike lanes, coffee shops, craft breweries, and, most recently, those Bird scooters.
When developers see markets get hot, they jump in and ride the wave.
But Austin and Nashville have something Memphis does not — lots of new people; around 100 people move to both cities every day. And those figures are down slightly from where they were in 2016 and 2017.
From 2010-2016, 8,729 people moved to Memphis, or about four people per day, according to census data. In that same time, 36,854 people moved out of the Memphis area.
The U.S. Census Bureau has not yet released its most-current, city-level data sets, so current figures on Memphis’ population shifts aren’t available. But, looking at what we have, the city’s population is stagnant at best. So are we really an “It” city?
Something certainly feels different. Consider another “It” metric: Home prices in Memphis rose 14 percent from May 2017 to May 2018, according to Chandler Reports. The average home price here in May 2017 was $169,540 and rose to $192,883 12 months later. Why? Because finding houses is getting harder.
“Low housing inventory in Memphis and Shelby County is pushing home sales prices to record highs,” reads the report.
In May, 1,779 houses were sold for a total of $343 million. That’s up 14 percent from $300 million in May 2017, according to Chandler Reports.
Developers must be reading the tea leaves, right? They wouldn’t take out loans, hire architects, and go through the city hall permitting process if they didn’t think their project — probably with some spiffy, millennial-attracting name — would be profitable. Thousands of people now want to live close to the urban core.
“People who are graduating from colleges and schools, they don’t want to own houses,” says Brenda Solomito-Basar, owner at Solomito Land Planning. “If they are empty nesters before children, or are empty nesters after children, you’ve got people who want low-maintenance. You have people who want to downsize.”
Ed Apple, of City Cottages, the company that’s planning to build small, single-family homes in Cooper-Young, says there’s a lot of demand for apartments but many of the city’s current apartment buildings are less than ideal. “I wouldn’t want to live in them,” he says.
“With new, comes excitement,” Apple says. “Memphis is an affordable city. My children both want to come back here, and I’m excited about that. I’m starting to see my friends’ children come back. There are just more opportunities than I’ve seen in the past.”
But as developers scout sites for new infill projects, they’re hunting in old neighborhoods, areas where often not much has changed for a long time and residents like it that way.
Patrick Durkin arrived at his Cooper-Young home on Bruce Street one Friday evening to find a crew demolishing the house next door. He’d had no warning. No nothing. After some digging, he learned that Memphis-based JBJ Properties Inc. planned to build four, “tall skinny” homes on the lot.
Tall-skinny houses are modern, two-story structures, narrow enough to fit two or four side-by-side on traditional Midtown lots.
The new tall houses often loom over the single-level bungalows nearby. In Durkins’ case, the homes’ upstairs balconies meant an end to any privacy he’d had in his backyard. One house is now built so close to his, Durkin could reach out his window and ask for a bottle of Grey Poupon.
“This is ultimately destroying our neighborhood and destroying the characteristics of what Memphis is,” Durkin says. “People come to Cooper-Young because it’s fun and friendly. If I saw this [motions to the tall skinnies], I’d think, well, it might as well be Nashville.”
Nearby, on Carr, Rodney Nash agrees, as he looks up at another tall-skinny looming above the street, a JBJ Properties sign planted in front of it. One day, he says, “they just came and leveled everything with a bulldozer and a backhoe.”
“There are hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are bothered by this development,” Nash says. “It’s coming from just a few people who are basically trying to make a lot of money off of the hard work that we’ve been doing in Midtown for years. They’re coming in, once the property values have gone up, and [to them] it’s worth it to do this [motions at the new building].”
No one from JBJ Properties responded to interview requests for this story. The company owns 77 properties across Shelby County, according to the county Assessor of Property website — including 10 properties on Bruce, where Durkin lives. JBJ Construction, which shares the same address as JBJ Properties, pulled 13 building permits for new homes in April, making it the top builder in the area that month, according to Chandler Reports. The average price for those 13 homes was $175,769.
