Postcard from Galveston - “Memories of the Maceos”

Ronnie Maceo sits below reproduced artwork from The Turf Athletic Club and Balinese Room

While travel brochures and garden clubs are quick to remind visitors of Galveston's Gilded Age history, few today seem to mention that in the more recent past this beachfront city enjoyed a long, prosperous Renaissance as a luxurious destination of vice and gambling. Indeed, before Bugsy Siegel broke ground in the Nevada Desert, the Maceo family entertained the likes of Sinatra, Alice Faye, Howard Hughes and The Marx Brothers at local hotspots like The Hollywood Dinner Club, Studio Lounge, and legendary Balinese Room. In this episode, we'll take a trip to Galveston in search of reminders of what people now refer to as "The Free State Era," and hear stories from a few who experienced these good times first hand.

Photos obtained from the Rosenberg Library

TRANSCRIPT

(As this transcript was obtained via a computerized service, please forgive any typos, spelling and grammatical errors)

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Evan (00:01):

The summer. I was 11, we took a family trip to Galveston. It was a long time ago, but I remember a few things. Mainly being furious at my germaphobe mother for refusing to let me swim in the murky water at the beach. I did, however, get some taffy at an old soda fountain downtown and recall enjoying the train museum. I also remember the Bishop's Palace, Ashton Villa and impressive mansions that lined Broadway. Marveling at those structures, even then I thought to myself, "Wow, this place must have been something else." I've since learned. It was once breathlessly referred to as the Wall Street of the South, and even rivaled San Francisco in importance. But reflecting on that distant weekend, cute is more or less the impression that stayed with me. So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered that in the more recent past, Galveston enjoyed a long prosperous Renaissance as a luxurious destination of illegal gambling, where the likes of Howard Hughes, Bob hope, and the Marx Brothers came to play. While preservation societies and hotel brochures are quick to remind visitors of the Gilded Age, this other era seemed to have been neatly scrubbed from the record. So, with my curiosity peaked, at long last, I decided to make a return trip to Galveston to see what, if anything could be found. I'm Evan Stern. And this is Vanishing Postcards.

Ronnie Maceo (02:46):

Galveston. Galveston is a place where you come, but you don't want to leave. You know, I have trouble going over the Causeway. It's just a place that- we're on a different beat,

Evan (02:59):

Pay a visit to Galveston and chances are at some point, you'll hear someone refer to themselves as a Boi. Those letters stand for born on island. And the natives here wear that acronym like a badge of honor. This is a title that Ronnie Maceo can certainly claim. Though, he'll tell you that before settling here, his people migrated from a very different island in the Mediterranean.

Ronnie Maceo (03:23):

Well, you know, they came from Palermo and they came from a fishing town. Okay. So we had the same thing going on here in Galveston. And there was opportunity. I remember, I was a little kid on the Wharf over there, they were all of the shrimpers, they were all Sicilians. And if you wanted something, you better learn how to say it in Sicilian. You know, and those were the things that I can remember is, wow. You know, nobody spoke English.

Evan (03:58):

Now in his seventies, Ronnie sports glasses, a mischievous grin, and mostly bald head surrounded by a ring of wavy gray hair. We're sitting in a booth at Maceo Spice and Import, the company his father founded back in 1944. Housed in a small whitewashed cinder blocked warehouse, about a mile from the seawall and several blocks removed from the touristy strand district, this shop wouldn't feel out of place on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx or Boston's North End. The shelves are lined with pastas, sauces, olive oils, and of course a seemingly endless array of bottled seasonings. They have a terrific deli counter as well, selling bresola, mortadella, mozzarella, daily lunch specials, and the best mufaletta you're likely to find outside the French Quarter. More than the food, which is of course terrific, I'm here today because this homey grocery is one of the few surviving links to the once formidable Maceo empire.

