How I Spent Time in Hot Springs, Arkansas
My dad has long referred to Arkansas, and Hot Springs, as “the land that time forgot” or “the way back machine”… you’d think you were in the 1950s. And as if on cue, the night we landed in Hot Springs, the clock turned back an hour.
I’ve been looking forward to visiting Hot Springs, Arkansas for a long as I can remember. The old bathhouses, gangsters, and post-modern medicine all of which are all the raw materials for the makings of a town filled with characters, architecture that will never be replicated again, and amenities that are no longer considered a part of science.
Hot Springs, at one time, had a lot of money. These buildings, and particularly the Bath Houses, are expensive. From the stained glass to the porcelain tubs. The Fordyce Bathhouse reportedly cost $212k to build in 1915… that’s $5.6 million in today’s dollars).
The Bath Houses pipe their water in from the two hills that site right on the left and right of the town. The water runs from all over the place and you can see it steam from the gutters and the hillside. It’s a magical place.
I’m glad the buildings are still around, though some have fallen into disrepair. Perhaps it’s more expensive to tear them down than it is to keep them as they are?
Mob Ties
The permanent Al Capone statue outside of the Ohio Club in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Nearly everyone, and every establishment, in Hot Springs touts their version of a mob story.
The mob used to come here and pay off the local law enforcement to allow them to do whatever they please.
Similarly, the baseball team came here for Spring Training. In fact, this was the first place they came to train and also to drink and have the water purify their toxins.
“ By 1909, the Sox, Pirates and Brooklyn all trained regularly in Hot Springs, creating a need for another baseball field. The Red Sox usually stayed at the Majestic Hotel.”
Hot Springs is the only place I know of that opens in the spring - “See you in the spring” posters were hung all around town.
FRONT: Vintage postcard promoting Arkansas.
BACK: Vintage postcard promoting Arkansas.
WHERE TO EAT IN HOT SPRINGS, ARKANSAS
WHERE TO DRINK IN HOT SPRINGS, ARKANSAS
The Ohio Club - Check out the Al Capone (with handcuffs) permanent statue sitting on the park bench outside the bar.
The Rooftop Bar at the Waters Hotel
WHAT TO DO IN HOT SPRINGS, ARKANSAS
St. Catherine State Park.
Take a walk behind the baths - “The Grand Promenade”.
Check out the Arlington hotel - where Al Capone infamously stayed.
Walk and check out the observation tower/mountain tower.
Get yourself a water bottle and fill it up from the springs. Strangely one is hot, and one is cold.
Take a day trip to Little Rock and see the Central Arkansas High School, the ESEE Musuem and Store, and the State Capital + original statehouse.
Motor Courts and Hotels in Hot Springs, Arkansas
Hot Springs, Arkansas is like a time capsule. There are parts of it that have been updated, like the tourist shops on the main street.
The number of motels, hotels, and motor courts is enormous. Hot Springs boomed in the 20s and 30s when affordable train travel and car travel made traveling accessible and allowed people to engage in recreational activities — like gambling, the baths, and fresh air.
You have to wonder, who were the travelers to this destination? What happened? I suppose modern medicine grew up, Penicillin was developed and understood that warm water and water squirted at various pressures was never going to fix your Muscular Dystrophy or anything else.
Once a big deal, motor courts offered affordable travel to Americans seeking a getaway by car. Now, many of the Hot Springs motor courts have completely deteriorated, in part due to the fact that the Bath Houses went from being seen as “medicinal” to “relaxation”.
FRONT: Vintage postcard promoting the Sands Motel in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
BACK: Vintage postcard promoting the Sands Motel in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
FRONT: Vintage postcard promoting the Mena Part Court in Mena, Arkansas.
BACK: Vintage postcard promoting the Mena Part Court in Mena, Arkansas.
FRONT: The old Aristocrat Motor Inn hotel, as promoted via a postcard.
BACK: The old Aristocrat Motor Inn hotel, as promoted via a postcard.
Bath Houses in Hot Springs, Arkansas
“Bathhouse Row is a place to stroll and enjoy the beautiful architecture of the bathhouse buildings.
The Bathhouse Row you see today consists of eight bathhouse buildings that were constructed between the years of 1892 and 1923. This area along with the Grand Promenade was designated as a National Historic Landmark District in 1987.”
“By 1921, the popularity of Hot Springs — whose baths were said to rival those of ancient Rome — led to its creation as our 18th national park. Yet as new medicines developed in the 1950s, therapeutic bathing declined, and business dried up. By 1985, only the Buckstaff Bathhouse remained open (and still is, boasting continuous operation from 1912).”
I went to the Buckstaff Spa for a treatment, or the “Cure” as they would have called it back in the day. It was as though nothing had changed since 1940. Built in 1912, the Buckstaff Baths are the longest baths in continuous operation. Buckstaff has been operating since the early 1900s and people have been visiting here to get well, or stay well.
A quote in the lobby read: “Where the Sick Get Well, and the Well Stay Well”
We’ll see about that…
The amenities are more medical than recreational. People speak loudly and with focus, unlike a spa where people speak in low tones, looking to relax their heart rates. Here, the attendants and old-school paying patrons believe in the medicinal qualities of the water and treatments.
Me, prior to receiving my treatment at the Buckstaff Baths in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
First, they ask you to change into white sheets, then. you get into a hot bath (a private one) and you’re treated by an attendant.
The décadence of the hardware and materials, though elaborate today, were meant to give off a medical feel at the time this place was designed in 1912. No one makes tile floors like these today, yet today, so one believes this kind of regimine will cure scoliosis.
Time feels like it stops inside the bath house.
I found myself playing in the water like a kid, hanging one foot out, then the other. At 110* degrees, yeah, I needed a break.
The entire experience was scripted and a little intense. I didn’t feel all that well after going, likely from dehydration? The experience was worth it, though.
Crystal Hunting at Coleman’s in Hot Springs, Arkansas
ESSE Purse Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas
Favorite Photos from Hot Springs, Arkansas
I can’t believe how beautiful the old buildings are here –– it’s like an architectural graveyard. They’re mostly disheveled, forgotten, and falling apart. I’d love to buy one and restore it one day…