Gordon Alexander, longtime Midtown activist and president of the Midtown Action Coalition, says tall, modern homes on streets with traditional homes makes you think, “what in the hell is that doing here?”
He says Cooper-Young’s reproduction antique street lights and many front porches give it a “Southern, homey feel.” Gordon calls the tall-skinnies, “atrocious, hideous-looking buildings.”
“If you don’t live in Midtown, I guess it’s hard for people from outside to understand,” Alexander says. “They don’t understand. They say this [motions to the tall-skinny] is progress. To us, this is not progress.”
Michael Fahy, president of Prime Development Group, which has represented JBJ Properties in several public hearings on projects, says, with “this new surge of growth, comes growing pains.”
“Change to a neighborhood with new homes can be confrontational,” Fahy says. “And each new development brings site-specific conditions that make each project unique. With new homes, comes a new benefit to neighbors with increased property values, updated or new homes, and new families.”
So, who wants to live in new homes in old neighborhoods? Plenty of people, apparently. Paul Morris, past president of the Downtown Memphis Commission, spelled it out plainly in a short speech showing his support for a new development in Central Gardens to the Land Use Control Board (LUCB).
“I believe there are more people that want to live in our core city and yet some people don’t choose to live in historic homes,” Morris said. “They want new construction. I think having that option available in Midtown is really important, because we can attract new citizens to our city.”
When Lisa Toro looks out the window of her City & State coffee shop on Broad, she can see the future — and she dreads it. Across Broad, where an old warehouse sits low, under street grade, a massive, modern-looking apartment complex is slated to be built.
3D Realty, a conglomerate of Loeb Properties and M&M Enterprises, has planned a $51 million project for the north side of Broad that will raze the warehouse and put in its place several four-story buildings that will house 414 apartments.
Toro, who also co-owns The Liquor Store restaurant with her husband, Luis, says she welcomes all the new people as possible customers, but she fears a massive change is coming to the street that she and other independent business owners built with risk, sweat, and hard-earned money. The massive change feels completely out of her hands, she says.
“Fifty percent of Broad Avenue is about to change,” Toro says, “and not making that a community-based effort is a huge disservice to the businesses that have been here for years.”
Independent business owners worked hard for many years to make Broad what it has become, she says. She thinks developers want to cash in on the organic, eclectic energy they created, and that they could destroy it in the bargain.
Bob Loeb, president of Loeb Properties, told The Daily News in May that he and partner James Maclin chose Broad “because the neighborhood is diverse and eclectic.” He told the paper he’d owned the warehouse since 1993 and they were waiting for the south side of the street to pop.
“The neighborhood is often viewed as a barrier to development, but yet the neighborhood is why those developers want to come in,” says Pat Brown, co-owner of T Clifton Art Gallery on Broad. “That’s what makes Memphis unique and why tourists want to come. If it’s not, why not just be Nashville or Atlanta?”
Toro and Brown say they were in talks with 3D Realty for months about everything from traffic and safety to greenspace. The developers listened, they said, but didn’t really heed any of their suggestions.
Maclin, principle owner of M&M Enterprises, says “conversations with neighborhood partners are absolutely ongoing” but provided no other comment on neighborhood concerns. Maclin adds, “We look forward to continuing our commitment to be good neighbors in the area through 3D Realty’s [Historic Broad Avenue Arts Alliance] membership — [Loeb Properties owner Bob Loeb] and I are already members — as well as our active community participation.”
If the project is built (and there’s little doubt that it will be), Toro says property values on Broad Avenue may rise, raising rents on those independent businesses, and even driving them away.
Brown wonders if there’s not a better way to give communities a voice when developers come knocking. That’s especially true, she says, when developments get millions of dollars worth of PILOT tax breaks (as the apartment complex did — $12.6 million, to be precise) from public sources.
