Welcome Letter •••
A message from our General Manager
Hello and welcome to The Central Station Memphis. We are glad you are here to share your story with us! Whether you are traveling on business or pleasure, we know you have a choice of hotels, and appreciate you choosing The Central Station Memphis. We strive to provide you with a clean, comfortable, and well-appointed room with friendly, attentive, hospitable service to create the most memorable experience during your time in Memphis. We want you to enjoy every moment of your stay!
If at any time you have a suggestion on how to improve our service to you, just let us know. We’d be thrilled if you recognized any one of our star performers, too! Our professional and friendly team is committed to making your stay enjoyable and comfortable. If you experience a problem while staying with us, please contact any member of The Central Station team immediately so that we may have the opportunity to correct the situation.
A few things to note:
Digital key is available through the Honors App. Request one today and make your phone your key!
Bishop Restaurant is currently open 7am-10:30am and 5pm-10pm daily. Reservations are recommended.
Eight & Sand Lounge is currently open for service beginning at 2pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and at 4pm Monday through Thursday. We offer nightly music in the lounge that you may also enjoy on the Eggleston speaker located in your guest room.
In-Room Dining is available 7am-10pm daily.
We truly appreciate that you've chosen the Central Station Hotel for your stay in Memphis. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to make your stay more comfortable and enjoyable.
Warm regards,
Troy Dixon, General Manager
• History •
For over 100 years this spot has housed an iconic port of entry and exit for Memphis. The Station has always evolved with the times. It has been by turns utilitarian and glamorous, bustling and deserted, ignored and rediscovered again. Now you’re here, swiping your card where Johnny Cash and BB King punched their tickets.
The Grand Central Station, built on the original Calhoun Street Station, opened in 1914 and was owned by the Illinois Central Railroad. By 1944 it had come to be known simply as the Central Station and served as the primary passenger terminal for Memphis during the heyday of 20th-century rail travel. There’s an Amtrak office downstairs that still serves the iconic City of New Orleans line, which features Memphis on its way between Chicago and the Crescent City. And don’t miss the MATA trolley stop here where $1 fare gets you a ride up and down Main St, all the way through downtown.
• south Main street •
South Main is one of the most distinct and lively neighborhoods in Memphis. That’s saying something here. What started as the primary portal for disembarking travelers stepping off the platform into Memphis has evolved into the city’s first proper Arts district. It’s an eminently walkable, trolley riding, bar-hopping, good grubbing, gallery strolling avenue revitalized and reclaimed by Memphians as a modern, vital neighborhood.
Not many authentic streets that still feel like S. Main survive the march of American progress. That’s why so many filmmakers have sought it out for classics like Mystery Train, Walk the Line, 21 Grams, My Blueberry Nights, and Hustle & Flow. Empty or crowded, day or night, a stroll up & down S. Main reveals a rich local history, a vibrant present, and a local’s perspective on the future of our city.
This is not just a train platform. On the streetside, Central Station is the best platform for jumping right into the deep end of Memphis culture and history.
As one of the great faith leaders the city has ever produced, Bishop G.E. Patterson was a tireless champion of Memphis and its people. You step through his legacy as you leave the hotel and cross the street that bears his name.
In classic Memphis fashion, it’s only fitting that on your way to the Bishop’s Sunday mornings you pass by Ernestine & Hazel’s legendary Saturday nights. Originally built as a church in the late 1800’s, it’s been a pharmacy, a sundry store, a jazz cafe, and a brothel on its way to becoming one of the iconic bars in the South.
The National Civil Rights Museum is one block up and over on Mulberry. If you do nothing else while you’re here, do this. Prior to the dark day that made it famous, the Lorraine Motel was a thriving stop in the Green Book, a safe and well-run respite for African American travelers making their way through Memphis. With a facade seemingly frozen in time, the museum that lives here now has as much to say about the future as the past.
• Sights - Artwork •
Like the train from Chicago to New Orleans that still hails the Central Station, the art here carries guests on a uniquely American ride through time and place, culture and history.
A life-size, hand-beaded portrait of Isaac Hayes inspired by his 1971 album cover ‘Black Moses’ powerfully greets guests in the lobby. The artist, Demond Melancon, is a Mardi Gras Indian well known for hand-sewn, beaded costumes and his use of fine art to tell history’s stories.
Down the corridor to the guest elevator there is a group of folk-art drawings in crayon on payroll paper from the 1970’s. Henry Speller was an accomplished blues musician and the imagery and insistent rhythms of the Delta flow through his visual work as well.
We sent the photographer Jamie Harmon on a trip down the tracks from Chicago to New Orleans to gather images from the journey that is so integral to the Memphis story. His portraits of those moments hang in all of our guest rooms and help capture the old notion that ‘all roads lead to Memphis.’
The enormous wooden wall sculpture in the ballroom cocktail lounge is a reference to the Mississippi River and its powerful undulating path. Artist Ben Butler states, “My sculpture reflects the sensibility that objects are not fixed and finite but are the product or residue of ongoing processes.”
