Elvis’ Jungle Room
Elvis was known for many things: singing, dancing, acting… but he wasn’t exactly known for his good taste. But, as Pablo Picasso said, “Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness.” (It’s worth noting that Picasso was a tikiphile; he acquired his first, a Marquesan, around 1910, and in later years had them all over his art studio.) And so we have Elvis’ paean to bad taste, his Jungle Room at Graceland.
Elvis’ Jungle Room is furnished almost entirely with Witco furniture, a blocky style of wooden carved furniture created by William Westenhaver that reached its height of popularity in the 1960s. Most homes housed maybe a piece or two of Witco, but a whole room of it can be visually overwhelming. Elvis, of course, could handle a little visual stimulation, and went gangbusters — not only does his Jungle room house a full couch, a half-dozen chairs, tables, a cabinet, and a tiki bar (with tiki stools), but the whole room is carpeted in lime green shag, not just on the floor, but also the ceiling. It is atrocious, in the best way possible.
The official website for Graceland provides two virtual tours, which give 360° views, and allow you to zoom in and out. The Virtual Tours actually give you a better view in some ways than you can get there in person, where the room is roped off and must be viewed from the side. There’s also a great thread underway on Tiki Central, where a woofmutt has collected a variety of Jungle Room lore with some tidbits thrown in by Sven Kirsten (whose book on Witco will be out next year). Included is a story of Elvis’ dad, Vernon, telling him he’d just seen “the world’s most ugliest furniture” in a store in town, only to discover that Elvis had coincidentally just bought the whole set that same day.
Elvis’ Tiki Bar
- Graceland [Elvis.com]
- Jungle Room Virtual Tour 1 [Elvis.com]
- Jungle Room Virtual Tour 2 [Elvis.com]
- Graceland, Memphis [Critiki]
- Elvis Jungle Room = Witco??? [Tiki Central]
- Witco Bar on eBay [Humu Kon Tiki]
September 2nd, 2006 at 2:31 pm
That room makes me want to dig right in and Do The Clam.
September 4th, 2006 at 6:32 am
[...] Humo Kon Tiki empfiehlt eine Kamerafahrt durch den einstmals bewohnten Kunstwald vom King. (via: Eye of the Goof) [...]
September 4th, 2006 at 6:26 pm
I think that maybe Oscar the Grouch’s mother died to make that carpet possible.
September 5th, 2006 at 3:57 am
Except for the Witco, it looks almost exactly like the inside of my mom’s mobile home.
September 5th, 2006 at 7:53 am
I think I read somewhere that that was exactly the look Elvis was shooting for: MrBaliHai’s mother’s mobile home, circa 2010. Pretty impressive that he nailed it. Well, except for goofing it up with all that Witco.
September 5th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
Pretty impressive that he nailed it.
That’s why he was The King.
October 25th, 2006 at 9:06 am
Wow, that’s something else. At least he went all out.
November 16th, 2006 at 8:35 am
Call me Crazy, but I love The Jungle Room look. I would love to recreate it in one of the rooms of my home. Does anyone know where I can find exact replicas? Any help would be appriciated. “Thank you….Thank you very much !”
November 16th, 2006 at 1:55 pm
Luckily, there’s a truly ideal source for Witco replicas. Ken Pleasant is the grandson-in-law of Witco founder William Westenhaver (Ken married Westenhaver’s granddaughter). Westanhaver has taught Ken everything he knows, and Ken has been selling his own tikis in the Witco style, and also some reproductions, for years now. He posts on Tiki Central as keigs20.
Ken has a website in the works — as soon as it launches, I’ll be posting all about him and his great art!
March 25th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
I am doing a room in my house as the Jungle room and am having a hard time trying to find a waterfall similar to the one in Graceland…can anyone help?
September 30th, 2008 at 12:52 am
I visited Graceland 2 months ago, and I loved the Jungle Room. A classic.
In 75-77 Elvis was tired of going to studios to make records, so he turned the Jungle Room into a recording studio and cut his last records there.
The green shag carpet on the ceiling was for sound proofing (so Lisa Marie or anyone else upstairs could get some sleep!).
April 19th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HIS JUNGLE!!!I AM OPENING UP A SALON AND DAY SPA AND MY DECOR THEME IS ELVIS, MARLYN, AND JAMES DEAN. AS TO GO RIGHT ALONG WITH THE SALON NAME…..ADDICTIONS SALON & DAY SPA….MY FACIAL ROOM IS MY JUNGLE ROOM…. ITS GREAT!!
June 9th, 2009 at 4:39 am
MARK I SEE YOU ARE LOOKING FOR COPIES OF FURNITURE FROM THE JUNGLE ROOM-i HAD THE COUCH AN CHAIR BUT NOW ONLY HACE THE CHAIR-CHECK ON EBAY UNDE SELLER ottotheauto678 you might wanna buy the chair thanx Otto