The Arlington, gorgeous and gaudy, is the absolute heart of Hot Springs, the heartbeat of
the hotel is pushing blood through our bodies.. She is the cities ballast, anchor and rudder. I believe if we ever lost the Arlington, Hot Springs would never recover.
She's 100 years old now, built in 1924, and we all know the old lady is showing her age. But in the past few years there has been enormous progress. I first noticed the investment being made one day a few years ago. There was an HUGE crane placing new HVAC units on the roof of the Arlington. That requires big money. And faith in the future. The owners were looking forward. That told me so much.
Now, every time, I visit the Arlington, I stumble into rooms, beautifully restored and updated. You would never know the ladies restroom outside the Crystal Ballroom, which used to be pretty shabby, is now beautiful. But it really is.
This summer I watched as painters, on scaffolding, painstakingly brought her
architectural details back to life with incredibly and intense painting skills.. Now you can see the exquisite details on the front of the building. They had disappeared years ago because of neglect and time. Hamptons and Holiday Inns don't have anything like this.. Maybe some graffiti and a neo sign but that's about it.
Many rooms have been completely remodeled. The scary, old ugly carpet pulled up, there's modern furniture and big flat screen tvs in a lot of the rooms. But not all. I get that. Not all of the rooms have been fixed up yet. It just takes so much time. The bathrooms are still tiny because in 1924 every structure had tiny bathrooms.
I'm not sure when Americans became so obsessed with enormous, Roman sized bathrooms. Seriously, how much time do you spend in their everyday?
The Arlington Lobby, always an exquisite mess, beautiful and antiquated., looks lovely,
The tacky and brilliant murals are still there. (The city would lose it's collective mind if they tried to get rid of those murals.) I always try to count the monkeys. A little repair
work needs to be done but there's appropriate new furniture. The antique brass revolving door is just fine, still making the great whooshing sound, (Let your kids go round and round as
many times as they want) And the ancient, thin bladed ceiling fans are still spinning.
But we all know the Arlington Resort looks her finest at Christmas. The Gingerbread House, Nut Crackers, huge ornaments, the lovely staircases and balcony. it doesn't get any better. Our entire family has visited the Arlington Lobby on Christmas Ever every year for 30 years! It started as a way to kill time waiting for Santa.
My favorite spot at the Arlington has always been the Veranda. I love sitting there with a drink, watching folks up and down Central. But it was starting to get kind of scary. I was worried chunks of plaster were go fall on my head. But my Veranda is beautiful again! The stairs the drunk guy drove into and destroyed a few years ago are perfect now and the stores in the Arlington basement are some of my favorite in town. I love love Black Ribbon Books and the Downtown Record and CD Emporium is great.
Most of us have an Arlington History. I danced with debutante dates, my father, my brothers, my husband, my sons and daughters in the Arlington for the past 55 years. I fell in love with my husband, Alex, while we danced in the lobby to Reggie Cravens as he played My Funny Valentine. I fell in love with my husband again and again when we danced in the Crystal Ball Room listening to the legendary Shirley Chauvin and the Stardust Big Band.
People who don't visit the Arlington very often, only see the flaws, the things that haven't been fixed. They have no idea how much work has been done, how much time and
money invested. But I have faith the current owners will get to each problem area, then they will lovingly bring the grand old lady back to us.
The Arlington is old, old, she's not a new Hilton with disposable countertops. smooth sterile elevators and windows that can't be opened.
Guys, I promise you, most Southern towns our size don't have an Arlington. They don't have a 100 year old building leaving locals and tourists in awe. She makes my life better, hard to say that about a Motel 8.
She is The Arlington, she's ours, and I love her.
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