Ronnie Maceo (05:00):

All I know is that when I was growing up Maceo was in full and it was almost like we couldn't do anything wrong. You know, they ran everything. They ran all the, all the gambling, all the casinos, all, everything that went on in this town, they were part of

Evan (05:17):

Driving through this town of Palm tree line boulevards, you'll notice certain names have ways of cropping up. Hospitals, parks, buildings, and street signs, all bear titles, like Sealy, Kempner, and Moody. These families were titans of industry who amassed spectacular wealth and ruled the island like royalty in the days of ragtime. But about when Houston started to overtake Galveston as a port and tastes shifted to jazz, a little something called the 18th amendment swooped in to completely alter the city's power structure and character. Sure. Gambling and prostitution had always been big here, but under prohibition, vice became Galveston's most profitable business. This kicked off a nearly 40 year party that insulated it from the bread lines of the depression and lured A- list stars and high rollers long before places like the Tropicana towered over the Nevada desert. It's a period, local historian, Kimber fountain confesses she never knew of until by chance, she offered an old man at a bus stop, a ride on a sweltering August afternoon.

Kimber Fountain (06:27):

So I offered him a ride. You know, I wasn't going to make this old man sit in the heat for another hour to wait for a bus. And so he was going to Walmart, um, all the way across town. And so we went straight to the seawall and I took the seawall. And as we were driving down, he started telling me about when he was stationed here in the 1940s. And he just got this kind of, you know, overwhelming sense of, of pride that came into his voice when he was talking about the gambling halls and the luxury and the ladies in the fancy dresses and the guys in the tailored suits and, and a world famous, you know, celebrities that were performing at the clubs. And then of course, threw in about the brothels and, and all that stuff. And I was just amazed by what he was telling me. And when he finished his story, it was kind of like just the mist just lifted from his eyes and, and he kind of looked outside and you could tell that that the Galveston that he was seeing today, wasn't the Galveston that he remembered. It was a very different world for him, you know, to be, and I'll never forget, you know, his clincher line was, if you had told me 40 years ago, the Galveston would be just some family friendly beach town. You know, I never would've believed you.

Evan (07:37):

The forgotten independent city that old man nostalgically described, came to be known as The Free State of Galveston. And the duo that pulled the strings back then were Ronnie's uncles, Sam and Rose Maceo whose rises began in of all places, a barbershop-

Kimber Fountain (07:53):

The two of them were working as barbers at a shop. Actually that's just two blocks down 25th street from where we're sitting now. Um, but, uh, they were making 25 cents a haircut. Um, but, um, they were just natural visionaries. They were natural entrepreneurs. Um, but the one thing that they were lacking was capital. And so it happens that two of their regular customers at their barbershop were Dutch Voight and Ollie Quinn, who were the leaders of the Beach Gang. Now, just to give you a little bit of backstory on that prior to the Maceos entrance into illicit enterprise, Galveston had two gangs here on the island. There was the Beach Gang that operated south of Broadway to the sea wall. And then there was the Downtown Gang that operated north of Broadway to downtown. And prior to prohibition, these guys were just petty criminals and thieves, and that was it- but Prohibition kind of gave them their big in.

Kimber Fountain (08:42):

Right. And so it ended up that, uh, the beach gang had, uh, had a shipment of illegal booze that had come in from, uh, one of the places Honduras or The Bahamas. The state authorities had found out about it. They had fingered him. And so they decided that they needed to stash that whole cache of liquor until the feds stopped looking for it basically, or until the state law enforcement stopped looking for it. And it just so happened that Sam and Rose lived in one of our pretty typical pier and beam, construction houses here on the island, perfect to hide booze. And so after much deliberation, uh, Sam and Rose, mainly Rose was really the business guy, um, decided that they would take the offer because the offer was that they would get $1 for every case of liquor that they stashed. And there were 1500 cases.

Kimber Fountain (09:33):

So those guys were probably making $5 a day. They took the deal. Um, the beach gang showed up in the middle of the night, stashed all the liquor under the house. And then it took three days, um, for, uh, Dutch and Ollie to show back up to collect their, um, their stash. And those were three very sleepless nights for Sam and Rose. Um, three days later, uh, Dutch showed up and, uh, set, you know, to collect their stash and to pay Sam and Rose their rental fee. But as Sam, I mean, sorry, Rose being the enterprising individual that he was said, "You know what, keep the money. You just take our profit and you flip it into your next shipment." The difference came in that the beach and the downtown gangs were content with their criminal antics, but Sam and Rose were on an entirely different trajectory. And within a year of investing into bootlegging and rum running, uh, Sam and Rose opened up their very first restaurant. And, uh, then that just again, grew and snowballed into, you know, an empire 40 years later.

