Paisley Park, located 22 miles outside of Minneapolis in Chanhassen Minnesota, is the home of Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016), an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actor. Covering 55,000 square feet and containing two state-of-the-art recording studios, administrative offices, a performance area, rehearsal room, and a 12,400 square foot sound stage, it is here that Prince not only resided (when he was home the white building would be illuminated with purple lights), but produced eight multi-platinum albums including ‘Around the World in a Day’ which features the studio’s namesake song, as well as two number one singles: ’Kiss’ and ‘Cream.’ Prince went on to record almost 30 albums at Paisley Park. Sadly, it is also here that Prince passed away on April 21, 2016 at the age of 57.
Paisley Park is situated at the corner of Arboretum Blvd. and Audubon Rd. The title photo was taken from Arboretum Blvd. Let’s walk along Arboretum Blvd. towards Audubon Rd., reflecting upon Prince’s life as we stroll. Paisley Park is surrounded by a chain link fence which has become a memorial shrine to the late artist, bearing messages of remembrance, insignia of his ‘Artist Formerly Known As,’ and the color purple which can be seen everywhere. As we turn left from Arboretum Blvd. onto Audubon Rd. and walk a few short steps, we see this…
a sign indicating the main entrance to Paisley Park. We look through the chain link fence and see this…
the Paisley Park Studio entrance. We now walk past the main entrance sign and look back at the main entrance to Paisley Park Studios and we see this…
the driveway to the main entrance of Paisley Park Studios closed by a chain link gate. We continue to walk along Audubon Rd. away from Arboretum Blvd. and looking back we see this…
the chain link shrine with a couple of young fans paying their last respects. We look through the chain link fence and we see this…
and as we stroll along Audubon Rd. we see this…
and as we look through the chain link fence again we see this…
and then we continue our stroll along Audubon Rd. seeing the following…
and I can’t help but find some comparisons between Prince and Elvis Presley. Both are music royalty. Both are entertainment superstars who could’ve lived anywhere in the world they wanted to, but chose to live in modest neighborhoods close to where they were born and raised (I admire that…in fact Prince often hosted events and parties on his grounds for people in his neighborhood). Both recorded at their homes. Both have legions of fans visiting their homes and paying their last respects everyday. Both left us far too soon.
We come to the property edge of Paisley Park and we see this…
and as I walk away I wonder if Prince and Elvis will share one more similarity, that being the possibility of Paisley Park opening its doors and offering tours to Prince’s fans, much like Elvis’s Graceland. Well, two weeks after I visited Paisley Park came this announcement…Paisley park will open for daily public tours starting October 6, 2016. For more information, click on the following link:
https://www.officialpaisleypark.com/
I hope you enjoyed this visit to Paisley Park, and if you by chance take a tour of this special place, please share your experience and photos with us.
