The 21st Street Fishing Pier, c. 1909. Rosenberg Library, Galveston

http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/Backissues/Dispatch_Issue_27.pdf 

 Go to page 4 of this link and you'll find the Texas Rangers' Story of the Balinese Room

Finally!

Well, I'm new to this blogging thing.  After watching "Julie and Julia", I was really wanting to blog, but had NO idea on what sort of topic to pick. I rolled around ideas of horses, riding, learning to ride again after not riding for over 20 yrs, dealing with teenagers, basically, anything and everything.  Nothing really struck a chord with me.

The other day, I was catching up on Facebook, and saw a post that old classmate had written about dealing with mosquitoes.  Steve had written about the Karankawa Indians that once lived in the Galveston Bay area, and how they would rub themselves with alligator grease to ward off those blood sucking pests from Hell. It was said that you could smell a Karankawa Indian from a mile away due to the smell from the grease.  Yucko!

So that got me thinking about Galveston history, Jean Lafitte, the Balinese Room, etc.  Then I remembered a story that was told to me several years ago, from my mother in law.  My ex husband's great uncle (his grandmother's brother) owned a home on Post Office St back in the 1940's.  He followed in his father's footsteps (I think it was a cover up for his true line of work)by running the family bakery.  I think it was call Island Bakery.  It was a spectacular home, that is now a bed and breakfast.  It was rumored that he was married to a madame, named Lula and they ran a brothel out of their home.  Lula apparently owned a brothel somewhere on Post Office St, but I haven't found the location as of yet.  So after reading the history of the Balinese Room and remembering the stories about Uncle Johnny and what was said about him at his funeral in 1988, I got to thinking about trying to research everything I could on Galveston, the "Red Light District", anything that helped Galveston come back after the 1900 Storm and the Great Depression.  I know that there are several accounts of various activities from that time frame, I'd love to see where our family fit into it, good or bad. I remember my mother in law saying that it was rumored that Uncle Johnny had money hidden throughout his house.  I'd love to know if that was true too! lol 


I also would love to find out more about the "Haunted History" of Galveston.  I know that the Galveston Historical Foundation has "Galveston Haunted History Comes To Life This October" planned for various dates throughout October.  Looks like it could be fun to do.

I plan on doing research, posting pictures, finding out all I can and sharing throughout my blog here.  If you have any useful links, stories/rumors, pictures that you would like to share, feel free to add them. I hope this will be a fun trip back in time.  :-)


Jen