The Hippodrome was originally a 1940s skating rink before morphing into an influential venue for black artists in the 1950s. Everybody from B. B. King to Howlin' Wolf to the Ink Spots played the Hippodrome, which in 1955 became Club Ebony.
Although Elvis' affection for Beale Street and the black artists of the 1950s is well-known, I am almost certain he did not actually play a show at the Hippodrome. The August 28th, 1954 date is included on many lists of Elvis shows, but so far I have found nothing that indicates the show ever actually occurred. I'm including it on Elvis Lives to set the record straight because it is commonly listed as an early Elvis performance.
In 1954, Memphis was still heavily segregated, and the Hippodrome was a black venue. Elvis was certainly pushing boundaries with his choices of music and style, but performing at the Hippodrome would have been controversial enough to be included in the historic record, and besides it being list as a date on various websites, there's nothing I know of to indicate that Elvis actually played there. The show is not listed on Scotty Moore's website. If you have evidence that Elvis did play the Hippodrome, please let me know.
Shown below, 500 Beale Street today. I wasn't able to find out when the building was destroyed, but all that's left is vacant lot.
Sources:
https://historic-memphis.com/memphis/hippodrome/hippodrome.html
https://www.scottymoore.net/tourdates50s.html
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