Goethestrasse 14 (Bad Nauheim)
The house at Goethestrasse 14 in the Hessian spa town of Bad Nauheim gained worldwide fame due to the fact that Elvis Presley lived in it from February 3, 1959 to March 2, 1960 .
Elvis Presley in Germany
As part of his conscription in the US Army , Presley arrived in Bremerhaven on Wednesday October 1, 1958 with the troop carrier USS Randall . From there it went by train to Friedberg (Hessen) , where Presley did his service in the Ray Barracks for the next 17 months .
On the following Saturday, October 4, 1958, Elvis' father Vernon and his mother Minnie Mae and his friends Lamar Fike and Red West arrived by plane in Frankfurt . Because Bad Homburg was recommended to them as the most beautiful place in the region, they first moved into the local Ritters Park Hotel . Because Elvis would rather spend the nights in the hotel with his confidants than in the barracks, but Bad Homburg is a little too far from Friedberg, they moved to Bad Nauheim the next day. There they first moved into the Hilberts Park Hotel , which was closed in 1982 and demolished in 1989. As soon as they moved in, the new guests were made aware that they would have to move out again soon because the Saudi King Saud had booked the entire hotel due to his upcoming spa stay in Bad Nauheim. Therefore, the group moved to the Hotel Grunewald on October 11, 1958 . The villa, built in 1888, served as a hotel until 2007 and was a private home for the next ten years. In August 2017, the Villa Grunewald reopened as a hotel. The room with the number 10, which Elvis Presley lived in at the time, has been preserved almost in its original state and can be inhabited.
Because there had been several dissonances with the hotel owner Otto Schmidt over the course of time, which originated both in disturbances of the peace especially by Lamar Fike and Red West as well as in the loud music of the King of Rock'n'Roll himself and the constant fan sieges of the Elvis Presley rented the house at Goethestrasse 14, which they moved into at the beginning of February 1959, had hotels that made a regular process more difficult.
Elvis Presley at Goethestrasse 14
Over a period of 13 months, the house on Goethestrasse was a place of pilgrimage for fans from all over the world, who besieged it and constantly hoped to meet their idol in person. This was often possible because Presley always spent lunch at home Monday through Friday and he came home after work at 5:00 p.m. In addition, a sign indicated that there was an autograph session between 7:30 pm and 8:00 pm every day. Presley could also be seen playing football on many Sunday afternoons ; one of his favorite sports activities, which he practiced with his friend Red West and other soldiers on the meadow opposite the house in front of graduation building IV / V.
Elvis Presley, his father Vernon Presley, his grandmother Minnie Mae Presley, his friends Lamar Fike and Red West, his secretary Elisabeth Stefaniak and on the weekends his friend Charlie Hodge lived permanently in the house .
The landlady
The house owner at the time, Maria Pieper, asked for a monthly rent of 3,200 marks, which was excessive for the time, because she knew that Presley could afford it. Nevertheless, she, who had withdrawn to the attic during the 13-month stay of her world-famous tenant, received many gifts from the King of Rock'n'Roll , who thus ensured the "civil prosperity" in the Pieper house. Despite the presents, Ms. Pieper went through the house with her lawyer on March 1, 1960, the eve of the Presleys' departure, making additional demands for every scratch she could find.
Intrusive fans
The constant sieges of the house by fans and other curious people also had their downsides. Because the house was under constant surveillance and particularly intrusive people looked through the windows or, in rare cases, even got into the house through them, the shutters on the ground floor were soon closed day and night. But these measures did not prevent anyone from ringing the bell at any time (including at night) or climbing over the garden fence and stealing Presley's shirts from the clothesline in the back garden. In addition, countless love and greeting messages were left on the garden fence, so that Presley had it painted several times a year.
Special events
In August 1959, the 13th son of the aforementioned Saudi King Ibn Saud visited Elvis Presley at Goethestrasse 14.
A few weeks later - on Sunday, 13 September 1959 - brought Currie Grant, the manager of the Eagle's Club in Wiesbaden , the Elvis Presley had met on 17 May 1959 at a ceremony in the house Goethestrasse 14, the only 14-year-old Priscilla with who met Elvis for the first time on that day and place. She later became his wife and mother to his only daughter, Lisa Marie .
The house in the present
Around 1985, the property at Goethestrasse 14 passed to a family of doctors who replaced the old wooden fence, carried out renovations on the house and did not want any signs on their property reminding that the property was inhabited by Elvis Presley in 1959/60 .
According to Sam Thompson, Priscilla Presley was incognito in 2012, but was not allowed to enter. On October 18, 2016, she and an RTL camera team were denied access due to lack of punctuality.
See also
Web links
- Elvis Presley Association: Elvis in Germany
References and comments
- ^ Andreas Schröer, Michael Knorr, Oskar Hentschel: A Date with Elvis (Begula New Media GmbH, Herten, 1st edition 2004), p. 71f, ISBN 3-938152-00-1
- ↑ After 30 years: See you again at the »crime scene« (article in the newspaper from November 1, 2011)
- ^ Schröer, Knorr, Hentschel: A Date with Elvis , p. 165
- ↑ Elvis Presley: Ritters Park Hotel, Bad Homburg, Germany: First weekend of October 1958 ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English; accessed on May 4, 2014)
- ↑ a b Elvis Presley in Germany
- ↑ Web representation of the Hotel Villa Grunewald (accessed on October 18, 2018)
- ^ Schröer, Knorr, Hentschel: A Date with Elvis , p. 98
- ^ Rex and Elisabeth Mansfield: ELVIS in Germany (Graceland Book 1. Collector's Service Verlags- und Vertriebs-GmbH), p. 53, ISBN 3-922932-00-2
- ↑ The King in the Capri Club (article from May 17, 2010)
- ↑ Schröer, Knorr and Hentschel name February 2, 1959 as the day of the move, while other sources, such as the Bad Nauheim Hotel Neuhöfer ( Memento of the original from May 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , state February 3, 1959.
- ↑ Mansfield: ELVIS in Germany , p. 62
- ↑ Mansfield: ELVIS in Germany , p. 72
- ↑ Mansfield: ELVIS in Germany , p. 56
- ^ Schröer, Knorr, Hentschel: A Date with Elvis , p. 200
- ^ Schröer, Knorr, Hentschel: A Date with Elvis , p. 190
- ↑ Mansfield: ELVIS in Germany , p. 115
- ^ Schröer, Knorr, Hentschel: A Date with Elvis , p. 180
- ^ Schröer, Knorr, Hentschel: A Date with Elvis , p. 181
- ^ Schröer, Knorr, Hentschel: A Date with Elvis , p. 188
- ^ Schröer, Knorr, Hentschel: A Date with Elvis , p. 207
- ^ Schröer, Knorr, Hentschel: A Date with Elvis , p. 188
- ↑ Katja Riedel: The King in the Capri Club. In: Sueddeutsche.de. May 17, 2010, accessed March 1, 2020 .
- ↑ Corinna Weigelt: Bad Nauheim from today next door to Elvis . In: FNP.de . August 14, 2015. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
- ↑ Petra Ihm-Fahle: Ex-wife of the legend Elvis visited Bad Nauheim. In: FNP.de. October 20, 2016, accessed March 1, 2020 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 21 ′ 47.1 ″ N , 8 ° 44 ′ 47.4 ″ E