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
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