Hot Springs it's Beauty, Healing Power and Rich History? Al Capone, Tunnels under the city and infamous The Vapors bombing and explosion!
The hidden tunnels Park Avenue in Hot Springs, Arkansas Volume 1.
Secret Tunnels of Hot Springs Arkansas
Hidden underground pool in the old rehab building most people don't know exists
Hot Springs underground abandoned bowling alley in the Dugan-Stuart building
The Gangsters of Hot Springs
New book reveals truth behind Hot Springs' gangster past
Secret Entrance To Al Capone’s Hideout
City News: Hot Springs Creek Tunnel
Seven Sacred Caves used by Native Americans at Manataka (Hot Springs, Arkansas) - Lee Standing Bear
Hot Springs Arkansas 1939 in full color documentary
Tunnels in the Ozarks
Al Capone Suite Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas
Rolling the Dice: Hot Springs Gangster History
Lakeside TV
History of #HotSprings as a place where Soldiers went to heal after World War 1 and 2.
Vacationing spot for #AlCapone who was said to reserve entire 4th floor of the #ArlingtonHotel which they are in the process of renovating.
#Prohibition, #tunnels, #Moonshiners, #Alcatraz, #UndergroundCities, #IronMountain, #Bathhouses, #Bathhouserow, #HotSprings, #WatchTheWater, #Epstein, #Epsteindidntkillhimself, #TremintinaBase, #SocorroRanch, #IronMountain, #CheyenneMountain, #SunspotObservatoryTunnels, #SunspotNM, #DirkGently, #HolisiticDetectiveAgency, #DouglasAdams, #History, #WeWillPrevail, #TheBestIsYetToCome, #ArkansasRocks, #GangsterHistory, #TrumpForever
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/03/jack-nicholson-warren-beatty-playboy-tunnel
Hot Springs was designated as the first National Reserve in the 1830's by President Andrew Jackson.
By that time Hot Springs was already considered a tourist thriving community as
people flocked there to bathe in the thermal waters.
To cure themselves of whatever ailments they thought they might have.
As it became very popular, the Federal Government was aware of Hot Spring's growing popularity.
At this point early on, Bathhouse Row had an open sewer stream going through it.
Hot Spring's Creek at this time was completely open
In order to go from one side to the other. ..
from the shops over to the bathhouses
people had to cross rickety, old wooden bridges.
People could see and smell sewer going down the stream
The Federal Government gave the city of Hot Springs a federal grant
to cover the creek.
To pave it over and give a thouroughfair for the buggies, the carts and the people.
This really enhanced the whole popularity of Hot Springs!
More pieces of the Hot Spring's Tunnel
this is the Park Avenue Branch.
It was extended in the 1890's to 1930's.
It is newer as the original tunnel was in the 1880's.
Park Avenue was tapped on.
You used to be able to enter the tunnel at Watkin's Park before fencing was put up and use a ladder to get down below.
The bottom of the tunnel system that runs under the city is a natural stream, so there are high and low places and places that act like quick sand so you have to stay close to the wall in case of sinking to help pick yourself back up.
Even in times of drought the water can still get as high as 5 feet in many areas.
According to City of Hot Springs
Nestled amongst the forested Ouachita Mountains in central Arkansas, Hot Springs is as rich in history as it is thermal waters. America's Spa City, first Federal Reserve, and only municipality located within a national park, Hot Springs is renowned for health, recreation, and wellness. The two sides of the thriving Central Avenue Historical District with the National Park’s Bathhouse Row on one side and a variety of shops, restaurants and attractions on the other offer tourists and residents a win-win. However, the two sides of the picturesque landscape offer a sense of awe on one end of the spectrum, which is offset by a typography ripe for flooding.
Historical flooding of downtown Hot Springs dates back to 1885, and this corridor has endured seven 100-year floods since official records began in 1910. In the flood of 2008, nearly 2,000 property damage claims in the downtown commercial district exceeded $5.3 million, with untold effects on the more than 1,000 employees and the tourism-based economy of the city.
Located 254-feet upstream from this floodplain is the City of Hot Springs’ most recent addition to its parks system – David F. Watkins Memorial Park – which was dedicated on March 25, 2021.
On the surface, this community green space will do wonders as the first park in the low-income Park Avenue Neighborhood. Its impact goes much deeper as the low-impact design of this rain-to-recreation urban park will mitigate flooding impacts on the more than 200 businesses and nearly 1,000 residential structures in the downstream floodplain.
The park is situation on a half-acre site, 256-feet deep by 92-feet wide, which is bisected by the late nineteenth century Hot Springs Creek Tunnel.
This tunnel continues from Park Avenue to run directly underneath the bustling Central Avenue, and it serves as the flood-prone area’s primary means of conveying stormwater. The City acquired the property at 811 Park Avenue in 2014 after an inspection of the tunnel system noted a significant structural failure in the tunnel ceiling that could not be stabilized from below.
Vehicle traffic and residency along a 50-foot wide corridor above the tunnel, including the vacant Wheatley Courts structure where the park now resides, were ceased on Jan. 10, 2013, in the interest of public safety. The City went through the appropriate procedures to have the former motel razed and removed on Dec. 15, 2014, to protect public safety and prevent further structural degradation of the tunnel.
The lot was leveled and left otherwise unimproved as an impervious surface. The structurally-unstable portion of the tunnel was barricaded.
The tunnel opens back up at Magnolia Park where you are at open air, then there is almost a hidden entrance to go back into the tunnel.
It has ivy hanging over it.
https://www.nps.gov/hosp/learn/historyculture/index.htm
Forbidden History: Andrew Jackson, Jekyll Island. How The Elites Enslaved Mankind Through Banks
https://beforeitsnews.com/banksters/2023/03/forbidden-history-andrew-jackson-jekyll-island-how-the-elites-enslaved-mankind-through-banks-2437426.html
During the 1960's there was a building boom in Hot Springs from 1960 to 1965 according to David Hill, author of the vapors and Arkansas native.
David grew up hearing about the legends of Hot Springs.
He found when using FOIA that there were FBI offices all over America that had files on Hot Springs.
Why was that?
Was there a larger crime syndicate and far more involved that people realized?
The claim was that the files revealed a misconception that many locals had. . .that gambling flourished because elected officials simply turned a blind eye and had nothing to do with organized crime.
Some felt the real reason Hot Springs survived had a lot to do with political corruption.
By the early 60's Hot Springs had reached a tipping point.
It is said that the huge building boom in the 1960's was in anticipation of gambling being legalized there.
Some feel the 1960's architecture is dominant including that of the Vapors.
Crowds came to gamble
and big time entertainers came to entertain those crowds.
I don't know any of these people, but maybe some of you have heard of them.
This then produced even bigger crowds.
During those 4 to 5 years Hot Springs saw a spike and had 5 million visitors per year.
On January 3, 1963 the Vapors was bombed.
The next day when pictures were on the front page of the Arkansas Gazette
it was confirmation of the hold illicit gambling had on Hot Springs.
Within 5 years gambling was shut down by then governor Winthrop Rockefeller.
Do you find that interesting?
On their site,
Vapors Live provides Hot Springs’ best live entertainment. This historic nightclub was founded in 1959 by a New York gangster Vincent “Owney” Madden. Over the years huge stars like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Liberace, and dozens of others have performed on the same stage you see today. We’ve tried to maintain as much of the history as possible while renovating for the future. You get that old-school vibe the minute you walk through the doors and see the headshots of past performers. The sculpted ceiling is as it was in the beginning. The original bar was restored and is still in use.
THE VAPORS HISTORY
The Vapors was founded in the summer of 1959 by Dane Harris and Vincent “Owney” Madden. The unlikely pair, Harris, a WWII pilot, and Madden, a New York gangster [creator of Cotton Club in New York], created Hot Springs Arkansas’ newest and most beautiful theater restaurant. Legends like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Mickey Rooney, Liberace, Rosemary Clooney, and scores of other Hollywood stars graced our stage in the 1960s and 70s. Along came disco and live performances gave way to recorded music and the coffee shop became a bar called the Cockeyed Cowboy before the whole became a church in the 1990s.
True to Hot Springs’ gangster persona, Vapors has its fair share of colorful characters and happenings. On January 4th, 1963, a bomb ripped through what is now the dining room exposing an underground casino. 11 people were injured in the blast but all survived, fortunately. While no charges were ever brought, speculations swirled as to who was responsible. Was it a rival gang or an insurance job? We’ll probably never know but the newspaper was there to take pictures of the exposed casino and published them the following day on the front page.
Johnny Carson was a regular and often booked acts that performed here for the Tonight Show. Check out the slideshow of past performers and the video below for a complete history of the Vapors.
See a meny from the Cotton Club herre,
https://transcription.si.edu/project/23274#:~:text=in%20New%20York.-,The%20Cotton%20Club%20was%20Harlem's%20premier%20nightclub%20in%20the%201920s,Billie%20Holiday%2C%20and%20Ethel%20Waters.
The bombing took out the wall separating the casino from the lobby and exposed the gambling tables and slot machines to the street
Against police orders photos were taken by reporters of the Arkansas Gazette one of which ended up on the front page providing clear proof of illegal gambling going on at The Vapors.
Illegal gambling was not stopped until 1967.
The Vapors became an anomaly as it continued to operate as a night club and restaurant after it's casino was closed and after other in the area shut down.
In Al Capone's neighborhood in Chicago,
Chain of Lakes comprised of 11 interconnected lakes and a state park.
An entire chain of lakes was created when they built a dam near Grass Lakes which was rivers and streams back in the 1920's.
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre, also known as the massacre of 7 Morgan gang, was a violent event that took place on February 14, 1929, when seven members of George Clarence “Bugs” Moran's North Side Gang were shot and killed by four unknown assailants. The victims were lined up against a wall in the garage at 2122 North Clark Street in Lincoln Park, Chicago, and were shot with two Thompson submachine guns and two shotguns. The men were Albert Weinshank, a cleaning and dyeing operator for Moran, and John May, a car mechanic for the Moran gang.
The Mob Museum
St. Valentine's Day Massacre Wall - The Mob Museum
Valentine's Day Massacre. On February 14, 1929, seven members and associates of George “Bugs” Moran's bootlegging gang were lined up against a wall and shot dead inside the garage at 2122 North Clark Street. Al Capone's Chicago Outfit was widely suspected of ordering the hit, but no one was ever prosecuted.
history.com
Fox Lake, Illinois a town and a lake in the chain of Lakes and Northern Illinois.
Just 15 miles south of the Wisconsin border.
It also has Blarney's Island
Valentine's Day Massacre. ... The St. Valentine's Day Massacre is a particularly bloody chapter in organized crime history. On Valentine's Day 1929, Thompson submaching guns shot and murdered seven men from Chicago's North Side Gang, headed by George Clarence “Bugs” Moran. Though the perpetrators of the massacre officially remain unidentified, many believe that members of Al Capone's South Side Gang are the culprits. One man in particular suspiciously fled the scene to St. Joseph, Michigan, with violent consequences.
While the perpetrators remain unidentified, many believe that members of Al Capone's South Side Gang are the culprits. The massacre was the result of competition for control of organized crime in the city during Prohibition. It marked the end of any significant gang opposition to Capone's rule in Chicago, but it can also be said to have marked the beginning of his downfall.
Minola Hotel
Thomas Parker purchased a tract of land along Fox Lake on behalf of the Union League Club of Chicago.
The club intended to develop the property as a recreational retreat for its members and built a small clubhouse on the site.
The Mineola Club of Chicago constructed the northern half of the hotel in 1888 as a clubhouse; the building became a hotel in 1891.
Christen Knowles, Robert McNeil, and Charles O'Boyle were tasked with this section's construction.
Edison Howard bought the hotel, opening it to the public, and built its southern half in 1903.
The hotel operated as a hunting and fishing resort until it closed in 1963.
Al Capone purportedly visited the hotel occasionally as a weekend retreat.
How it used to look
How it looks now,
It is a historic site,
From Lake Country History,
Friday, June 3, 2011
Mineola Hotel - The Lady of the Lakes
Posted June 3, 2011
In recent months, there has been talk of razing the legendary Mineola Hotel in Fox Lake. This would be a terrible loss for Lake County's heritage.
https://lakecountyhistory.blogspot.com/2011/06/mineola-hotel-lady-of-lakes.html
From the Daily Herald in 2011
Legendary Mineola Hotel condemned in Fox Lake
Fox Lake officials said they only had the safety of customers in mind when they condemned the 135-year-old Mineola Hotel and Lounge this week.
Hotel owner Pete Jakstas, however, is mad the village didn’t give him a chance to fix up the deteriorating building — thought to be among the oldest wooden structures in Illinois — before slapping the red condemnation sticker on its side, effectively putting him out of business.
“After being here for 68 years, you’d think they’d give me the common courtesy to give me some time to fix some of the problems they noticed,” Jakstas said, sitting at his desk at the Mineola Marina, in the shadow of the now condemned hotel at 91 Cora Ave.
“Nope. They just walked in and shut me down. They say this administration is pro business, but obviously, it’s not.”
Built in 1884, the landmark hotel has long been the location of the annual Chain O’ Lakes fireworks on the Fourth of July, as well as numerous public and private events.
It was also one of the many locations in Fox Lake and Ingleside where reputed mob boss Al Capone would spend his vacations. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Urbina said he has contacted the U.S. Department of the Interior, which handles that list, regarding the condemnation.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20110414/news/legendary-mineola-hotel-condemned-in-fox-lake/
As you can see many things are said out there concerning gang violence, here is History.coms version,
The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre shocked the world on February 14, 1929, when Chicago’s North Side erupted in gang violence. Gang warfare ruled the streets of Chicago during the late 1920s, as chief gangster Al Capone sought to consolidate control by eliminating his rivals in the illegal trades of bootlegging, gambling and prostitution.
