HOT SPRINGS BATHHOUSE ROW/HOT SPRINGS HISTORY/GAMBLING

Hot Springs is many things to many people. It’s defined by some for its history of illegal gambling (not dispatched until Winthrop Rockefeller was elected governor), which drew such characters as Owen Vincent “Owney” Madden, Bugs Moran, Charles “Lucky” Luciano and Al Capone to town.

Capone, taking a cue from bottled Mountain Valley Spring Water Co. (which has been distributing mineral water since 1871), bottled moonshine made by bootleggers in the Ouachita Mountains and smuggled the bootleg liquor, labeled Mountain Valley Water, to Chicago in tanker railroad cars. Hot Springs is also the home of the Ohio Club, the state’s oldest bar and an erstwhile casino, a favorite underworld hangout in the late ’20s.

Hot Springs is a place of legal gambling today at the Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort.

Live racing runs from early December to May, and features the Arkansas Derby, where American Pharoah, Afleet Alex and Smarty Jones raced on their way to Triple Crown race wins.

Hot Springs’ bathhouses, making use of the thermal waters, have given the town its “Spa City” nickname. Galleries, like the bathhouses also along Central Avenue, are yet another defining element of Hot Springs. Featuring local, regional and national artists, they open their doors for the once-a-month Friday Gallery Walks.

A portion of downtown Hot Springs is part of Hot Springs National Park, and several park trails through the hills behind the bathhouses can be accessed from there, Hot Springs Drive and the Gulpha Gorge campground.

In the 19th century, healing baths were all the rage, and visitors flocked to the eight bathhouses on Central Avenue for therapy. Today, only two — the Buckstaff Bathhouse and Quapaw Baths and Spa — still offer bathing in the town’s naturally hot mineral water and other spa services. The Ozark Bathhouse is a gallery and event center, the Fordyce is a museum and the Hot Springs National Park Visitor Center, the Hale has been transformed into a hotel and restaurant, the Superior brewery offers American cuisine (and to-go growlers) and the Lamar houses the National Park Service’s offices and archive. The Maurice is still undeveloped.

If you prefer to get off the beaten path a little bit, head outside town to the Ouachita National Forest. There you’ll find more than 1.8 million acres to explore by foot, horseback, mountain bike or ATV. Backpackers have many trails to choose from, including the Eagle Rock Loop, the short Little Missouri and the moderately difficult Winding Stairs trails. Paddlers enjoy the

Ouachita River as it makes its way through mountain bluffs and cypress swamps.

Lake Catherine State Park in the Ouachitas offers year-round boat rentals, a launch ramp, pavilion, picnic areas, playgrounds and 20 cabins complete with kitchens and fireplaces. Falls Branch Trail, a two-mile loop from the campground, features a seasonal waterfall.

Garvan Woodland Gardens, the botanical garden of the University of Arkansas, is the setting for weddings, concerts and public events celebrating its spring tulips and azaleas and winter holiday lights. Fifteen connected sites blend wild, natural beauty with man-made landscapes and sculpture.

The Anthony Chapel at the Garden gives the feeling of the outdoors, with its open-beam structure, great pine columns and floor-to-ceiling glass.

To learn more about the shady past of Hot Springs, visit the Gangster Museum of America. It features exhibits on the bootlegging, illegal gambling and other notorious criminal activities that once went on here, and profiles the lives and times of famous underworld visitors.

Shift gears from the past to the modern day at the Mid-America Science Museum, which features interactive exhibits that help kids and adults alike learn about physics, anatomy, natural history and more.

Start a Hot Springs morning at The Pancake Shop across from the historic Arlington Hotel. For an afternoon beer and burger, head to the Superior Bathhouse. The brewery turns out 18 original brews, which it makes with the town’s famous 144-degree spring water and serves in a tasting room; the suds go perfectly with the beer cheese dip, Fiesta Burger and other American items. Deluca’s Pizzeria has won prizes for its pies; the Best Café, a tiny spot next to the Best Court motel with black-and-white tile flooring and other retro details, is famed both for its food (Crème Brulee French Toast, for example) and the fact that not everyone knows about it. Alexa’s Creperie, owned and operated by a couple from Ukraine, is a European-style bistro. For shrimp and grits served with pork belly and other delicious treats, a best bet is the Bugler at Oaklawn. n