Elvis is still stopping traffic in Germany with swiveling-hip traffic lights
Memphis, of course, has the heart and soul of Elvis — Graceland.
But the king of rock ‘n’ roll is stopping traffic in the German town where he spent his years of military service.
Friedberg, in central Germany, has recently installed three Elvis-themed stop lights in honor of the time Elvis was stationed there in the 1950s while in the U.S. Army. According to The Associated Press, the red light shows Elvis striking a pose at a microphone. On the green light, Elvis is doing his trademark hip swivel dance.
The town, north of Frankfurt, also has an “Elvis Presley Platz,” or Elvis Presley Square, in honor of the rock icon. The addition of the themed lights is an added nod to the Elvis fans who visit the town regularly.
Elvis was stationed at the Army’s Ray Barracks there from October 1958 to March 1960. He lived in nearby Bad Nauheim, according to The AP. Elvis died at Graceland in 1977. The plaza and, now, traffic lights are only a small portion of the area’s fascination with Elvis.
In Bad Nauheim, which on the town’s website calls itself Elvis’ “European home” and the place where he met Priscilla, the room Elvis rented out in the Hotel Grunewald has been preserved in its original state, the website says.
“In October 1958,” the website explains, “Elvis Presley arrived in Friedberg by train, Bad Nauheim’s neighboring town, where he was to do his military service. Just a week later, the singer’s father, grandmother, and two friends as well as bodyguards also turned up.”
The website says the “Elvis clan” rented the entire floor in the hotel. Other area attractions for Elvis fans? “Two other highly popular photo opportunities for Elvis fans are the bridge over the Usa rivulet, on which Elvis was once photographed, and the Burgpforte (castle gate), where the picture was taken for the album cover of ‘A Big Hunk o’ Love’,” the website says. “Fans love to pose for pictures there in the same way their idol did before them.”
No word on whether the King’s true home, Memphis, will follow the traffic light lead.
But there’s always hope — neighboring Germantown, after all, has a speed limit for horses on its traffic signs in a nod to that city’s history.