Evan (10:32):

Yet while this empire the brothers amassed may have been built on bootleg liquor, gambling, and other endeavors that skirted the law, Galveston didn't necessarily descend into a seedy den of crime and debauchery. Thanks to the money they generated and some smart civic glad-handing, the Maceos brokered a truce with the city's power brokers and elite, avoided anything resembling a St Valentine's day massacre. And with the quiet shrewd, Rose cooking the books and suave Sam running the show, Texas got a taste of truly cosmopolitan style.

Kimber Fountain (11:06):

The Maceos ushered in an era of prosperity and glamour and luxury that has never been replicated here ever. You know? And, and so what they did truly deserve celebrating. It's, you know, it's, it's not something that we should hide behind.

Evan (11:22):

Maceo run spots like the Studio Lounge and Turf Athletic Club became the stuff of legend, but Kimber will tell you their Hollywood Dinner Club, which they opened with Dutch and Ollie in 1926, was where they revolutionized the idea of how a night at the slots could be spent.

Kimber Fountain (11:40):

Gambling clubs were off little dank, dark alleyways. They were hidden rooms. They were, you know, poor lighting. There was no entertainment, there was no food. It was just about the gambling. And it was really just a money mill for the people who ran them. You know, the games were a lot of times fixed, you know, and the odds were low and, and things of that nature, but under Sam's tutelage, if you will, uh, the Hollywood Dinner Club became a much bigger deal than it ever would have been without them. And basically Sam created this template that included high class entertainment, gourmet food, and high-end gambling all under one roof. Now, today that's really normal. And you're like, Kimber, that's nothing special. We just call it Las Vegas. Righ?. But it's a very little known fact that the Maceos actually invented that template that later on in the 1940s would be picked up by the American mafia and used to turn Vegas into what it is today.

Kimber Fountain (12:36):

So all of the, by the time that Bugsy Siegel broke ground on the Flamingo in 1947, uh, the Maceos had been in the luxury gambling business for over 20 years at that point, you know, and that's a very, very little known fact. And so to me, that's the most special, that's the most special aspect of the Hollywood Dinner Club was that it didn't just launch an empire. It launched an idea. And an idea that today has been translated into a city that's really an icon of our country. You know, there's nothing else like Las Vegas in our country. And so, uh, for all of that to have started in Galveston is a pretty special, uh, little piece of, uh, Galveston history trivia that I don't think a lot of people know

Evan (13:18):

Built of Spanish architecture with a swank interior of crystal chandeliers, the casino boasted 30 craps tables, blackjack, roulette, slot machines, and modern air conditioning kept at a constant 69 degrees. Situated on a circular drive near the then edge of town, Sam placed a pair of searchlights out front. Booked Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians to play the club's opening, drew 20,000 customers in their first three weeks and even employed a then unknown Fred Astaire to work for a stint as their resident dance instructor. But while the locals and ruling families tolerated, and I can only assume enjoyed this spectacle, axe wielding Rangers broke it all up, making the Hollywood's run frustratingly short-lived. At this, a furious Sam resolved to one day build as he'd call it a "raid proof club." The Maceos would make this dream a reality some years later when they'd open the most famous nightspot the Gulf has ever seen. I'm talking about the Balinese room.

Mary Haas (14:25):

I was raised very strict Baptist and the, uh, Galveston had places that were very sinful and bad. And, uh, my mother would talk about that. And, uh, with her friends and we knew there were some pretty bad places in Galveston. Sin City!

Evan (14:50):

Mary Haas was raised a good church girl in Port Arthur, Texas. And when she got married at 21, her husband arranged their honeymoon to Houston. What she didn't know at the time was that he hid a secret taste for gambling and had planned a surprise detour to Galveston to enjoy the beach, but also hit the tables at, where else, the Balinese Room

Mary Haas (15:12):

I never dreamed of. Even at 21 years old, I hadn't thought about going to the Balinese Room, but that was his, his surprise for me,

Evan (15:25):

We're talking over the phone, but when I asked Mary what her mother would have thought of all this, I can just tell a wide grin has broken out across her face.

