p. 46 classicHotSprings:Layout 1 11/3/21 11:59 AM Page 46
Way It Was
The
Hot Springs, Arkansas, was the Las Vegas of the early 20th century By Patrick roBerts
B
ack in the day (1920 through the 1940s), pockets of semi-legal gambling existed in towns across the United States. Union City, New Jersey; Steubenville, Ohio; Covington, Kentucky; Biloxi, Mississippi; Cripple Creek, Colorado; Deadwood, South Dakota; and Tombstone, Arizona were just a handful of the dozens of towns that looked the other way when gambling took place within their borders. In most cases, local authorities got a cut of the profits, and the industry was very lucrative. Today, lots of these places again host fully legal gambling, which was historically part of their heritage. That’s the case with Hot Springs, Arkansas. Recently, HBG Design completed a five-star hotel at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, home of one of the legal casinos recently approved by the state. It’s a beautiful hotel, with a full selection of non-gaming amenities, situated on the first turn of the famous racetrack, which dates back to Hot Springs’ gambling heyday.
46 CASINO STYLE 2021
Hot Springs in 1925 included bathhouses on one side of Central Avenue and casinos on the other, all leading to the elegant Arlington Hotel at the top of the hill. Today’s Arlington Hotel (below) is faded and frayed.
