Reminiscing with David Hill's 'The Vapors'

 The Vapors: A Southern Family, the New York Mob, and the Rise and Fall of Hot Springs, America's Forgotten Capital of Vice by David Hill

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

David Hill has written the most informative and readable account of the gambling era of Hot Springs, Arkansas. I was particularly interested in the story because I lived in Little Rock and my Mom and Dad lived in Hot Springs at the end of this era. The story begins with some information about the beginning of gambling in Hot Spring in the late 1800's.

Mr. Hill used his own family’s story to move us through the gambling years. He gives a more personal feel to what was happening in Arkansas along with what was going on in other parts of the United States. All was intertwined with the workings of the underworld of gangsters. Highly recommend. Very informative and readable.

I found many familiar names of places that still exist in Hot Springs:                     

Arlington Hotel

“The Vapors’ reminds me of the Correspondent Banking Department of First National Bank at Little Rock where I was a secretary. Each year the Arkansas Bankers Association held a meeting of all Arkansas Banks. One year our bank sponsored a Casino Party at the Vapors. Of course, all of the betting was done with fake money. The Vapors became a church for a while but has now been revived as an entertainment venue.

Hazel and Hollis moved to Mountain Pine, Arkansas, a company town of Dierks Lumbers Company. I now live in Hot Springs Village which was developed on 26 acres of Dierks Lumber Company land.

Orval Faubus was Governor of the State when I was in college and moved to Little Rock. I voted in the election that put Winthrop Rockefeller in Office.

Coy’s Steak House was a popular restaurant in Hot Springs. We went to Hot Springs just to eat there. One was opened in Little Rock where my husband proposed to me in 1985.

I remember the front-page pictures in the Arkansas Gazette of the gambling equipment that Lynn Davis, a state police officer, burned and buried in a gravel pit under the direction of Governor Rockefeller. They had raided four clubs and hauled away three truckloads of equipment. The only club named was the Bridge Street Club. The Vapors wasn’t among the four.

Ohio Club is still on Central and serves really good hamburgers. They have a small stage where live music is played, and people can dance on a really small dance floor. We went once with our daughter and saw Jackie B (Beaumont) and me (Lawrence Womack), a local music duo. 

Arkansas Gazette and Arkansas Democrat were the morning and evening papers in Little Rock. They merged later to become the Arkansas Democrat and Gazette. Now known as the Dem/Gaz.

The Southern Club now houses a wax museum and is across the street from the Arlington Hotel. 

Today you can visit the Gangsta’s Museum on Central. It used to be Franke’s Cafeteria which my Dad managed in the late Sixties.

The Stardust Las Vegas was the first casino I experienced. We were on a trip and stopped there on the way to the west coast. I was 26 and looked so young that I was carded before I could go in the casino. We took in their dinner show, Hallelujah Hollywood.

Thanks for going down Memory Lane with me. I think you will enjoy going down another Memory Lane with David Hill.

View all my reviews

DAY TRIPPING TO HEBER SPRINGS, ARKANSAS AUGUST 23, 2019

MEMORIES OF TIMES BEFORE BEING SHELTERED-IN

We headed to Heber Springs and the Ruland Junction Toy Train Museum. We had seen it on 'Exploring Arkansas' with Chuck Dovish. We grew up traveling on 'real' trains'. We love trains. I especially love cabooses. My husband had a Lionel Train set. (Unfortunately, his mother cleaned out the attic and gave it away.) 

Luckily we had my phone and GPS or we would have never found the museum. It is in a neighborhood next to the Ruland home. He built the Depot structure to house his collection of toy trains and memorabilia. There is a main floor and a balcony full of trains. How many I do not know. Daniel Hipp is the Trainmaster and Docent. He described what we were going to see and some history of the collection.

Then, he went into action. On the first floor he had at least three trains going at the same time. He was at the controls. Then, we went to the balcony and he let lose about nine trains. All were in motion. It was amazing.

After the train museum, we headed to one of our favorite diners, Mack's Seafood and Steaks. They always have a pot of pinto beans and great cornbread. It goes great with chicken fingers. We had catfish this day-the beans went good with it, too.

We came home through Conway and the back way to Hot Springs to get a picture of a church that Chuck wants to paint. What a great find!

A great 'Day Trip'. 

We always say: "We ought to do this more often."

DISPATCHES FROM PLUTO

Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta by Richard Grant
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you want to join an American subculture hiding in the Delta of Mississippi, this is a great way to do it. Richard Grant*is a Brit who has come to live in the Delta and still lives in Mississippi at this time. He has the personality as an outsider to be able to gain the confidence of the insiders. Also, it helped that he had a British accent. At one point in the book, one black man said: "He's not white, he's British." I loved the Field Trip chapter, but couldn't really understand the significance of Chapter 5, The Oncologist's Hitmen. The chapters that went into depth about the 'Blues' music didn't interest me. I don't give out a lot of '5 stars', this book was definitely a ' five star' book . Good writing and interesting stories that kept me wanting to go to Mississippi and take the Field Trip.