In the Eight & Sand Lounge, artist Felicia Wheeler chose 2 female, Memphis-connected singers as portrait subjects and used a mirror process that invites viewers to take part in the story. This Elmertha-approved series features Aretha Franklin and Ann Peebles. Tucked away elsewhere in the lounge, nationally regarded Memphians Pinkney Herbert and Jeanne Seagle have lent their outstanding work.
Up the stairs from the ballroom, you are met with Andrew Gray’s I AM A MAN painting. Although he’s from Baltimore, this work was part of an exhibition in Memphis, and its significant connection to our city’s past and future exemplifies what the CSH is all about.
• sounds - Music •
As ‘Home of the Blues and Birthplace of Rock & Roll,’ music is central to the Memphis experience. To get that sound just right, the hotel was designed from the inside out with a custom system from local boutique speaker manufacturer EgglestonWorks.
The sound that greets you on your way down to Eight & Sand from the lobby is pumping a 500-album vinyl collection of 40,000+ Memphis-inspired tracks through custom EgglestonWorks pendant speakers hung from the ceiling. Led by Jone$, our crew spin out different strands of the Memphis story from behind Elmertha, a DJ booth refashioned from a massive organ frame and named after Elmertha Cole, Booker T. Jones’ piano teacher.
Each guest room is fitted with a custom EgglestonWorks speaker that streams our curated playlists straight from Eight & Sand during your stay.
Tucked around the corner, behind the bar at Eight & Sand, is our Listening Room. This is a custom-built and designed acoustic environment fitted with the very best EgglestonWorks can do. Guests and patrons can come in, have a seat, close their eyes, and get carried away by the biggest, richest delivery system for the Memphis sound that exists in the city. Do not miss it.
Get ready to groove to the incredible beats and experience the ultimate musical journey offered by our DJ's at Eight & Sand.
• senses - Food & Beverage •
Our hotel restaurant, Bishop, is nestled into the street front corner of S. Main and G.E. Patterson, and its name is a nod to the late, great 20th-century faith leader. Not many hotels offer room service from perennial James Beard award-nominated chefs. But yours does. Andrew Ticer and Michael Hudman created this French brasserie-inspired restaurant as the latest jewel in their locally grown empire, and it has quickly become one of the city’s most sought-after reservations.
The hotel cocktail bar, Eight and Sand, takes its name from the call out “Eight and Sand!” that was used to wish train crews a fast and safe journey. Eight comes from Notch-8, the fastest throttle setting on most trains, and sand was spread on tracks to prevent slippages. The Andrew/Michael team has created a cocktail bar that delivers the craftsmanship and quality of their award-winning restaurants to our guests and locals alike.
Telephone Dialing
Info & Rates •••
Applicable taxes will be added. Rates are subject to change. Local, long distance or international calls will be billed to your account only if the called party answers.
Room to Room
Touch 7 + Room Number
No charge
Emergency
Touch 911
No charge
Local Calls
Touch 9 + Area Code + Number
No Charge
Long Distance & Toll Free
Touch 9 + 1 + Area Code + Number
Rate, $1.00 access fee + 50% surcharge
Overseas Calls
Touch 9 + 011 + Country Code + City Code
Rate, $1.00 access fee + 50% surcharge
Billed calls
Calls billed to calling cards, credit cards, collect and third-party.
Rate, $1.00 access fee + 50% surcharge
Operator Assisted
Touch 9 + 0 + Number
Rate, $1.00 access fee + 50% surcharge
On Call Amenities •••
Our Available Resources
The following items are available and will be delivered to your room upon request.
Coffee/tea and condiments
Glasses or coffee mugs
Bath towels
Hand towels
Wash cloths
Makeup towel
Fresh bed linens
Iron and ironing board
Trash bag
Laundry bag
Note pad and pen
Razor
Shave cream
Slippers (unisex)
Sewing kit
Shower cap
Bath tissue
Facial tissue
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Hair comb
Feminine hygiene products
Deodorant (male/female)
The Central Station is designated as a non-smoking hotel including guest rooms and public space.
If smoking occurs during your stay, a cleaning fee of $250 will be added to your bill. This includes all forms of tobacco, e-cigarettes, or other products.
Contact us from the comfort of your room by dialing “0”.
Emergency Procedures ••
General emergencies requiring professional assistance please dial 911 from your guest room phone or any house phone.
Fire Emergency
Upon hearing a trouble signal within the building, hotel staff will investigate the issue immediately. Upon hearing an alarm, it is the guests responsibility to exit the building using the closest stairwell as quickly as possible (room by room directions located on back of door) and await further instructions. Hotel staff will make public address announcements as status updates are discovered.
Weather Emergency
Hotel staff will use the Public address system if a threat is imminent, however, should you feel threatened and no specific direction has been provided, please shelter in place, either in your bathroom or in the internal corridor outside your guest room.