Mary Haas (15:35):

Oh my goodness! My mother would have, not killed me, but she would have wanted to. I didn't dare talk about that or say anything about that. No, sir, that was, that was a bad thing. I was really being a wild, bad person. I was just terrible to do something like that.

Evan (15:56):

But in speaking with Mary, it's clear, she wasn't hostage as she doesn't hesitate to tell me the night they spent at the Balinese was the highlight of their trip.

Mary Haas (16:07):

Oh, it was so exciting. Oh man. Like with all these grown up people and away from Port Arthur, and drinking and dancing and yeah, maybe some, maybe some, uh, ladies that were sort of obvious. I was thinking, "Oh man, this is the greatest." It was just that it was such a different atmosphere. Uh, like something I'd never been in. I guess it's why it was exciting, but yes. Oh goodness. People were so fine looking of course, men in their suits and ladies in beautiful clothes, you of course knew it was a higher class place. It wasn't wasn't low class. For sure. I was just so excited to be of that age and in that place at that time. It was just over my head.

Evan (17:05):

The Balinese Room sat on a pier that was the site of an Asian themed club the Maceos owned called the Sui Ren. They shut the place down for a major renovation in advance of a grand new year's unveiling, but global events threw a major wrench into these plans.

Kimber Fountain (17:20):

On December 7th, 1941, um, Pearl Harbor happens and all of a sudden, anything Japanese or Chinese or anything Asian went from being novel and exotic to basically traitorous and treasonous. And so they had to make this huge overhaul of all of their motif and luckily Sam had a brilliant designer whose name was Virgil Quadri and, uh, he came, he's not only the one who redesigned, um, the, uh, the restaurant into a Polynesian theme. Um, but he's also the one who came up with the name, the Balinese Room. And, um, the rest is history, as they say.

Evan (18:01):

The decor and concept were overhauled in record time. And when the Balinese opened its doors just two weeks late on January 17th, 1942, the result was stunning. Ornate hand painted murals of girls in grass skirts and South Pacific scenes decorated the walls alongside a giant aquarium. 10 foot Palm trees built of copper and neon surrounded the dance floor near the stage where Peggy Lee, Jack Benny, Alice Faye, George Burns and Gracie Allen performed. But more than this, for the Maceos purposes, it was functional-

Kimber Fountain (18:40):

Specific, uh, measures were taken when it was decided to remodel the seawall, the seawall property yet again, and they constructed a 600 foot pier, um, over the Gulf of Mexico, into the Gulf and to the water. Um, and it was in the shape of a T and the base of the t was the dining room. And then the head of the t, um, was where the gambling was. The gambling hall. And, um, so at the very front at the seawall entrance, there was a foyer there, and there would be either a maitre'd or a hostess manning that place because you had to be a member to get into the Balinese Room. And so, if law enforcement would show up, they would step on a pad. And that pad in the foyer was hardwired to an alarm system, uh, in the gambling room. And so the alarm would go off in the gambling room and they had local, uh, contractors, design tables for them that would flip over.

Kimber Fountain (19:34):

They designed tables that would fold up into the wall like Murphy beds. Um, they also, um, had these specially made overlays that would basically transform a, um, you know, a craps table into a billiards table, you know, and so the Rangers then after going through the foyer would, uh, would high tail it down that 600 foot pier, which was sarcastically nicknamed "ranger run." So, basically by the time the Rangers reached the back gambling hall, it wasn't a gambling hall at all. It was a gaming hall. And people were, uh, you know, playing, uh, uh, what's the, uh, you know, bridge and they were playing pool and billiards and sipping on a soda!

Evan (20:12):

But blackjack and baccarat in the back room was only part of the experience. And when I asked Kimber what a guest could expect of a night at the Balinese room, she grows rapturous.

