"Elvis was a hero to most, but he never meant shit to me…” – Public Enemy
Remember a couple of weeks ago when I wrote about the Ralph Ellison-inspired hotel that was being built in Nichols Hills? Apparently, Gardner Tanenbaum, the development company behind the renovation of the former Lincoln Plaza Hotel, read it and said “Hold my hunka hunka burnin’ beer!”
Located at 4445 N. Lincoln, the still-being-constructed apartment complex has come under scrutiny not only for its moniker, the Presley, named after that bastardly thief of Black culture—and the heist of much of it for his own hit-making ego—Elvis, the supposed king of rock and roll, but for the fact that much of its proposed artwork makes it seem like a segregated community.
Elvis, also, wasn’t an Oklahoman, by the way.
Brought to the attention of hungry area media by famed local musician Jabee Williams, he said that the complex, like the name, “doesn't reflect the community near Lincoln Blvd. and NE 50th.” And it really doesn’t, as anyone that has even remotely driven through the area could tell you.
From News 9: