When Port Aransas Had Casinos

When Port Aransas Had Casinos A longtime resident remembers when the dice would roll and the booze would flow

By Mary Craft To tell the history of the Wilson and Nelson families in Port Aransas is to tell the history of Port Aransas. The two families are among the oldest in the town and the forebears of the current family members have a varied and colorful past that paints a vivid picture of life in Port Aransas in the century just passed.

We recently sat down with Peggy Nelson who lived in Port A from 1940 until 1980 to get a living history.

Down at the Balinese Travis Wilson was a plumber and sheet metal worker in Fort Worth as was his father before him. When the Depression hit he did what he had to in order to support his family and went to Galveston to work for “Big” Sam Mateo and his brother. The Sicilian brothers started out as barbers in their teens but found a career in bootlegging and gambling to be more financially rewarding. They eventually created a gambling empire with many illegal casinos on and near the seawall in that city. It was there Travis learned how to operate a gambling establishment and he used that experience in his own gaming rooms when he later opened shop in Port Aransas and Corpus Christi.

Big Sam opened a casino on the seawall in 1929 that became so popular that a 600-foot pier was added and the name changed to the exotic Balinese Room in 1942. It was a popular Hollywood star destination for Bob Hope, Groucho Marx, Sophie Tucker and other celebrities of the time. Entertainment was provided by popular entertainers like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. The gambling part of the facility was at the end of the pier to provide time to hide the evidence before the Texas Rangers got there. Stories of the Balinese echoed down the years all the way through the 1970’s when that Little Old Band from Texas, ZZ Top immortalized it in their song Down at the Balinese.

When there was a raid, gaming tables were changed to backgammon tables and slot machines were folded up into the walls like Murphy beds. To give extra time for the change, the band near the entrance would play “The Eyes of Texas” to announce the Rangers arrival and the patriotic patrons would stand at attention restricting access to the back casino along with a series of glass doors the Rangers had to negotiate to get to the gambling area.

One of Travis’ duties for Big Sam was to travel to Mexico to buy liquor.

The Island was a natural It was a big job to quench the thirst of all those dry gamblers. Travis would go to Mexico to buy liquor for the casinos and on a trip there he met Maurine, his soon to be wife, at a supper club. She was a Denton graduate with a degree in Education and had taught for a while before getting a position as an assistant to a liquor importer. Travis made a good first impression when he sent to her table not a bottle of champagne but an entire case. He was a widower with three daughters and she was a divorcee with a small child (our story teller Peggy who would later marry Maubrey Nelson in Port A).

They married in the 30’s and lived in Fort Worth until Travis decided to move the family to Port A in 1939. Travis bought half interest in the Turf Grill that was next to where the ferry landing was then and had, of course, gambling. A year later he was commissioned by the government to work at defense plants because of his sheet metal experience and the family moved back to Fort Worth. They returned to Port A in 1942 and opened Wilson's Restaurant, with the Officer's Club inside, which was located on the other side of the ferry landing. There were many military personnel in town at the time including the Navy and Coast Guard. There was even an army installation. Travis had received a contract to feed the Navy servicemen since they did not have facilities there. He would make trips to Kansas to secure the amount of meat required. The Officer's Club served liquor which made it popular since there were no open bars at the time. There was gambling there also. According to Peggy Nelson “The high rollers came from Corpus Christi and the surrounding area. They say there was also prostitution here but there was not. The gamblers brought ladies with them.”

If the pier provided ample time to close up shop before a raid in Galveston, then Port Aransas where Rangers had to come by ferry. It was a natural. By the time Rangers made the crossing to Port A a gambling house could be turned into a knitting circle for little old ladies.

According to Island lore many of the warning phone calls were made by members of the raiding party before they departed the mainland.

Travis ‘ Port Aransas busineses flourished throughout the 40’s and in the 50’sr he moved to Ocean Drive where he opened the Oyster Bar on Peoples Street and then 66 Ranch which was a private club off Saratoga and Staples that both had fine dining and gambling.

The 66 ranch had a high fence, a manned guard gate and a large white house. The house had a stainless steel kitchen which was unique for the time and had bleached white wood floors. The dining/gambling area was carpeted with round tables. All in all the 66 Ranch was a picture of elegance.

That is until it was shut down by a raid in 1957 along with the Balinese. The days of wide open gambling in Texas were drawing to a close as the state entered its second century of statehood. It was a conservative time in Texas and there was a joint effort between agencies to crack down on illegal gambling.

The 66 Ranch raid was led by Sheriff Johnny Mitchell and his agents who managed to catch the guard asleep at the switch and he was unable to press the buzzer to warn those inside. The Wilsons moved back to Port A and built the Wilson's Guest Cottages which still stand today and are owned by the University of Texas Marine Institute.

So that’s a little piece of Port A history from the perspective of one of the folks who lived through it that you can share with your fellow Islanders around your next beach fire.