Galveston historian and museum tour guide Bobby Hilton shows a display at the Hall of History Museum in Galveston, Texas, the United States, on Oct. 2, 2017. Hilton, 84, is a sought-after historian on all things in Texas, and has plenty of first-person stories to share to bring that history to life. The father of five serves as museum director and tour guide at the Hotel Galvez & Spa in Galveston. He has spent much of his life in and around the historic hotel, working before World War II as a busboy in the restaurant, and returning in the 1990s to run and manage the Hall of History Museum. He lives and breathes Galveston history. (Xinhua/Robert Stanton)
by Robert Stanton
HOUSTON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- When Bobby L. Hilton speaks, people listen -- and for good reason.
Hilton, 84, is a sought-after historian on all things in Texas, and has plenty of first-person stories to share to bring that history to life. The father of five serves as museum director and tour guide at the Hotel Galvez & Spa in Galveston, located about 70 km south of Houston.
He has spent much of his life in and around the historic hotel, working before World War II as a busboy in the restaurant, and returning in the 1990s to run and manage the Hall of History Museum. He lives and breathes Galveston history.
A favorite story that Hilton likes to tell evolves around the luxurious Balinese Room, which jutted out over the Gulf of Mexico and provided a venue for high-stakes gamblers and top-notch entertainment. The historic nightspot was destroyed by Hurricane Ike in 2008.
During the 1920s and 1930s - Galveston's open era of gambling, illegal liquor and other vice-related businesses - the Balinese Room was the place to be seen.
Patrons of the club included a Who's Who of the business and entertainment world, folks like industrialist Howard Hughes, singer Sophie Tucker and wealthy oil barons from nearby Houston.
The Balinese Room played host to performances by some of the top names in entertainment, stars like Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, George Burns, the Marx Brothers, and many more. The rock group ZZ Top even wrote and performed a song about the club called "Balinese."
During its heyday, the Balinese Room lived up to the island's reputation as the "Free State of Texas," a whimsical name referring to the vice-related enterprises that flourished. The nightclub was operated by barbers-turned-bootleggers Sam and Rosario Maceo, who immigrated to Galveston from Sicily, Italy.
The heyday of the Free State was over by the 1940s. Increasing enforcement of gambling laws and the growth of Las Vegas, Nevada where gambling was legalized in 1931 put pressure on the gaming industry on the island.
However, even during the later years the Balinese Room was able to attract the likes of Tony Bennett and Peggy Lee, among others.
The Balinese Room was a thorn in side of law-enforcement - namely the Texas Rangers - who frequently raided the club, often coming up empty-handed because the club owners were always one step ahead, Hilton said.
The iconic club's luck finally ran out in May 1957, after an undercover investigation resulted in the seizure of the gambling equipment. The club remained closed for decades until a Houston attorney reopened it in 2001.
Born on July 7, 1933 in Galveston, Hilton learned from his patents the value of hard work that helped him to excel both in school and on the football field. He secured a football scholarship at Texas Southern University in Houston before joining the U.S. Army, where he worked as a medic.
After his honorable discharge from the Army, Hilton worked 20 years as a distributor at Schlitz Brewing Company before returning to the Hotel Galvez. Today, he takes guests on tours of the ornate hotel, sharing its storied past, interspersed with historical anecdotes of the island.
Among the guests are a growing number of Asian visitors to the hotel, he said. "In fact, we had a Chinese diplomat with his entourage about a year ago, and I did an interview with them and took them on a tour. He was very gracious for me to do the tour. Most of our Asian visitors are here in the summer months."
"Galveston is a city of firsts in Texas," Hilton said. "Galveston had the first Custom House in the state in 1825, the first post office in 1836, the first insurance company in 1854, and was the first city in Texas to use a telegraph to send news dispatches," he said.
Galveston also had the first telephone in Texas, the first gas lights, the first black high school, the first medical college, and the first ship through the Panama Canal came from Galveston in 1913, he said.
"Our Tremont House is a premiere hotel in Texas going back to 1800s," Hilton said. "That's where Gen. Sam Houston stood on the balcony and gave his last public speech, and entertained politicians in the lobby who were considering Texas succeeding the Union."
Hilton also takes time out to motivate young people at every opportunity.
"I tell them to try and get yourself an education, and if you've got to do it yourself, work hard at getting it because I had to struggle and I know what it likes," he said.
"I had to teach myself most things, and I had to do it myself. And I tell them to always try to get better. Don't settle for mediocrity. Get better. Strive to get better. And you'll be surprised what'll happen."
