HOT SPRINGS -- On the day after the Fourth of July, Central Avenue is bumper to bumper for three blocks.
Almost half the cars, judging by the license plates, are from Texas.
Same with the parking lot at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort, which at 2 p.m. on a Friday afternoon is doing a brisk business.
The intrigue of the Spa City is far greater outside Garland County than it is for those who live or have lived there.
The lure of old illegal gambling and bootlegging nine decades ago is not a black eye, but makes this beautiful little city surrounded by mountains and lakes a vacation destination.
Back in those days -- when singers, dancers and mafia members roamed Bathhouse Row openly and freely -- Oaklawn Park was not part of anything run by a New York mobster.
It was a legitimate legal thoroughbred racing track owned by a well-respected family from St. Louis, where they had various real estate holdings. The track has been in the Cella family for 120 years.
The track was opened here in 1904 and a year later the infamous Cotton Club opened and was a mecca for those seeking booze and other forms of gambling.
Today it is a bar and restaurant. Its lunch crowd was very good and had been since July 3 according to the bartender, who was very good.
The food was very great, the atmosphere interesting and the prices a little touristy, but like all in this hamlet is legal.
It is an easy 54-mile drive from my driveway in Little Rock to Oaklawn's massive parking lot, where shuttle buses run continuously.
We hoofed it from our parking spot about 150 yards from the entrance to the casino, and on a hot day the cold blast of air that greeted us was greatly welcomed.
Up the escalator we stopped and looked at some of the decorative racing trophies by the Bugler, Oaklawn's fine dining establishment that primarily uses locally grown products.
One trophy dated back to 1855.
Just before the metal detector is a sign letting everyone known it is a smoke-free environment.
The carpeting is deep and plush, the lighting inviting and at almost every pod of slot machines there seemed to be at least two players.
The casino is bigger than it appears and it ends in the sportsbook, where you can get plus-1,800 on the Arkansas Razorbacks to win the 2025 NCAA Basketball Tournament, which seems pretty good with the talent new Coach John Calipari has assembled. Most of the talent is young, but highly regarded.
UConn is favored at plus-800 and Alabama is No. 4 at plus-1,500.
On the way back to the front a sign says Instant Racing, but it didn't have the old machines that were the pioneers of Amendment 100 and helped legalize casinos in Arkansas.
There is a free refreshment station with Coke products and coffee, regular and decaf.
The are three bars that were close to full and the tables were lively and well played.
There is a high dollar area, no review on that because yours truly is a penny ante kind of guy with a very low limit, although on just the other side of it was a door leading to a large outdoor smoking area.
Oaklawn has a grand hotel attached and the Astral Spa was recently awarded four stars by Forbes Magazine.
All three Arkansas casinos (Southland and Saracen have already been reviewed) are inviting with Las Vegas-type environments without the money-conscious aloofness.
Every person we came in contact with was not only helpful but friendly.
Louis Cella is Oaklawn's president and CEO, and his wife Rochelle, who is from England, Ark., decorated the casino. It has become a hot spot to visit, especially for Texans.