Neighbors can sometimes influence the decisions of developers. On Madison Avenue, Fahy’s Prime Development Group and others plan to build 230 new apartments in four buildings on the vacant lot next to the P&H Cafe.
Bar owners Matthew Edwards and Robert Fortner worried the development would have gated off the one-way alley that runs behind the P&H and limited access to their business. Last month, the developers heeded their concerns and agreed to build a private alley off Court Street to retain the access.
In Cooper-Young, neighbors complained about the density Apple’s City Cottage project could bring. Originally, the company planned to build 10 roughly 1,000-square-foot rental houses on an empty lot at the corner of Elzey and Tanglewood.
Apple says he could have fit 18 homes on the lot, and he says he might have gotten it approved, “if we’d gone and fought it.” But, after listening to neighbors and looking at the site, he settled on eight homes, and says they “look really good there.
“At the end of the day it was an easy decision,” Apple says. “It was what was right for the property and what was right for the neighborhood.”
However, when dealing with infill projects, Apple urges neighbors and activists not to “poke the bear.” Some showed up to public meetings about his project with ulterior motives, he says; others were “spreading misinformation and half-baked truths … and trying to stir the pot.
“I love when people from the community say, ‘I’ve got a problem with this and here’s why,'” Apple says, “as long as it’s well thought-out and not just a personal smear. You get a lot more with honey than with vinegar.”
Solomito, who has guided dozens of projects through the public process, says developments can be improved and modified by the community, if residents are willing to negotiate.
“Lots of people think they shouldn’t have to negotiate,” she says. “Well, you know, A) Never move next door to vacant land; and B) Nothing ever stays the same. Property changes hands, and the best you can do is think of [new development] as an opportunity.”
Listen to residents and neighborhood activists long enough and they’ll eventually say something like, “I can guarantee if they’d tried to build something like this in [a developer’s or local lawmaker’s] neighborhood, they wouldn’t get away with it.” Consider the case of Ivy Grove in upscale Central Gardens:
Ivy Grove was a project in which Germantown’s Kircher-Uhlhorn Development wanted to tear down a 106-year-old home and build nine new houses on the old home’s two-acre lot.
Neighbors said Ivy Grove would increase density, congest traffic, sap the neighborhood’s historic qualities, and lower property values. It didn’t help that the developers were from Germantown and planned to list the homes for between $650,000-$750,000.
“The developers behind this project could care less about Central Gardens or Midtown,” Central Gardens resident Jan Willis wrote to city planning officials. “It’s utter greed. It’s not growth, it’s pure profit for the developers.”
The neighborhood resistance was enough to cause Kircher-Uhlhorn to halt the project for a month. The company came back to the Land Use Control Board (LUCB) in March with a new plan that included saving the existing home and building two fewer houses. But the changes didn’t win the Ivy Grove project many more fans.
“Central Gardens is a neighborhood with a huge tax base because of its historical relevance,” said Barbara Sysak at that March LUCB meeting. “If we destroy this, bit by bit, the neighborhood will eventually lose its unique character.”
It was hard to know if anyone on the LUCB was actually listening and considering what neighbors were saying. Then, Margaret Pritchard spoke. She’d said she’d heard “the wonderful comments” from the “passionate people who live in Central Gardens.” Pritchard sits on the LUCB and chairs one of its committees. The day of the Ivy Grove vote, she said of the Central Garden residents in the chamber, “I’m their neighbor. I live on Harbert.”
Pritchard worried Ivy Grove would cause parking issues and said that she didn’t “like the precedent” it set for the neighborhood, and wondered about the “violations to the guidelines.” But, mostly, Pritchard said, drainage was the reason to reject the project. Heavy rains made the intersection of Barksdale and McLean impassible. Pritchard said she’d once seen a picture of a car floating there in The Commercial Appeal.
Pritchard and nine other LUCB board members voted against Ivy Grove. The board rejected a project, even though the developer changed it, based on community feedback, and even though the city planning staff approved it. That doesn’t happen often at Memphis City Hall.
