True Fans Honor Elvis at Faux Graceland

Instead of Memphis it was Northridge, instead of Graceland, Melody Land.

But the people who flocked Saturday to the scaled-down mansion replica at Parthenia Street and Zelzah Avenue to remember Elvis Presley on the 20th anniversary of his death were fans just the same.

“I’ve admired Elvis all my life,” said Mary Tribble, 49, of Granada Hills. “It’s nice to have something around here so we can remember him.”

Elvis impersonator Danny Uwnawich built the Georgian-style mansion to honor Presley, he said.

The house features some of Elvis’ favorite toys, including a heart-shaped swimming pool, a 1958 Cadillac Coupe de Ville in the driveway and even a Jungle Room inside decorated with deer and other animal heads hanging on the wall reminiscent of one of the King’s collections.

Uwnawich, 42, opens the house for tours each year on Jan. 8--Presley’s birthday--and on the anniversary of his death.

“It’s for all the people that can’t go all the way to Memphis,” Uwnawich said. “There’s a lot of fans around here.”

Many who stood in line for up to two hours to get a tour on Saturday--no different from any other yearly recognition of Presley’s death--said the wait was worth it.

“I thought it was very interesting,” said Elliott Carmen, 45, of Canoga Park. “I was intrigued by all the jewelry.”

Uwnawich, who resembles Presley both on and off the stage, began impersonating him as a 13-year-old in his native Louisiana. The two finally met while both performed in Las Vegas in 1973.

Over the years, he crisscrossed the country armed with sideburns, jumpsuits and a 22-piece orchestra, finally accumulating enough money to build his $3-million, 8,000-square-foot Graceland West in 1991.

During the Northridge earthquake in 1994, however, the house was badly damaged. The chandeliers came crashing down, marble and glass shattered and the walls cracked. He moved out--staying on the road performing or at friends’ homes until he was able to move in again last year.

“There’s no more repairs,” he said. “All we need now is more furniture.”

Meanwhile, Elvis fans crowding the street were greeted by a sign at the gate reading: Welcome to Melody Land.

They were let inside in small groups to admire, among other things, the velvet furniture and items Elvis owned--such as gold records on the walls, a jumpsuit, rings and a pair glasses on display in a case.

“It’s just like a museum,” said Mark Stradley, a construction worker from North Hills.

“I like the bathroom” on the second floor, said Janae Porfilio, 14, of Van Nuys. “It has two TVs and a huge bathtub.”

When Danny U, as Uwnawich is known, came down from his bedroom dressed in a black outfit, the visitors surrounded him asking for autographs or to take pictures with him.

Some gave him presents of Presley memorabilia.

“This is me, my sister and my sister-in-law with Elvis,” Don Kirst, a 51-year-old mortgage inspector from North Hills, told Uwnawich as he handed him a copy of a photograph taken in 1968. He said the photo was taken in front of Presley’s Beverly Hills rental house at a time when Presley was filming the movie “Live a Little, Love a Little.”

Outside, people admired the Coupe de Ville and shared Elvis stories.

“I’m one of the few people left that saw [Presley] on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show,’ ” Ginny Boyle of Chatsworth told a group of people, allowing only that she is somewhere between 16 and 100 years old.

“That’s when [Sullivan] told him, ‘We’re not going to show you from the waist down.’ ”

John Meraz, 53, there with wife Jana, 47, remembered idolizing the entertainer as a kid: “I used to carry around books about Elvis. He was a truck driver. He was even an usher at the movies.”

“I idolize the guy because of the way he grew up--his rebellious nature,” explained Randy Bernstein, who also impersonates Elvis at the Ventura Boulevard restaurant where he works as a waiter.

Meanwhile, Uwnawich declared an end to his own impersonating career Saturday with a performance at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, where 1,000 people were expected.

At 42, he said he wanted to quit imitating Elvis at the same age the entertainer died. From now on, he will pursue a career in acting and record his own music, he said.

“I feel kind of sad,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for a long time . . . but everything has to come to an end.”