Per the official Graceland website, Presley lived in the mansion from 1957 until his death in 1977. Located off a highway that was renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard in 1971, the two-story residence sits on 13.8 acres of land.

Since 1982, Graceland has operated as a museum dedicated to the star. Ticket packages offer access to the mansion, with prices for adults starting at $82. According to the website, it has hosted over 20 million visitors from across the globe.

On May 19, 2024, a public notice announced the foreclosure sale of the property, claiming that Promenade Trust — which operates Graceland — owes Naussany Investments and Private Lending $3.8 million to repay a loan that Presley's late daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, took out in May 2018.

However, Lisa Marie's daughter, the actor Riley Keough, filed a lawsuit to prevent the auction of the estate, alleging that the signatures on the loan documents were forged.

A temporary restraining order was granted, delaying the auction. An injunction hearing is scheduled for May 22, per USA Today.

Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Mississippi. Heavily influenced by the country, gospel, and blues music that he listened to as a child, Presley started his singing career in 1954.

With hits such as "Hound Dog" and "Can't Help Falling in Love with You," he would go on to become one of the most successful performers of all time, with 14 Grammy nominations and millions of records sold, per the Recording Academy.

On August 16, 1977, Presley collapsed in his Graceland home and was found unconscious by his girlfriend, Ginger Alden. She documented the moment she found him on the master bathroom floor in her 2014 memoir, The Mirror reported.

According to The New York Times, coroners pronounced him dead on the same day, with the official cause of death attributed to heart failure. He was 42 years old.

The Colonial Revival-style mansion, which was built in 1939, has eight bedrooms and four bathrooms, The Guardian reported after a tour of the house. About half of the 23 rooms in the house are off-limits to visitors, including the entire second floor — where the star's master suite is located.

According to the Graceland website, visitors are only allowed access to common spaces, including the living room, the kitchen, and the TV room. Spanning 17,552 square feet, the sprawling residence has five sets of staircases, three fireplaces, and a kidney-shaped swimming pool.

Presley frequently had friends and family over at the mansion, including an entourage of confidants and associates the media dubbed the "Memphis Mafia." Some members of the group were childhood friends of Presley's, including his bodyguards Red and Sonny West.

In 2006, Graceland was designated a National Historic Landmark, per the National Park Service.

According to the museum's website, Presley had the gate — which cost $1,339 — installed shortly after he purchased the residence. Throngs of fans would wait by the gate in hopes of catching a glimpse of their idol. Occasionally, he would also sign autographs for them through the gate.

"Back in the day, if you were ever at the gates of Graceland and you saw the cars around the front of the mansion, that meant Elvis was home," Angie Marchese — the Graceland archivist — told The Daily Express.

The brick wall that surrounds the estate is also popular with fans, the website states. Over the years, it has been covered in personal messages that fans have left in memory of their idol.

The sofa was originally a metallic blue, but Presley later had it reupholstered in white — which is what it still looks like today, per the Graceland website. He added the stained-glass windows in 1974 and chose to use a peacock design, which symbolizes eternal life and resurrection in ancient Christianity.

"Elvis sat at the head of the table because it did give him one of the best views of the TV that's over to the corner on the right," Marchese said during a 2020 Instagram Live on the estate's official account.

She added that there was also a button under the table where they could call the kitchen for more food.

The room's name only came about after the mansion opened to the public.

Presley personally picked out the Polynesian-inspired furniture because it reminded him of Hawaii, which was his favorite holiday spot, per the museum's website. He installed a waterfall and covered the room with plants to complete the look.

A shag carpet covers both the floor and the ceiling, per the website. This soundproofed the room and allowed Presley to turn the space into a makeshift recording studio. Presley recorded some of the songs on his album "From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee," here.

The Graceland website states that Presley worked with a designer, Bill Eubanks, to develop the room's concept.

A crew of three was needed to cut and attach 350 to 400 yards of cotton fabric strips to the walls and ceiling.

"It looks as if he just got up and left," Marchese said during the 2020 Instagram Live. "The record on the record player is the last record he listened to. There's a styrofoam cup that sits on a bookshelf."

Towards the end of his life, Presley spent much of his time holed up in his bedroom upstairs, especially if he was "in pyjamas or unshaven," Alden told The Daily Express.

Inspired by US President Lyndon Johnson, who liked to watch three news broadcasts simultaneously, Presley also wanted three television sets in his TV room, per the official Graceland website.

Presley's record label, RCA, gave him the desk as a gift for selling one million copies of the "Blue Hawaii" soundtrack, Marchese told The Daily Express.

Presley constructed a new wing in the mansion in the mid-1960s to store a slot car track, as stated in Graceland's National Historic Landmark Nomination application.

Connected to the main house via a sheltered walkway, the estate renamed the new wing the "Trophy Building" and remodeled it to house his awards.

The estate updated the building in 2017 to feature an exhibit that focuses on Presley's personal life and his family, per the Graceland website. Some items on display include his wedding outfit, family photos, and his daughter's childhood toys.

The entire room was filled with posthumous awards and included a display of his famous jumpsuits, per the museum's website. In 2017, the racquetball court was restored to its original condition and all the trophies were moved into a new exhibit.

