- Hello there, this is John with Nashville Travel Concierge,
and today we're gonna be visiting Printer's Alley
in Nashville, Tennessee, and this is a place
that even the locals don't know a whole lot about,
and hopefully, by the end of the video,
you and they or whoever watches this would have
a little bit more information
about the history of this place,
and it's very interesting,
and it's a great place to come if you visit Nashville.
So here we go, Printer's Alley, Nashville, Tennessee.
(lighthearted guitar music)
Here we are looking at the Printer's Alley sign
that's located between 4th and 3rd Avenue North
in Downtown Nashville.
There are several ways to get into the Alley,
this is one of them,
but this is not the one that we're gonna take
to do our tour.
(energetic music)
So instead, we're gonna be going down Banker's Alley
to Printer's Alley, and at one time there were banks
on both sides of this alley.
Originally,
Printer's Alley was a thriving publishing section
of Nashville and of the country, actually,
and they had two large newspapers, 10 print shops
and 13 publishers.
You can see the sign
up ahead on the right is Skull's Rainbow Room.
Founded by David "Skull" Schulman in 1948,
it has hosted such entertainers as Elvis Presley,
Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline,
Etta James, Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan,
just to name a few.
Paul mentioned Printer's Alley in his song, "Sally G,"
which was the a B-side to the single, "Junior's Farm."
In 1998, Schulman was killed in a robbery at the club,
and at that point, they were closed for the next 18 years.
They did reopen again in 2016,
and from that point, they continued their legendary jazz
and burlesque shows nightly, to this day.
And across from Skull's, we see Bobby's Garage,
a bar that's connected with the Bobby Hotel
that is part of the Alley.
When Printer's Alley first became a nightclub
and entertainment section,
the sale of alcohol was illegal.
But of course it didn't stop it from happening,
and it became more popular.
(gentle upbeat music)
Next, we have the Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar,
which has been open for several decades
and is a very popular place for people to stop off at.
Such greats as John Lee Hooker,
Muddy Waters have both performed here
along with other names,
and even Jim Belushi has played harmonica
on the stage of the Blues Bar.
(gentle upbeat music)
And up ahead, you can see the sign for the Climax Saloon,
which was opened in 1887 by George Dickel & Company.
This happened to be a primary outlet
for the sale of their whiskey.
On the first floor and in the basement were can-can dancers
and other forms of entertainment.
The second floor was a pool hall,
and the third floor was a place
where gentlemen could seek out prostitutes.
And up ahead, we have The Brass Stables,
which at one time, that's exactly what it was,
and such gentlemen as Andrew Jackson maintained their horses
in this location.
Eventually, it became one of the most popular strip clubs
in Nashville.
(bright upbeat music)
And here we have a British-owned pub,
it's called the Street Fleet Pub
and they have great food and prices here.
I have eaten lunch here several times,
and they have great fish and chips, three different styles.
They have bangers and mash, shepherd's pie,
beef and lamb burgers, and it's a great place to eat.
And it looks like we're about to do a turn around up here.
Up ahead, you'll see the sign for Daddy's Dogs,
a hot dog place I've never seen open
because their hours are from 9 PM to 2 AM.
They have about a dozen different styles of hot dogs,
I can't tell you what's on any of them
except for the Music City Hotdog,
which happens to have bacon, cheddar cheese, onions
and barbecue sauce,
and I have never had one of those either
because I've never been there when they're open.
They also sell something called Mexican Coke,
which I learned eventually
that it was the fact that, in Mexico,
they use sugarcane for their sweetener,
and we use corn syrup in the US.
The little sign we see there, it says "Snitch."
This is one of several different businesses in the Alley
run by the Dream Hotel.
And they also have an experimental type nightclub
that's open Friday and Saturday nights
called Dirty Little Secrets.
There's a clothing store called AllSaints
that we saw the sign up there,
and right now we're looking at the Stateside Kitchen,
which is a restaurant owned by the Dream Hotel.
Here we have Ms. Kelli's Karaoke
which is one of the largest karaoke bars in the state,
probably in the South.
It's for 21-year-olds and up.
(bright upbeat music)
And the last door we're gonna see is the entrance
to the Whiskey Shot,
which is a place that combines the drinking of alcohol
with target practice.
Of course, they use laser guns, but the point is well taken.
(bright upbeat music)