Elvis Follower Wants to Name Avenue L “Elvis Presley Boulevard” View From The Middle
By Charles Rogers

The plan was for me to meet Diane Pullman on Avenue L Friday afternoon so I could take a picture of her holding a big, fat bunch of petitions she’d had signed “with hundreds of names,” she said. The purpose of the petition was to back her request that the Avenue L shopping strip – from Rockaway Parkway to Remsen Avenue – be renamed or co-named – “Elvis Presley Boulevard”.

You read it right: ELVIS PRESLEY BOUL

evARD!

Now, there is no one in the entire world who would have thought of this besides Diane Pullman, who admits to becoming 68 years old when her birthday comes around on March 1 (“I’m a Pisces”), who has lived in Canarsie for most of her life and who has been Elvis Presley’s Number One fan ever since Sun Records.

Admittedly, Diane Pullman is a character. She enticed me (should I say “charmed me?”) to go to “The L” Friday and I went because of my: 1) Curiosity, for who would have thought anyone would get hundreds of names on a petition to rename Avenue L for Elvis, especially, she says, signed by the merchants, 2) Friendship, for I’ve known her for over 20 years and have always found her, although outspoken when it comes to things Presley, eager and excited about her topic and, 3) Curiosity (again). I mean, who would have thought anyone….(you know the rest).

I must say, Diane’s infatuation with Presley took hold when she was a squealy teenager listening to “Blue Suede Shoes” and watching Old Swivel Hips himself on the Ed Sullivan Show. She found she loved him tender then and she hasn’t stopped.

Pullman eventually decided that, along with collecting every piece of Elvis memorabilia, she would put some of her efforts into something productive. So she became an impresario (impresaria?) and, along with her late husband – he passed away in 1999 – started producing virtually scores of Elvis shows around the tri-state area, with Presley impersonators and bands and other guitarists rounding out the bill.

“We would charge money,” she said, “and then give the proceeds to various charities, like Muscular Dystrophy. It was always a lot, because so many people loved Elvis and the charity was always grateful.” She said the last show she produced was at the Aegean Isle on Flatbush Avenue in 1989 “and it was sold out!”

Pullman was very active on her specific scene for Elvis during the late ‘70s and ‘80s, but had to quiet down when her husband got sick and passed away. Last year, she was diagnosed with cancer for which she is currently take chemotherapy treatments. Obviously, she is actively fighting the disease now.

When I told Diane that I would like to do a column about her, I asked if she’d mind if I called her “eccentric”. Her answer was an emphatic “Yes, I’d mind!”

“Well, do you mind if I call you a ‘character?”’ I asked.

“No. Of course not” she said, giving me a knowing glance and then proceeded to show me a tattered contract from United Artists to appear as an actress in a movie. It was dated 1962.

“Listen,” she said. “I’m just as much an Elvis Presley fan now, as I was ‘way back then!”

Some character, that Diane Pullman.