Kimber Fountain (20:25):

Wow. It would, I often close my eyes and try to imagine that very question. A night at the Balinese Room would have been hands down the most luxurious, opulent experience that you had ever born witness to. It would have been outrageous. It would have been an absolute spectacle. You would, you know, you would enter in, would show, uh, the maitre'd your membership card, or give them your name. And you're on the list. And this, uh, the 600 foot pier was not just a rickety wooden pier. The entire thing was carpeted. The walls were wallpaper, there were sconces. So you walk 600 feet down this absolutely beautifully decorated walk. And, and the whole time you're hovering over the Gulf of Mexico, which just much have, must have added this whole other element of magic and, uh, you know, an ambiance to the situation. And then that, uh, and then there's a walkway opens up into a pristine environment where, you know, the waiters were immaculate where the tables were laid out with military, like precision, where you pulled out a cigarette and immediately you had someone there to light it for you. It's just basically what I try to tell people is to put into your head, any kind of vision or vignette that comes to mind whenever you think of 1930s, Hollywood glamour, you know, and that's what the Balinese room was. That's what, you know, that's what Galveston was.

Evan (21:56):

Ronnie's cousin, Peggy, whose father Joe worked as the room's bookkeeper was only a girl in the fifties. But as a member of the family, once a month, they got to enjoy dinner and a show at The Balinese and the sensory detail she remembers seemed to confirm Kimber's vision.

Peggy Maceo (22:13):

Since the Balinese Eoom was over a long, long pier, you walked out over the water for a long way. So you could hear the waves splashing below on the pilons. And when you, when you first entered the room, they had beautiful mats and bamboo, uh, on the walls and tropical fish and birds. And, um, it was really just, just like entering Shangri-La. It was, it was, it was a lovely place and you walked down the long hall and then into the main, the main dining area and- fantastic lighting. There was, there was lighting below each of the murals and on the wall, but there was also lighting in the netting that went around the, uh, the stage and the palm trees also had lights. And in the, and at some time in the evening, they would always turn on the black lights, um, which made everyone's white shirts and socks, glow.

Peggy Maceo (23:14):

And, uh, that was, that was a special part. I remember too, with the dancing, with my father, there was just an, a sort of special smell that the Balinese room had after you walked down the long ramp and in the un-air conditioned air, which was very salty. And then you entered the air conditioning, I guess it was just a combination of the, the fiber mats in the bamboo and the air conditioning and the sort of salty air soaking everything, but was just this particular odor that, that smelled like the Balinese room when you walked in.

Evan (23:51):

Peggy's memories of the entertainment or vague, but being some years older, Ronnie remembers a few of the headliners.

Ronnie Maceo (23:58):

As a kid. Yeah. I remember having to wear a wool tuxedo and I had to wear pajamas underneath it because they itched me, you know, but, uh, oh yeah. Um, we would get to go all the Maceo kids, not just me. Well, all the Maceo kids all got to celebrate at The Balinese Room. And there was an old singer. Her name was Sophie Tucker. Sophie Tucker was, was, was a show there. And they would always take and put a deuce, a little table for two by the side of the stage. And I would get to sit there to watch her. And I always thought that was, that was something else.

Evan (24:43):

But plenty of big names came to Galveston just to have a good time.

Ronnie Maceo (24:46):

Sinatra used to come to Galveston, never to sing. He never sang a note in this town. Everybody seems to think he did, but he was a real close friend of Sam Maceo's. Okay. And Sam would bring him to town more to hide him out, get him out of the limelight. Sam said it would be an insult to ask him to go sing. Okay. Just, "We're not going to do that. You're here to relax". He would, he would go to my grandmother's house, my grandfather Frank's house and they'd eat spaghetti. And, you know, do the things. We were little kids. I didn't even know who the hell he was, you know.

Evan (25:39):

Back at Maceo Spice, Ronnie points to an old framed black and white photo hanging on the wall.

Ronnie Maceo (25:45):

This is the, The Yacht Balinese. And I'll show you something. This little, little guy kneeling down. That's Mel Torme. 21 years old. He had never sang in Galveston before. And he was here auditioning for The Studio Lounge. And he was saying Maceo was up there. And my dad and a whole bunch of them were listening to him audition. And Sam asked Mel- Mel Torme told me this story. Okay. And now he said, Sam asking, "Are those the shoes you're gonna wear?" He says, "Yeah, that's all I got." You know? And so he, Sam turned around to my father and told my father, take him to Tom McKenzie and get him a new pair of shoes. And he walked in and he bought him a pair of Stacy Adams. I mean, beautiful shoe. And Mel told me, he says, "Man, that was the first pair of Stacy Adams shoes he had ever owned." He said, "I never forgot that." I hate to say it, but I don't think you'll ever see Galveston in that position ever again, that the world has changed.