At the vote’s final tally, a burst of applause and “woos” rose up against the banging gavel of the LUCB board chairman Jon McCreery, who was one of only two members to vote for Ivy Grove.
Three years ago, countless articles touted the trend of “Americans Returning to Cities” the “urban renaissance.” But recently, new stories, like this one from Fortune, are emerging: “Why Millennials Are About to Leave Cities in Droves.”
New Census data for the first seven years of this decade predicts a population shift back to the suburbs, especially as older millennials make more money and get ready to have children, according to analysis from the Brookings Institute.
“If these shifts continue, they could call into question the sharp clustering of the nation’s population — in large metropolitan areas and their cities — that characterized the first half of the 2010s,” wrote Brookings’ senior fellow William H. Frey.
So, what’s next for Memphis?
In terms of crystal balls, Solomito’s is probably clearer than most in Memphis. Here’s her prediction about the next wave of big-time development:
“East Memphis is done. Downtown is getting done. Guess what? It’s the middle part of the sandwich [in Midtown]. I think it’s coming there.”
Buckle up.
The city’s urban core is a lava-hot market, but as some developers rush to cash in, some long-time Memphians worry that some of their projects are “destroying the characteristics of what Memphis is.”
Infill development projects, those built where something else once stood, are not new to the core, said Josh Whitehead, director of the Memphis and Shelby County Office of Planning and Development, but this recent trend is something new.
“The renewed interest in the core over the past few years, however, has been the most sustained and intense since the founding of the city,” Whitehead said.
But some new developments concern many who chose urban living and Memphis’ unique neighborhoods long before they became trendy, like Patrick Durkin, who chose Cooper-Young nine years ago.
He came home one Friday to find a demolition crew razing the home next door to his. No note. No nothing. He later found that JBJ Properties Inc. planned to build four, “tall skinny” homes on the corner lot.
Toby Sells
Patrick Durkin (left) and Olivia Wall and their “tall skinny” neighbors
The homes are modern, two-story (tall) structures, narrow enough to fit four of them side-by-side on a traditional Midtown lot (skinny). In short, they look nothing like Cooper-Young homes.
“This is ultimately destroying our neighborhood and destroying the characteristics of what Memphis is,” Durkin said. “People come to Cooper-Young because it’s fun and friendly. If I saw this [motions to the tall skinnies], I’d think, well, it might as well be Nashville.”
But a new set of laws may make it harder for developers to build whatever they want in Cooper-Young. The Land Use Control Board and the Memphis Landmarks Commission both approved rules creating the Cooper Young Historic Landmark District.
The designation would regulate demolition, new construction, and residential add-ons in the neighborhood. It only now needs approval from the Memphis City Council, which is slated to vote on the matter in the coming weeks.
Developers are also looking for council approval for another controversial project in Cooper-Young. City Cottages wants to build 10, small, pre-fabricated houses on a now-vacant lot at Tanglewood and Elzey.
The homes are between 576 and 726 square feet, built in Osceola, Arkansas, by Little Custom Homes. City planners said the homes are “similar in concept to modular housing,” homes fabricated somewhere else and assembled on site.
Midtowners on the Preserve Cooper-Young Facebook page, which Durkin and his girlfriend, Olivia Wall, established about nine months ago, say the tiny homes don’t fit the neighborhood, are “inappropriate,” and won’t even provide construction jobs here.
While the type of project may seem new, the council already approved a similar project for the same lot back in 2009. City Cottages says that precedent helps their cause and further precedent could help them bring the tiny homes to a spot close to the Highland Strip.
Precedent like that worries Brantley Ellzey, a Midtowner, artist, and one-time, full-time architect.
“The bottom line is that all of the power is with the developers now,” Elzey said. “If you’re a citizen and you’re against [any new development], you’re somehow seen as automatically against development and against progress when, in reality, you’re for all those things, you’re for them being done a better way.”
