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Historic
Rainbow Lake |
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...Memphis
Entertainment Complex |
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Rainbow Lake was a popular entertainment complex located at 2879 Lamar Avenue.
There was a huge swimming pool, massive roller-skating rink,
and the very popular Terrace Room - a restaurant they
billed as "The South's Finest."
Owned by the Pieraccini family, the complex opened in 1936 in
an area that at that time was on the outskirts of Memphis.
The roller rink was added later, in 1942. The
Pieraccini's also operated Clearpool another popular
Memphis pool.
Because the Rainbow Terrace attracted a more adult crowd,
there was often trouble - drunken sailors from Millington,
fights, robberies, and fires. The Terrace often lost
their liquor license. So in 1958, the owners
planned to convert the entertainment complex into a
private resort and add a 40 unit luxury hotel on the site.
It never happened. In the 1960s, most of
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the
buildings were purchased by the Memphis AFL-CIO Building
Association. They turned the Terrace Room into meeting
space, and converted the rink into offices. The swimming
pool filled up with trash.
In
1975 a major fire caused more than $300,000 damage and a few years
later the building association went bankrupt. In 1981 Pancho's bought the site for its headquarters. They were
there only a few years before moving out. Finally, the
decaying buildings were all demolished. Today
there is an apartment complex and a grocery store on the site.
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Click on small photos to
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Rainbow Pool
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Rainbow Pool |
Rainbow Pool 1954 |
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Rainbow
Terrace |
Charles-Buddy
French |
Jean-Charles
French |
Matchbook |
Rainbow Rollerdome |
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Rainbow Pool
1954 |
Rainbow Grill |
Rainbow "sticker" |
Rainbow "Sticker" |
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| Rainbow
Decal - Organ |
Ralph Hale - Jack
Hale,Organist |
Matchbook |
Rainbow "Sticker" |
Rainbow
Glass |
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Before he
was a star, Elvis was a frequent visitor to the Rainbow Skating Rink
with his girlfriend Dixie Locke. After stardom, he would often
rent the facility for all-night parties with his friends. |
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Credits |
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The
Historic-Memphis website does not intentionally post copyrighted
photos and material without permission or credit.
On
occasion a "non-credited" photo might possibly be posted because we
were unable to find a name to give credit. Because of the nature of
our non-commercial, non-profit, educational website, we strongly
believe that these photos would be considered "Fair Use. We have
certainly made no monetary gain, although those using this website
for historic or Genealogy research have certainly profited. If by
chance,
we have posted your copyrighted photo, please contact us, and we'll
remove it immediately, or we'll add your credit if that's your
choice. In the past, we have found that many photographers
volunteer to have their works included on these pages and we'll
also do that if you contact us with a photo that fits a particular
page. |
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The "Historic-Memphis" website would like to acknowledge and thank the
following for their contributions which helped make this website
possible:
Memphis
Public Library, Memphis University Library, Memphis Law Library,
Memphis Commercial Appeal, Memphis Press Scimitar, Shelby County
Register of Deeds, Memphis City Schools, Memphis Business Men's
Club, Memphis Chamber of Commerce, Memphis City Park Commission,
Memphis Film Commision, Carnival Memphis, Memphis Historical
Railroad Page, Memphis Heritage Inc, Beale Street Historic District,
Cobblestone Historic District, Memphis Historic Districts, Vance
Lauderdale Family Archives, Tennessee State Archives, Library of
Congress, Kemmons Wilson Family, Richard S. Brashier, Lee Askew,
George Whitworth, Woody Savage and many individuals whose assistance is
acknowledged on the pages of their contributions. Special
thanks to Memphis Realtor, Joe Spake, for giving us carte blanche
access to his outstanding collection of contemporary Memphis photos.
We do not have high definition copies of the photos on these
pages. If anyone wishes to secure high definition photos,
you'll have to contact the photographer or the collector.
(To avoid any possibility of contributing to SPAM, we do not
maintain a file of email addresses for anyone who contacts us). |
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historic-memphis.com |
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