Evan (27:03):

The fun in Galveston could only last so long. Sam Maceo died in 1951 and Rose shortly after in 1954. The family kept the club running, but changing times made it harder to stay above the fray until the Balinese was finally raided in 1957, bringing the loose attitudes of the Free State Era to a swift end.

Kimber Fountain (27:26):

It's estimated that 10,000 people left Galveston. Um, at that time after the Free State closed. Sheriff Biagne, um, is, uh, was quite a character back in the free state days. Um, local, um, local law enforcement, I'm sorry. State officials decided to conduct their own hearing and investigation. And one of the people, they called to the stand was Sheriff Biagne. And, uh, he was asked why he never rated the Balinese room. And he said, well, I tried once, but I wasn't a member. So they wouldn't let me in.

Evan (27:58):

At this, most of the Maceoss packed up and moved to Vegas. The Balinese actually stayed open under different management, but the magic was missing. In the early two thousands, then owner Scott Arnold did a beautiful job of restoring much of the interior to its original appearance. But in 2008, The Balinese Room ended for good, not at the hands of the law, but Mother Nature when Hurricane Ike offered its contents as a gift to the Gulf of Mexico.

Peggy Maceo (28:30):

Oh, that was, that was a real blow. Um, and you know, I guess, because it had been through so many, um, really terrible storms and had always managed to survive and the Balinese Room was, was like the place that took the biggest hit and just ended up as a pile of rubble on, on the Boulevard. Um, yeah, that was, that was a real blow

Evan (28:57):

Today. All that's left at the Balinese Room is a solitary descriptionless post on the sea wall, indicating "This property has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places." But Kimber says maybe we shouldn't get too nostalgic.

Kimber Fountain (29:15):

When I was researching the Balinese, I found some old pictures of it after it had been remodeled. And before it, um, before it was destroyed by Hurricane Ike and I was looking and I was like, "Oh, this is cool." And all of a sudden I realized that the people were sitting on metal chairs and there were vinyl tablecloths on the tables. And the guy on stage was wearing ripped blue jeans and had, you know, a mullet. And I'm just like, you know, uh, you know, it didn't fit. I realized we wanted it open. And I, and I realized because it's such an iconic piece of our history, but if we can't do justice to that history, aren't we really undermining it? You know what I mean? I really think we are because then, you know, in 30 years then how are people going to remember the Balinese Room? They're just going to remember it as someplace where they got chicken strips and listened to, you know, a local honky-tonk band. You know what I mean? And we don't want that to be the legacy that the Balinese has. You know, at least I don't. I just think that Galveston really has the potential to become a premier. Again, a premier resort destination. People will rise to the level of your expectations.

Evan (30:28):

Now, Galveston is a place where families come for the beach and to enjoy an escape that's a short drive from home. Places with dress codes and remnants of the Free State Era are hard to find. But all is not lost. The gingerbread buildings that dot this town's avenues remain constant, as does the palatial Hotel Galvez where Sam Maceo kept his office. Kimber gives walking tours of what had been the booming red light district. And best of all, there's still Maceo Spice. This place is as homey as the Balinese was upscale. But the walls are decorated with paintings, menu covers, photos and artifacts from the family's old days. And while humble, when you grab lunch here, it's clear, the Maceo tradition of hospitality is doing just fine.

Ronnie Maceo (31:26):

We try to treat everybody as if they're, they're the best customer we got. That's that's just the secret, you know, treat them like they're going to come back, and we're good to people. This is probably as close as you're going to get to the old days. This is the only Maceo, you know, this is the only one left right here. You grow up a Maceo and it's just like, it's hard for me to go anywhere and people not know my name, you know, so it was a good name. And, uh, just like the people that come here, they come here, they don't know what it is, but they know Maceo is running it. And we run a good show.