“Infill Frenzy” is an ongoing series looking at developements that will shape our neighborhoods.
A trip to New Orleans is a regular pilgrimage for many Memphians in search of novel music, cuisine, and culture. Visiting the Big Easy scratches an itch that can’t be satisfied elsewhere. But it’s rare that we get a slice of New Orleans coming up our way. This Saturday, July 15th, will be a notable exception, when the Wild Magnolias bring Mardi Gras to Cooper-Young to cap off the Beauty Shop’s 15-Year Anniversary Party. As one of the premiere African-American “tribes” that emerge in full-feathered glory at Carnival time every year, the Wild Magnolias bring a long tradition of deep funk and street marching with them.
Karen Carrier, the Beauty Shop’s owner, has always drawn on Crescent City culture for inspiration, and music has always been central to her experience. It was at the 1976 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival that she met her future partners in the original Automatic Slim’s eatery in Manhattan, and she has attended dozens of Jazz Fests since. During one of these visits, she befriended Bo Dollis Sr., the Wild Magnolias’ Big Chief from 1964 until just before his death in 2015. Now his son, Bo Dollis Jr., leads the group. “We played when she first opened her restaurant,” he recalls. “I was young at the time, but I still remember it.”
That, of course, was before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and scattered most members of the Mardi Gras tribes. It took little time for them to regroup. “Me and my tribe, we came right back the same year as Katrina. That was the hardest Mardi Gras ever. You saw more people crying because they thought this or that person was dead.” It was also a challenge, says Dollis, because tribes typically work for a full year readying themselves for Mardi Gras, and months had been lost. Now, with the tribes in full swing again, such preparations still preoccupy him. “Everybody’s sewing right now, trying to get ready for Mardi Gras,” he notes. “These suits take a long time. It takes all year to get these suits together. Right now in New Orleans, it’s sewing season.”
The tribe’s handiwork will be on full display this Saturday night: a five-piece band accompanied by two “Indians” in all their feathered splendor. At 6:30 p.m., they will lead a second line parade on Cooper, followed by a performance later that night at the Beauty Shop’s sister venue, Bar DKDC.
While the group naturally performs Mardi Gras parade music, they have been associated with more eclectic sounds for decades. The first Wild Magnolias album, released in 1974, was a clarion call for Crescent City funk, with the band, known as the New Orleans Project, led by the legendary Willie Tee. The sounds of percussive clavinet and metallic vocoder vocals gave a near-disco quality to their biggest hit from that era, “Smoke My Peace Pipe (Smoke it Right).”
Their releases since then have been few and far between, but 2013’s New Kind of Funk showed that the spirit of experimentalism was alive and well. By then the group was led by Bo Dollis Jr., but, as he recalls, “That last album was dedicated to my dad. Some of the songs are his that I just revamped. Some of it’s hip-hop, some of it’s country, some of it is just straight Mardi Gras Indian. There were two originals that were mine, and the rest, like ‘Coconut Milk’ or ‘New Kind of Funk,’ were songs he did a long time ago, and I just revamped them.” Unpredictable synthesizer and guitar textures abound, though all are grounded with powerful live drumming.
Dollis says the group is now working on a new album. “For the next album, it’ll be straight Mardi Gras and Mardi Gras Indian. We’re just getting in the studio. It’s been like a month now that we’ve just started working on it. I’m looking at probably Mardi Gras time that we’ll release it, so probably around January; if not that, then maybe Jazz Fest time.”
And as for this week’s performance? “It ain’t just Mardi Gras, because I put some funk into it. I might put some oldies-but-goodies into it. It’s just a big party. So I tell anybody who comes to my show, don’t never come dressed up, because you gonna be dancing. My Indians gonna make you dance. I’m gonna make you dance. I might even get in the crowd with you and dance. It’s just a big, fun type of party, but at the same time it’s the New Orleans beat behind it.” Dollis’ parting words of advice: “Let ’em know to come comfortable, because you gonna get a workout.”