Others saw the floor to ceiling windows as the most promising means of escape despite the fact that there were safety bars on the windows with a 14 inch gap between them to prevent dancers from breaking through the glass. Rasmussen immediately led some twenty patrons out of the back exit to the roof, where the group could access a neighbouring building's roof and climb down to the ground floor. Boggs opened the door to find the front staircase engulfed in flames, along with the smell of lighter fluid. Īt 7:56PM, a buzzer from downstairs sounded, and bartender Buddy Rasmussen, an Air Force veteran, asked Luther Boggs to answer the door, anticipating a taxi cab driver. After the drink special ended, about 60 to 90 patrons remained they listened to pianist George Steven “Bud” Matyi perform and discussed an upcoming MCC fundraiser for the local Crippled Children's Hospital.
That night’s beer bust, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm, attracted approximately 110 patrons. The MCC was the United States' first national gay Christian fellowship, founded in Los Angeles in 1968 the local congregation had held services in the UpStairs Lounge's theatre for a while. Members of the Metropolitan Community Church, a pro-LGBT Protestant denomination, were there after service. The club was located on the second floor of a three-story building at the corner of Chartres and Iberville Streets. The historic Hostess House contains the Green Frog Tea Room and is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Friday.On Sunday evening, June 24, 1973, over a weekend when Christopher Street “Pride” celebrations took place in seemingly every major American city but New Orleans, the regular "beer bust" drink special attracted its usual blue-collar gay crowd to the UpStairs Lounge. Admission is $3.50 for adults and $2.50 for children. 281 South and is open Thursday through Saturday from noon to 7pm, and Sundays from 1 to 6pm.
Hancock Springs Free Flow Pool is southwest of downtown Lampasas off U.S. The water comes straight from the ground. Hancock Pool is now one of the few free-flowing pools in the state.
“They told us what we couldn’t do,” Carpenter says. After World War II, the city added a golf course and baseball fields.Ī few years ago, the state health department threatened to close Hancock Pool. Convalescing soldiers stayed in cabins leftover from the Baptist encampment. The city bought the property in 1936 and leased it to Camp (now Fort) Hood as a recreation area. For seven years the club rented boats and towels at what it called “The Best Bathing Resort in West Texas.” Lampasas was considered the western edge of Texas civilization. To pay for a new dormitory at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, the Baptists sold the 109-acre park to the Baker and Little Swimming Club. “Women and children used the pool during the day and men in the evening.” Although the pool has been modified over the years, it’s pretty much like it was 100 years ago. “In those days you got a towel and soap for 15 cents,” she said. “It was a big bathtub for the Baptists,” says Glynda Carpenter, who has researched the city-owned pool’s history while raising funds for it. The first pool at Hancock Springs was built for the Baptist camp that once occupied the park. The springs continued to attract health seekers until they were fenced off. The opera house closed in 1900, the name shortened to Hanna Springs. The days as a health resort were short-lived. The two were connected by a streetcar that ran past the railroad station. Later, the Hannah Springs Bath and Opera House was built across town at another sulphur spring. A boardwalk from the two-story Park Hotel led to Hancock SpringsĪnd the creek. When the railroad arrived from Galveston in 1882, investors began advertis-ing the town as a health resort. Hannah Hughes was cured by the water, and that attracted more sick people. Lampasas’ reputation as a health destination began with the town’s first settler.