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As Seen in the South

Arcade Restaurant

Memphis, Tennessee

Founded in 1919 by a Greek immigrant named Speros Zepatos, the Arcade Restaurant claims the title of oldest family-owned cafe in Memphis. Numerous films have shot scenes at this iconic venue over the years, including “Mystery Train,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “The Client,” “The Firm,” “21 Grams,” “Elizabethtown,” “Walk the Line” and “My Blueberry Nights.” The Food Network and the Travel Channel have also visited to film programs on traditional Southern cuisine.

During the 1950s, Zepatos’ son, Harry Zepatos, remodeled the cafe to bring it up to date with the latest decorative trends of the era, adding features such as neon signage, boomerang tabletop designs and bright pastel blues, pinks and creams. This vintage aesthetic is one of the primary reasons the restaurant has attracted so many film producers, writers and artists over the past few decades.

“Internally, it hasn’t been changed since the ’50s, and the decor on the inside is authentic — it’s not a recent restaurant recently built and designed to look like the ’50s,” said Caroline Parkes, public relations and communications manager at the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The Arcade Restaurant holds one other claim to fame: During the 1950s, the venue was frequented by Elvis Presley. Modern patrons can sit at the Elvis Booth, where the singer often stopped for lunch to eat his favorite fried peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich, an item still featured on the menu in his honor.

“The restaurant has significance in the community today because of its ties to Elvis,” said Parkes.

www.arcaderestaurant.com

Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum

Weston, West Virginia

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum operated as a psychiatric hospital from 1864 to 1994. The Gothic castlelike structure is the largest hand-cut stone masonry building in the United States and the second largest in the world next to the Moscow Kremlin. Though originally designed to house 250 patients, the hospital reached a capacity of nearly 2,400 patients during the 1950s, which led to poor living conditions. In addition, many of these mentally ill patients were subjected to cruel experimentation and seclusion.

Today, the asylum is considered one of the most haunted places in America, attracting a number of paranormal television shows, such as TLC’s “Paranormal Lockdown” and the Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures.” The team from Syfy’s “Ghost Hunters” visited the asylum twice — once for a seven-hour live broadcast and later for its 200th-episode special. Visitors often claim to encounter paranormal phenomenons such as whispering voices, full-body apparitions crouched in corners and disembodied hands tugging at clothing.

The facility and 300-acre property was privately purchased and renovated in 2007 and has since opened to the public as a historical attraction. Groups can explore the asylum’s riveting history through several tour experiences, including the Criminally Insane Tour, the Cemetery and Farm Tour, and the Paranormal Tour.

www.trans-alleghenylunaticasylum.com