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Downtown Memphis in Shelby County, Tennessee — The American South (East South Central)
 

Beale Street #4

 
 
Beale Street #4 Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Sandra Hughes, May 18, 2010
1. Beale Street #4 Marker
Inscription.
"Saturday night was the fabulous night on Beale street. Our parents kept the store opened late. We were children; we used to sit on little chairs outside the store and watch. If we got sleepy, they would put us to sleep on a rack of pants until they took us home at one or two in the morning."
Irving Straugh

"We used to have shoes sitting out front. A man came along and stole one shoe. So Uncle Sam says, 'I'm going to catch him. He put the other shoe out there, and the man stole the other shoe. That's why in our show window there is only one shoe to this day."
Abe Schwab

"Anything that was pawnable, they'd pawn - their false teeth, their toasters. They'd have breakfast and would go to the pawnshop with the toaster still warm. One fellow came out of a taxi-cab with an artificial leg and wanted to pawn the leg. I wouldn't take it."
Lou Rafale

Center for Southern Folklore
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Industry & Commerce.
 
Location. 35° 8.392′ N, 90° 3.161′ W. Marker is in Memphis, Tennessee, in Shelby County. It is in Downtown Memphis. It is on Beale Street. Located along Beale Street. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Memphis TN 38103, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in West Tennessee. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Deep South, in the Upper South, in the Mississippi Delta, and in the Great River Road Region. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At

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least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Beale Street #3 (a few steps from this marker); Hooks Brothers Photography (within shouting distance of this marker); Benjamin Franklin Booth (within shouting distance of this marker); Lansky Brothers (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Beale Street #1 (about 300 feet away); Beale Street #2 (about 300 feet away); Danny Thomas (about 400 feet away); In Memory of W.C. Handy (about 400 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Memphis.
 
Beale Street #4 Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed by Sandra Hughes, May 18, 2010
2. Beale Street #4 Marker
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on February 7, 2023. It was originally submitted on August 28, 2017, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. This page has been viewed 455 times since then and 21 times this year. Photos:   1, 2. submitted on August 28, 2017, by Sandra Hughes Tidwell of Killen, Alabama, USA. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.
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Jul. 11, 2026