Galveston's Balinese Room

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Galveston's Balinese Room Official State Historical Center of the Texas Rangers law enforcement agency. The Following Article was Originally Published in the Texas Ranger Dispatch Magazine The Texas Ranger Dispatch was published by the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum from 2000 to 2011. It has been superseded by this online archive of Texas Ranger history. Managing Editors Robert Nieman 2000-2009; (b.1947-d.2009) Byron A. Johnson 2009-2011 Publisher & Website Administrator Byron A. Johnson 2000-2011 Director, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame Technical Editor, Layout, and Design Pam S. Baird Funded in part by grants from the Texas Ranger Association Foundation Copyright 2017, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, Waco, TX. All rights reserved. Non-profit personal and educational use only; commercial reprinting, redistribution, reposting or charge-for- access is prohibited. For further information contact: Director, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, PO Box 2570, Waco TX 76702-2570. Galveston’s Balinese Room Galveston’s Balinese Room Born: 1942 – Died 2008 The Balinese Room was built on a peer stretching 600 feet into the Gulf of Mexico. Robert Nieman © All photos courtesy of Robert Nieman unless otherwise noted. For fifteen years, Galveston’s Balinese Room was one of the most renowned and visited gambling casinos in the world. Opened in 1942 by the Maceo brothers, it flourished until 1957, when the Texas Rangers shut it down permanently as a gambling establishment. In the times that followed, the building served as a restaurant, night club, and curiosity place for wide-eyed visitors. Mainly, though, it sat closed with its door locked—yes, it had only one door. For sixty-six years, it survived storms, neglect, and mismanagement but it could not survive Hurricane Ike. On September 19, 2008, the once mighty Balinese Room became only a memory. It is a safe bet that gambling is as old as the history of man. Clearly, it would not be a stretch to say that ever since man has walked Galveston Island, someone has wagered on something. As early as 1901, a Galveston grand jury investigated gambling on the island, with no results. The assistance of the Texas Rangers was requested, and legendary Captain John Hughes sent two of his men to work undercover and develop a case against the gamblers. Unfortunately, as would happen all too often in the future, the grand jury’s investigation leaked, and the Rangers’ work netted scant results.1 1 Charles H. Harris III and Louis R. Sadler, The Texas Rangers and the Mexican Revolution: The Bloodiest Decade, 1910-1920 (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2004), 35-26. Contents and design of the Texas Ranger Dispatch™ are copyrighted by the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum and other named copyright holders. Permission is granted to print copies or excerpts for personal use and educational coursework. Commercial use or redistribution requires written permission from the Office of the Director, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, PO Box 2570, Waco, TX 76702. 4 Galveston’s Balinese Room During the ensuing decades, grand juries continued to sit, all with varying degrees of success- —or lack thereof. It is important to understand two paramount motives that dominated all investigating bodies: politics and economics. Not surprisingly, these underlying forces still dominate today. Although investigation into the history of Galveston is not the purpose of this paper. A brief look back is important, before we can truly understand the situation as it was in the 1950s, the era in which this study is focused. Since shipwrecked Spanish sailor Cabeza de Vaca first stumbled his way across Galveston Island in 1528, that spot has earned several designations, each accurate in its own way. Inundated with rattlesnakes and water moccasins in its early days, the sandbar was called the Island of Snakes. Through the centuries, other equally appropriate names were applied: the Ellis Island of the Gulf, the Wall Street of the Southwest, and the Pearl of the Gulf, to name a few. But to the people of the first half of the twentieth century, two nicknames described Galveston best: Island Paradise or Sin City. It depended on one’s point of view as to which was more suitable. A killer hurricane of Biblical proportions wrecked the city in 1900 and left six to eight thousand dead. This, however, was not what destroyed the economy of Galveston. The dredging of Buffalo Bayou from the Gulf of Mexico to Houston spelled the island city’s economic doom. As the ships disappeared from sight, so did the jobs, and the people left for Houston. No one could have possibly realized that 1910 would be a turning point in Galveston’s history. The catalyst was not a great event like