This was my Book Club book for the month for July. It was my turn to lead the discussion. Since I love to know where I am when I read a book; a map was in order. This book especially needed a map for Chapter 6 - Field Trip. I marked a Mississippi map with the route and points of interest and brought copies. It put the story in perspective and helped generate a lot of discussion.
















Here are some of my notes:

p. 10 Why is it called Pluto? (Pluto is an unincorporated town and isn't on this map.) It is called Pluto because: "Pluto is the Lord of the Underworld and all of this was just a big mean hell of a swamp."

p. 46 "South whites didn't mind how close blacks got so long as they didn't get too high socially and economically". 1st paragraph

p. 87  Clarksdale was one stop on the Field Trip. Morgan Freeman, the actor, lives here. It is the 'Crossroads' where Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul to the devil. Crossroads, the movie, will give you a good look at 'the blues' in the Delta. 

p. 93 Wet Delta Salad-lettuce with olive oil and vinegar. 
           (Go to The Faded Rose in Little Rock, Arkansas, 
             to eat a really good one.) (Facebook link)

p. 104 The blacks were against the civil rights movement.

p. 159 Parchman Prison (Time ran out so we didn't get to discuss the prison and the 'Wage-Hand Program'.)

pps. 174-176 The schools/academies. They were not called private schools and were set up to avoid segregation.

p. 187 Quitman Country Elementary school was an experiment to provide quality education to the Mississippi schools. It worked, but was not continued, because the local school board felt that they were under the control of outsiders.

p. 216 Plantation mentality.

p. 235 Morgan Freeman's 'Meaning of Life'. "The meaning of life for every organism on the planet, including us, is to procreate and die."

p. 257-258 It's a habit.

p. 265 "and some of these women out here be have mo kids, and mo kids, just so they check get bigger."

p. 276 Feudal relic.

Maybe some of my notes will trigger a discussion in your book club if you select Dispatches from Pluto for discussion.


*Richard Grant is an author, journalist, and television host. He currently lives with his wife in Jackson, Mississippi. He was born in Malaysia in 1963 and spent time as a child in Kuwait before his family moved to London where he spent his childhood. He earned a history degree from University College in London and then moved to the United States. He has lived in Tucson, Arizona and New York City.

He grew up with an interest in traveling and writing as evidenced by the books that he has published.

1. American Nomads: Travels with Lost Conquistadors, Mountain Men, Cowboys, Indians, Hoboes, Truckers and Bullriders.

2. God's Middle Finger, Into The Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre (English title-Bandit Roads, Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre.) This book was written after he traveled in northern Mexico in the Sierra Madre Occidental, an area nine hundred miles long that contained cave-dwelling Indian tribes and is one of the world's largest areas for production of marijuana and heroin.

3. Crazy River: Exploration and Folly in East Africa tells the story of his travels along the Malagarasi River in Tanzania and other events in Burundi and Rwanda. 

4. Dispatches from Pluto

Side Trip Butterfly Pavilion Westminster Colorado

While on our 'Road Trip Destination Colorado', I took a morning out to visit the Butterfly Pavilion. It was a quick drive from our hotel. It was early on a Friday so it was me and a couple of bus loads of kids on a field trip. It was really fun watching them interact with the bugs, sea creatures, and butterflies. That's the kids you hear on both of the videos.


The first room was the 'bug room'. Most of the kids lined up for a chance to have Rosie, the tarantula, crawl on their arm. I passed the opportunity. (No, I didn't get a picture of Rosie.) There was also a bee hive in glass. I looked for the queen, but she was hiding that day. Most of the bugs were in hiding so I ventured to the sea creatures exhibit. 

Then, on to the butterflies. Everyone has to enter one door into a waiting area. Then, when everyone is in and that door is closed, the door to the butterfly area can be opened. It is almost like a rain forest with butterflies everywhere. Some are posing; some are flying; and some are hiding. Some were even feeding. Who knew that butterflies could be aggressive? (Check out the video at the end of the photos.)
  

Brown Butterfly

When brown butterfly opens,
it is blue.

Then, hit the gift shop and purchased a few things-a garden solar butterfly light and a butterfly for my printer's tray. Fun morning on my own!

Road Trip Destination Colorado

This road trip started with my husband signing up for a J. D. Hilberry workshop in Denver in July. Since we have relatives in Estes Park, we added a few days to go visit them before heading home.

Our first stop was in Skiatook, Oklahoma (pronounced Ski-took 'oo sound as in tool') to visit Jerry Yarnell's Studio. We have been watching Jerry on PBS for years. It was really great to meet him in person. We got a tour of his studio after the class for the day broke up. 


                      Even got a picture:

Then, we headed to Mulvane, Kansas, (south of Wichita) for the night. We stayed at the Hampton Inn-Hilton which is the hotel for the Kansas State Casino. Chuck's the lucky one in the family winning enough to pay for his bet and our dinner. 


The next day was spent going across Kansas. There were several stops along the way to get the kinks out. One stop was in Hayes so I could go to a quilt shop to get a 'Row-by-Row*'kit. .We had decided to make it a three-day trip so we stopped for the night at the Hampton Inn in Colby. We even had time to visit a guitar shop, a flea market, and have some good Mexican food at a local restaurant. 

