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עמוד:23
the United States in 1956 , he was not yet known in Israel . A friend gave Uri a photographof Elvis , and Uri became fascinated by Elvis's presence . * A short while later , he got his first Elvis record . Soon , Uri's home became an Elvis meeting place , where friends came over to listen to Elvis's music . Uri began to collect everything he could find that was connected to Elvis : photographs , posters , newspaper articles and records . Gradually , Uri became the source of Elvis news and gossip . "We were a whole group of Elvis fans and I was at the center of that group , " says Uri . "We all admired Elvis and we all imitated the way Elvis walked and dressed . We loved the contrast between Elvis ' s personal shyness and innocence on the one hand , and his strong voice and powerful stage image on the other . " Uri opened a small restaurant and put two pictures of Elvis on one of the walls . Later , Uri overheard a taxi driver call his restaurant "the Elvis place , " and it gave him an idea . "This was when I realized that my restaurant could become a famous landmark , " says Uri . He changed the name of the restaurant — from "The Mountain Inn" to "The Elvis Inn" — and moved his Elvis collection from his home to the restaurant . Uri's collection has grown over the years . Hundreds of visitors arrive every day at The Elvis Inn , which shows how successful it has become . The restaurant is one of the few places in the world where people can dance to rock 'n' roll music at nine o'clock in the morning . Uri plans to build a hotel on the site , with each floor named after one of Elvis's songs and a fence made of guitars and musical notes . Although many years have passed since Elvis ' s death in 1977 , Uri ' s restaurant allows him and others to feel that Elvis is still "alive" today . * presence —a person's way of standing or moving .
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