When former President Clinton visited Hot Springs in early April, several of the city's leaders met with him. They wanted to get his feedback on the possibility of a performing-arts center being built at the site of the abandoned Majestic Hotel, the oldest portion of which burned in late February. Clinton grew up in the Park Avenue area.
A document presented to the former president read: "On the spot where Hot Springs Creek turns toward the Ouachita River, where Hiram Abiff Whittington opened Hot Springs' first general store in 1832, there's a fountain, a flagpole, an abandoned hotel, a charred pile of rubble and a dream. The intersection of Central, Park and Whittington avenues is the anchor of the city of Hot Springs. ... This junction has literally been the visual, economic and social hub of the community."
Whittington, the son of a Puritan schoolmaster, was born at Boston in 1805. He learned the printing trade at age 15 and was working in New York when his boss introduced him to Arkansas Gazette founder William E. Woodruff. Whittington moved to Little Rock in 1826 to work as a Gazette printer. When his health began to falter in 1832, he moved to Hot Springs in hopes that the hot mineral water there would provide a cure. He established the first mercantile store and began exporting whetstones used to sharpen knives. Whittington was appointed postmaster and even established the state's first lending library. In 1839, he opened the Chalybeate Springs boarding house, a resort for sick people using the springs. It might be described as the start of the tourism industry at Hot Springs.
While most of the recent talk about downtown revitalization in the Spa City has focused on empty buildings along Central Avenue, the foundation also is there for the redevelopment of Park Avenue. Three of the state's best restaurants--Central Park Fusion, Park Avenue Bistro and Deluca's Pizzeria--are on Park. There are several beautiful old homes and fading tourist courts ripe for renovation. The Velda Rose Hotel and the Vapors Club, both empty, present fascinating opportunities for redevelopment. The Velda Rose, built by timber baron Garland Anthony of Bearden in 1960, appears to be structurally sound and could be turned into a combination boutique hotel-condominium complex. He named the hotel for his daughter, who would go on to become Velda Rose Walters of Oklahoma following her March 1948 marriage to wildcat oilman, lumberman, strip miner and cattleman Mannon Lafayette Walters. With the support of his father-in-law, Mannon Walters became a pioneer in the lumber business in Mexico.
The Anthony family also opened the Anthony Island Motel on Lake Hamilton and the Avanelle Motor Lodge at the intersection of Central and Grand in Hot Springs. The Avanelle took its name from two of Garland Anthony's daughters, Avalene and Nell. In the years after Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller shut down casino gambling at Hot Springs in 1967, the Velda Rose fell on hard times. It later became a Ramada Inn before a new owner changed the name back to the Velda Rose in 2001. The facility continued to deteriorate, however.
There remains a strong Anthony family tradition in Hot Springs. In December 2003, Hot Springs residents John Ed and Isabel Anthony announced an initial $1 million contribution to Garvan Woodland Gardens on Lake Hamilton for construction of the Anthony Chapel. John Ed Anthony is Garland Anthony's grandson. The $5.6 million Anthony Chapel complex, designed by Fayetteville architects Maurice Jennings and David McKee, opened in September 2006. Later in 2006, it was announced that the children of Garland Anthony had given a gift so that the Anthony Carillon--a 55-foot-tall structure with 16 copper-clad columns--could be built.
An enterprising developer renovating the Velda Rose would be wise to also purchase the Vapors and transform it into a dinner theater. Dane Harris, who had a stake in the Belvedere Country Club and casino a few miles to the north, partnered with famed New York gangster Owney Madden to build the Vapors. Madden spent the later years of his life in Hot Springs and became a pillar of the business community. Construction on the Vapors began in 1959 and was completed the following year.
Entertainers at the Vapors ranged from the Smothers Brothers to Phyllis Diller to Tony Bennett. In his autobiography, Bennett would recall that he first sang "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," which became his signature song, at the Vapors. He was rehearsing it there one afternoon when a bartender in the back of the room cried out, "If you guys record that song, I'll buy the first copy."
An explosion at the Vapors in January 1963 caused 12 injuries and extensive damage. The club was renovated quickly. Even after Rockefeller shut down casino gambling, the Vapors continued to operate as a nightclub and restaurant. In 1977, Harris added the Cockeyed Cowboy country and western club and the Apollo Disco to the mix in an effort to attract a younger crowd. Harris died in 1981, though the Vapors continued to operate for a time. The building was sold in October 1998 to Tower of Strength Ministries to be used as a church and was put up for sale last November.
The Majestic property, the Velda Rose and the Vapors are on the same side of the street. With renewed interest in downtown Hot Springs, the prospects are tantalizing for that stretch of Park Avenue.
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Freelance columnist Rex Nelson is the president of Arkansas' Independent Colleges and Universities. He's also the author of the Southern Fried blog at rexnelsonsouthernfried.com.
Editorial on 07/30/2014