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Practicalities
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Clarksdale's strangest
accommodation
has to be at the
Riverside Hotel
, 615 Sunflower Ave (tel 662/624-9163; $35-50), which, until the early 1940s, was a hospital, famous as the site of
Bessie Smith
's death in 1937 after a car crash. Now it's a basic hotel/rooming house, on the wrong side of the tracks in the town's black "New World" district, which, nonetheless, has hosted more than its share of notable guests. If you do stay, be sure to talk to "Rat," the son of the original owner, and learn the "true history of the blues". You can find accommodation with more amenities, albeit less character, along US-61, known in town as State Street, at the
Econo Lodge
at no. 350 S (tel 662/621-1110, fax 662/621-9838; $50-75), the
Hampton Inn
at no. 710 S (tel 662/627-9292, fax 662/624-4763,
; $75-100), and the
Southern Inn
at no. 1904 N (tel 662/624-6558; $35-50). A good central
restaurant
is
Abe's
, a barbecue joint at 616 S State St (tel 662/624-9947).
Sarah's Kitchen
, 208 Sunflower Ave (tel 662/627-3239), is open irregular hours, but has a great blues jukebox.
The most famous of Clarksdale's
jook-joints
,
The Red Top Lounge
(aka
Smitty's
), 377 Yazoo Ave (no phone), still has occasional live music. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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United States,
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