Elvis Week, which commemorates the anniversary of Presley's death, takes place between August 9 and August 17, per the museum's website.

Every year, fans from around the world flock to Graceland to leave flowers at his grave. The estate hosts around 500,000 visitors every year.

Lisa Marie Presley died on January 12, 2023, at 54. The announcement of her death came hours after her mother, Priscilla Presley, confirmed she had been rushed to the hospital.

In an August 2022 essay she wrote for People Magazine, Lisa Marie spoke about grief and how she was "destroyed" by her son Benjamin Keough's death. She also blamed herself "every single day."

Keough died by suicide in July 2020, at 27, and was buried at Graceland.

In January 2023, a representative for Riley Keough, Lisa Marie's eldest daughter, confirmed in a statement to BI that her mother would be buried next to her son.

Members of the cast showed up at Graceland for the Memphis premiere of the film on June 12, 2022, per the daily Memphis newspaper The Commercial Appeal.

A press junket to promote the film was also in the screening, including a GMA interview with Tom Hanks and Austin Butler recorded in the Jungle room.

May 22, 2024: This story has been updated to reflect details of the ongoing lawsuit regarding the property's foreclosure.

The neighborhood is located on the east side of Tempe, just about 10 miles from Phoenix.

During my visit, I met with CEO and cofounder Ryan Johnson. After years of working in the real estate and transportation industries — and traveling to walkable places around the world — he was inspired to create a neighborhood free of cars.

From New York City to Budapest, Johnson says his travels launched a passion for cities.

"I saw those places and said, 'Wow, this is a much better way to build a city — with thoughtful architecture, great transportation systems,'" he told BI.

Johnson added that developments in the transportation industry, from ride-share apps to public transit systems and electric bikes, have made living car-free possible in places like Arizona.

Johnson, who grew up in Phoenix and currently lives at Culdesac, hasn't had a car in 14 years.

Visitors and delivery drivers can park their cars at Culdesac, but residents cannot.

The company representative told BI that for residents with cars, "it's regulated through their lease agreement that they won't park on-site or on any public streets within 0.25 miles."

Some residents park their cars elsewhere in Tempe, while others, like Johnson, don't have a vehicle at all. Residents get around on foot, bicycles, electric bikes, and electric scooters. The neighborhood has more than 1,000 bike parking spots.

One Culdesac resident previously told BI that living without a car can be challenging outside the neighborhood, as the surrounding city was built for vehicles.

However, according to the company's website, Culdesac provides residents with a mobility package worth almost $3,000 a year to make transportation easier. It includes a complimentary Valley Metro pass for the light rail that goes through Phoenix and Tempe and discounts on ride-share apps like Lyft and Waymo, a self-driving cab service.

The plaza, located across from the neighborhood light rail stop, is the communal center of Culdesac. It's marked by a sculpture by artist Matthew Salenger that doubles as a canopy.

Every Thursday evening, Culdesac hosts Little Cholla, a public outdoor night market with music, vendors, food trucks, art, and activities such as line dancing and yoga.

A two-story building in the plaza with giant windows is home to the neighborhood fitness center. It offers workout classes and is lined with equipment.

From thrifted clothing to unique dishware and candles, there's plenty of local shopping at Culdesac.

According to the company's website, there are about 11 micro-retail shops, including a market, a laundromat, a medical spa, an art studio, and a plant shop.

The company representative told BI that the small-business owners at Culdesac are residents, and some even live in their stores thanks to a zoning permit that allows them to do so.

All the stores have kitchens and bathrooms, and some have bedrooms.

In April 2023, Culdesac's Cocina Chiwas opened. It's a family-owned Mexican restaurant serving Chihuahuan cuisine.

It's no secret that the Phoenix area is hot — sometimes dangerously so in the summers. So Culdesac was built to keep pedestrians cool without asphalt — a road material that gets hotter in the sun.

Culdesac intentionally placed the buildings close together to create as much shade as possible.

The buildings' color is also no accident. Culdesac chose white because it reflects sunlight rather than absorbs it.

More than half of the entire property is open, landscaped space.

Culdesac currently has 172 units. More will open in the fall, and the neighborhood will eventually have 760 units.

Studios start at $1,300 a month, one-bedrooms are $1,400, two-bedrooms are $2,100, and three-bedrooms are $2,900 a month.

Archer's Bike Shop sells manual and electric bikes. And Culdesac residents get complementary services and product discounts.

After my visit to Culdesac, I chatted with Brad Biehl, a 24-year-old resident from Colombus, Ohio. Biehl has lived in the neighborhood for six months. He said one of the best parts of living there is the sense of community.

"We're usually in environments where we walk from our door to our car and from the car into the place," Biehl said. "But here, to go anywhere, I usually pass at least two or three of my neighbors, even when I'm just walking to the light rail right around the corner."

Biehl added that he's optimistic about the future of Culdesac when more residents and retailers come in.

"While there are still not a ton of people here yet, there's way more going on than I would've expected there to be," he told BI. "The number of serendipitous interactions that have taken place with the limited number of residents makes me super excited for what people will experience here."