Chuck and J. D. Hillberry

On the road again headed for Westminster, Colorado, and the Marriott Springhill Suites where the workshop was being held. It was a great location. Within in five minutes was a Target and a shopping/food center. First thing we did was hit Starbucks. The next day when Chuck was in the workshop, I was shopping and touring. 








The first morning I headed for the Butterfly Pavilion. It was about five minutes from the hotel. Also, shopped at  T. J. Maxx. Then, back to Starbucks before having lunch with Chuck at Panera Bread. That night we ate at Macaroni grill. We used to eat there a lot when we lived in Little Rock. 

I sat in one morning

when J.D. presented 

a slide show of 

his work. That's when

I got this picture.

Meanwhile, Chuck was still drawing in the workshop. 

The next day was the last day of the workshop. Then, we headed for Estes Park. We went to Loveland and through the canyon. It wasn't the fastest way, but there were no heights. We were looking up instead of down.

We were excited to see our daughter's house. We hadn't visited since she moved. It is wonderful. The backside view of the Rockies is spectacular from her front window.

We spent only a couple of days in Estes Park. Everyone there was going to work. It took us only two days on the road stopping only in Wichita for the night. We had our vacation from retirement and were ready to get back into the swing of things in Hot Springs Village. 

*The 'Row by Row' is a nation-wide summer quilt shop program. If you make enough quilt shop stops on your summer vacation and buy a kit every time, you will have enough to make a quilt. Note: this is the only one I got.  I have enough UFO's (Unfinished finished objects).

50 States in 50 Years No. 1

Mom and Dad and Me

1940 - 2 years old

Where it all began

Shreveport, Louisiana

November, 1939

1942 - 4 years old

My Mom and Dad
and Me in my rabbit fur coat
My first trip to Arkansas
to see my Grandmother Grant
in Russellville

I grew up in the best of times. Doesn't everyone say that? World War II ended and I started the 1st grade at Creswell Elementary.

That's me, 1st row 2nd from the right,
by my forever friend, Carolyn on the end.

Me and my Daddy
on the farm.
(called him Dad when
I got too old for a Daddy:)

We had a farm and I took the bus to school. That lasted about six months. My Mom didn't like to put me on the school bus everyday. In 1946 the only children that rode the bus to school were those that lived on farms. 

1958 Photo

When we moved to town, Mom and Dad had bought a cafe, The Country Kitchen. I would eat breakfast there and then take the trolley to school all by myself.

After the 6th grade I went to Hamilton Terrace Jr. High. All of my friends were going to Broadmoor Jr. High, but our house was out of that district. I had a good time and met made new friends, but I missed by old friends. We were reunited in two years, when we left for the 9th grade at C.E. Byrd High School.

I went to Byrd
for the 9-12 Grades
1955-1958

Senior Picture

In 1958 I graduated from high school and headed to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I went home to Shreveport for breaks, but ended up staying in Arkansas after I graduated in 1962.

That is the beginning of my travel odyssey of going in and out and through all fifty United States. 

For "new to my blog" friends...on May 17, 2010, I visited Wisconsin.

I can now say that I have been in, to, or through all 50 United States.

I am committed to make an Artist Trading Card "ATC" for each of

the 50 States. 

50 States in 50 Years Nos. 2 - 3 - 4

Montana No. 4

Wyoming No. 3

Idaho No. 2

Idaho and Montana. Two of these last three states are what  I call 'through' states. I went through them on the way from or to somewhere else. There is not much to say about either of them: except, I can count them as part of the quest. 

Going through Montana I felt I was at the top of the world. The sky seemed endless to me. There was nothing along the horizon except the curve of the earth. 

In 1977 we were on the way to Yellowstone and swung through Billings, Montana, to say we had been there. 

We took a day to drive through Yellowstone. 

We did not see one animal, but were lucky enough to see Old Faithful let off steam.

and get a picture of the upper falls. From there we went to Jackson Hole along the Tetons on the way to Salt Lake City. 

Bear Lake Idaho 1977

The only landmark in Idaho that was memorable was the sight of  Bear Lake along State Highway 89 in the southeast corner of the state.

Wyoming counts as a 'been to' state.  On the 1977 trip we stopped in Jackson Hole for the night. In 2015 we had a full 'stay for a while' trip. Our starting place was Estes Park, Colorado. From there we went up through Cheyenne and Laramie on the way to Jackson Hole. What an adventure! The Tetons are always an awesome sight to see. We stayed downtown in a quaint period motel right off the square. We love that we can walk to sight-see, shop for souvenirs, and eat. We took a day trip to investigate the mountains. We did not go as far as Yellowstone this time. A photo blog of the highlights of our trip follows:

The Episcopal Chapel of Transfiguration

Window inside the church
looks out on the mountains.

Our Wyoming trip ended too soon and we were on our way back to Estes Park to say goodbye to our family and head back home to Arkansas. 

Good memories were made!

*For "new to my blog" friends...on May 17, 2010, I visited Wisconsin.

I can now say that I have been in, to, or through all 50 United States.

I am committed to make an Artist Trading Card "ATC" for each of

the 50 States.