- 24 Hour Church of Elvis
The 24 Hour Church of Elvis is an exhibit at a
museum and gallery called "Where's The Art?" inPortland, Oregon , USA, run by artist Stephanie "Stevie" G. Pierce.The original location (1109 SW Washington), which operated from 1985-1986, had a single coin-operatedfortune-telling machine accessible from the street, elaborate window displays, and art available for purchase inside.At the second location (219 SW Ankeny, 1987-1994), the entire store front was itself a work of art, and included several custom-built coin-operated automated art exhibits that moved and made sounds in response to pressing buttons, and would dispense (or not) various trinkets, pamphlets, fortunes, etc. for prices ranging from 25 cents to a dollar. Every prize was accompanied by a one-inch "original work of art" by Ms. Pierce. Some machines were run by
Commodore 64 computers, and included crude graphics andspeech synthesis . These machines were always accessible, hence the first part of the name. Other items by the artist were available inside the store when it was open. Also inside, one would often find the street performer called "Elvis" who would play a few songs on a cardboard guitar, in his sequined jumpsuit and thick, dark-rimmed glasses. This performer is still a regular fixture atPortland Saturday Market .The third location (720 SW Ankeny, 1994-2002) was devoted primarily towards 1970s
popular culture memorabilia. It was on the second floor and lacked any of the coin-operated machines of the older locations, although several cut-out holes in the first floor of the building hinted that they were intended to be installed at this location, but never were. The museum offered legal weddings for $25 and "cheap, not legal" weddings for $5. The fake weddings could be same sex. Despite the name, The third incarnation of the 24 Hour Church was not open 24 hours, as indicated by a sign on the door which read "24 Hour Church of Elvis: Usually open Noon to 5, 8 - 11 a lot. Call (503) 226-3671 for reassurance". Although this location is now occupied by an architecture firm, the last remnant of the 24 Hour Church of Elvis is still visible in their entrance. It is a sign which reads:In 2008, the 24 Hour Church of Elvis reopened at a new location: 408 N.W. Couch St. [cite web|url=http://www.24hourchurchofelvis.com/|title=24 Hour Church of Elvis website|accessdate=2008-07-30] As of May 2008 there is temporary window display; the location will be coin-operated by June 2008.Fact|date=May 2008
Further reading
* Palahniuk, Chuck (2003) "". Crown Journey. ISBN 1-4000-4783-8
References
External links
* [http://www.24hourchurchofelvis.com Official Website of the 24 Hour Church of Elvis]
*older [http://web.archive.org/web/*/churchofelvis.com/info.htm 24 Hour Church of Elvis homepage] at the Wayback Machine
* [http://www.newcolonist.com/church_of_elvis.html Article from The New Colonist]
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