This rash of gang violence reached its bloody climax in a garage on the city’s North Side on February 14, 1929, when seven men associated with the Irish gangster George “Bugs” Moran, one of Capone’s longtime enemies, were shot to death by several men dressed as policemen. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, as it was known, remains an unsolved crime and was never officially linked to Capone, but he was generally considered to have been responsible for the murders.
From 1924 to 1930, the city of Chicago gained a widespread reputation for lawlessness and violence. Not coincidentally, this phenomenon coincided with the reign of chief crime lord Al “Scarface” Capone, who took over from his boss Johnny Torrio in 1925. (Torrio, who was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in 1924, had “retired” to Brooklyn.) Prohibition, ushered in by the passage of the 18th Amendment in 1920, had greatly increased the earnings of America’s gangsters through bootlegging (the illegal manufacture and sale of alcohol) and speakeasies (illicit drinking establishments), as well as gambling and prostitution. Capone’s income from these activities was estimated at some $60 million a year; his net worth in 1927 was around $100 million.
Did you know? George "Bugs" Moran was on his way to the garage in Chicago at the time of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre; he missed getting killed by minutes. A few days later, he told reporters "Only Capone kills like that." Reached at his Florida home for comment on the murders, Capone offered his own opinion: "The only man who kills like that is Bugs Moran."
Over the years, Al Capone consolidated control over most of Chicago’s crime rackets by ruthlessly gunning down his rivals. In 1924, authorities counted some 16 gang-related murders; this brand of slaying continued until 1929, reaching a high of 64 murders in one year during that time. Federal authorities, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had much less jurisdiction than they have today, and did not include Chicago’s gang-related activity.
Chicago’s gang war reached its bloody climax in the so-called St. Valentine’s Day Massacre of 1929. One of Capone’s longtime enemies, the Irish gangster George “Bugs” Moran, ran his bootlegging operations out of a garage at 2122 North Clark Street. On February 14, seven members of Moran’s operation were gunned down while standing lined up, facing the wall of the garage. Some 70 rounds of ammunition were fired. When police officers from Chicago’s 36th District arrived, they found one gang member, Frank Gusenberg, barely alive. In the few minutes before he died, they pressed him to reveal what had happened, but Gusenberg wouldn’t talk.
Police could find only a few eyewitnesses, but eventually concluded that gunmen dressed as police officers had entered the garage and pretended to be arresting the men. Though Moran and others immediately blamed the massacre on Capone’s gang, the famous gangster himself claimed to have been at his home in Florida at the time. No one was ever brought to trial for the murders. It remains one of the biggest unsolved crimes in history.
North side of Chicago controlled by [Dean was an Irish]
South side controlled by [Came from Brooklyn]
During prohibition times, high quality booze was funneled to U.S. on the whiskey highway.
A direct round from Canada, to Detroit and on to Chicago.
O'Banion ran a flower shop.
He ran his northside gang from the 2nd floor of his shop.
He double crossed Capone's gang leader, southside Torrio in a brewery deal.
Interesting?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2015/08/12/hillary-clintons-al-capone-moment/
More on my Hot Springs series because Arkansas really does ROCK!
Beautiful hiking, clear streams, amazing mountain views!
Don't forget the intriguing history, mines, caves and fascinating stories that bring many people together!
"Can you hear the children?" Written on tunnel wall!
#tunnels, #secretpool, #HotSprings, #History, #ArmyNavyHospital, #AlCapone, #TheArlington, #AlCapone, #Gangsters, #Epstein, #EpsteinDidntKillHimself, #AndrewJackson, #FortSegarra, #WaterIsland, #LittleStJames, #EpsteinIsland, #StThomasIsland
I'll be back in when feasible.
Stay Safe out there!
#HotSprings, #AlCapone, #Tunnels, #TheVapors, #Chicago, #Gangsters, #OBanionGang, #GangsterWars, #WinthropRockefeller, #HillaryClinton, #BillClinton, #MineolaHotel, #QuachitaMountains, #Chicago
My breadcrumbs follow. . .
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/hosp/haywood-weed/sec8.htm#:~:text=The%20sedimentary%20rocks%20seen%20in,and%20the%20rock%20called%20novaculite.
THE SPA CITY – AMERICA’S FIRST RESORT
https://www.hotsprings.org/explore/history/
THE SPA CITY – AMERICA’S FIRST RESORT
https://www.hotsprings.org/explore/history/
https://abandonedar.com/army-navy-hospital/
https://vaporslive.com/history/
Abandoned Army/Navy Hospital Photography and Crazy Stories - S1 E4 |