the horrendous hurricane ten years earlier. Instead, it was the quiet arrival to the island of Rosario and Salvatore Maceo, two young men from Palermo, Sicily, via Leesville, Louisiana. There was no particular reason to notice the brothers; after all, they were simple barbers. It would not be long, however, before all of Galveston would know the names of Papa Rose and Mr. Sam. The brothers first found work at a business named Capadona’s. Shortly thereafter, Sam went to work at the newly opened Galvez Hotel while Rose started cutting hair at Murdock’s Pier. As fate would have it, Murdock’s was one of Ollie Quinn’s favorite hangouts, and Rose quickly came under his influence. Rose could not have picked a better mentor for his new career, even if he had selected one by hand. Two gangs controlled Galveston Island: Quinn, along with Dutch Voight, led the Beach Gang; one-armed George Mosey and the “Beau Brummel of Galveston,” Johnny Jack Nounes, ruled the rival Downtown Gang.2 O. E. “Dutch” Voight became the father of modern-era gambling in Galveston when he started running organized poker games in 1910. He was only twenty-two years old when he went into partnership with the leader of the Beach Gang, Ollie Quinn. Soon Voight and Quinn were running games in clubs that the Beach Gang controlled all over the island. When the Volstead Act (prohibition) went into effect, Voight turned to bootlegging, and he found willing aides with Rose and Sam Maceo. So impressed was he with the brothers that he went into partnership with them around 1923.3 The Maceos were on their way, and they never looked back. 2 Frank Chalfant, “Galveston: Island of Chance” in Treasures of Nostalgia (Houston, Texas; 1997), 24-25. 3 Alan Waldman, “Isle of Illicit Pleasure: The Casinos” in In Between, August 1979, part III. Contents and design of the Texas Ranger Dispatch ™ are copyrighted by the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum and other named copyright holders. Permission is granted to print copies or excerpts for personal use and educational coursework. Commercial use or redistribution requires written permission from the Office of the Director, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, PO Box 2570, Waco, TX 76702. 5 Galveston’s Balinese Room Mr. Sam and Papa Rose were as different as daylight and dark. When depicting brothers or lifelong friends, movies and books have a set pattern that is seldom deviated from. One is always suave, sophisticated, outgoing, and polished. He loves the spotlight and the high profile and is always the brains and ambition of the operation. The other brother is the muscle. When dirty work is called for, this brother never hesitates to take action. These profiles would pretty well describe Sam and Rose, except Balinese Ballroom for the brains and ambition part. The ballroom and restaurant at the end of Ranger Run. Good-looking Sam was the perfect When the Rangers entered the ballroom, the band would front man, while Rose provided the normally strike up, “The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You.” The muscle, ambition, and the brains. gambling room entrance was just to the right of the bright lights in the left center of the photo. It was also in this room It did not take the Maceos long where Captain Klevenhagen ordered his Rangers to sit down to move from minor members of the and watch the entertainment from opening to closing time. Beach Gang to a position of leadership. By the time prohibition started in the 1920s, the Maceos were set to reap the profits, and by the Great Depression in the 1930s, their rule over the island was complete. They not only ruled the Beach Gang, but also ran the Downtown Gang off the island. Rose and Sam started buying clubs from one end of the island to the other, either together or with partners. One of the first establishments was the Chop Suey Club, located at Seawall Boulevard and 21st Street. In 1926, they changed its name to Maceo’s Grotto. It was a fine club, with gambling in the rear. Things were going along nicely until 1928, when it was closed for a short time for gambling violations. A storm severely damaged the club in 1932, and after remodeling, the Grotto was reopened and named the Sui Balinese Stage Jen (pronounced Swee Wren). In 1942, it Many great stars performed on this stage. was remodeled yet again and christened by the name that would always be associated with Galveston—the Balinese Room. In 1926, the Maceos bought the Hollywood Dinner Club from Jakie Friedman, who had bought it from Ollie Quinn. This establishment was the place to go for first-class food, entertainment, and gambling. It was the pride and joy of Sam Maceo, and he spared no expense. Only the finest Contents and design of the Texas Ranger Dispatch™ are copyrighted by the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum and other named copyright holders.
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