April 1, 20213:44 pm
THE VAPORS: IN THE HEYDAY: Now, after a time as a church, it's a venue once again.
David Hill’s book “The Vapors: A Southern Family, the New York Mob, and the Rise and Fall of Hot Springs, America’s Forgotten Capital of Vice” belongs in the pantheon of great Arkansas books. Weaving in his own family’s history in Hot Springs, Hill tells the story of Hot Springs’ gambling heyday, flashy nightlife and criminal underbelly. To take advantage of the book’s popularity, Visit Hot Springs, the city’s convention and visitor’s bureau, assembled a self-guided “Vapors” tour. Find it at hotspringsblog.com/thevapors. Several of the stops would already be on any Hot Springs tourist’s list: The Arlington, where famed mobster Charles “Lucky” Luciano was once arrested; Oaklawn, which led the author’s horse-training great-grandfather and grandmother to town; and Bathhouse Row. Here are others from the tourism guide, with a few bonus stops suggested by Hill.