Mob Boss Arnold Rothstein Marries In Saratoga Springs, NY

photo from Life magazine

In the early 1900's, Mr. Big, The Man Uptown, The Big Bankroll, Mr. Fixer, The Brain, Arnold Rothstein, found Saratoga Springs, NY to be a honeycomb hideout and made it flourish into a casino laden little village. Arnold bootlegged alcohol during prohibition, from Canada, down through Saratoga, and into NYC and Jersey, as portrayed in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire. Meyer Wolfsheim in the Great Gatsby, was essentially Arnold, with a different name. Arnold fixed the 1919 World Series, there's a movie called 8 Men Out, detailing how it went down. Here, in Saratoga Springs, he also fixed the Traver's Stakes in 1921. 

 Arnold also built the Brook casino, the prototype for the Saratoga casinos, which was out Rt. 9n, on the southwestern corner of Locust Grove Rd. The brick house that stands on the corner, was the staff boarding house. The Brook burned in 1934, not before attracting the most rich and famous of the era to it's tables.

On August 12th 1909, Arnold Rothstein married showgirl Carolyn Green in Saratoga Springs, at 185 Washington St.

Carolyn was up visiting Arnold at his summer spot, but she had landed a starring role in "Havana" and had to get back to the stage.  

Arnold soon after pawns her ring, to get the couple back to Manhattan from Saratoga Springs, NY. Years later he would become rich and powerful in the underworld.

Arnold was responsible for bring other jewish gangsters like Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Seigel, and a whole list of gangsters into the fold, in NYC and Saratoga Springs. Making of the Mob NY is a current tv show depicting the NY mob scene where he was a major figure of the jewish mob side of NY gangsters.

Hathorn and Hayes Spring Water Colors

Next up in my series of water colors, using the spring water from each spring that I paint, is the Hathorn Spring. Ya know, the stinky one, next to Ben and Jerry's. I remember when it was across the street, in what is now a 2 story parking lot. It is a pretty popular spring due to it's location, next to Congress Park. 

In the late 1800's the 3 big hotels in Saratoga were, Union, United States, and Congress. Congress Hall Hotel bordered Congress Park on the Northwestern corner. Henry Hathorn who built Union Hall Hotel, decided to buy his rival Congress Hall Hotel, then expand.

 Hathorn Spring was discovered while digging the foundation for the Congress Hall Hotel's ballroom in 1869.

 Hathorn's been blamed for being sulfur water.....


Here's a link to a photo from 1895...http://www.shorpy.com/node/8792?size=_original#caption

and a cool shot a bit more recent, a few years ago, frozen over...

and here's my latest! 

Next up, is my favorite.... to huff.....

Hayes Spring in the Spa State Park will forever be known to me as the whippit post. It has always had a pipe sticking out where you could breathe in noxious fumes and get a sweet 10 second buzz. well, ok, everyone feels something different... I get the sensation where the stream next to it gets loud, the ground seems oranger, and my butthole gets diarrhea hot, all for about 10 seconds...hahaha The water basically will make you poop according to the sign posted. I can't think of any place on earth where there is a natural whippit post, and that rules, chalk one up for Saratoga! Out of all the springs that I've painted, this and the Geyser were the most serene settings, with the sound of the stream flowing nearby, it was quite nice. Oh, and I guess that picnic table pavilion on the hill above it was a summer house!

from a 193? NYS Travel Guide

Here's the Whippit Post! Post Whippit!!!

Getting my water for the watercolors ready....

Big Red Spring Springwatercolor

Next up in my series of Saratoga Spring Water Colors, is the Big Red Spring. Since it is now race time and party time at Saratoga, the August place to be, I went over to the Saratoga Racetrack (one of the oldest sporting establishments in the USA) and did this water color, from the "lucky water." 
Big Red Spring is a spring located on the racetrack grounds, and is probably the most frequented of the chain of springs in Saratoga, due to location, location, location.
I parked myself right in front of the Big Red Spring, next to the 'May I Help You' kiosk which essentially is a human cup dispenser for the spring. Anyway, that being said, I overheard a slew of gems, while painting this spring...."I normally don't drink water that comes with a complimentary breath mint".... " Is this safe to drink?"...."It's really, really, salty"...."It tastes like there is minerals in this"..... "It's not Red".... "Drink this every time you come here, for good luck".... "It tastes like the pipes might be a little old and rusty".... "Yuck, I got it on me"...."I heard this is good for you, maybe it'll cure my UTI" 
 I won the first race for a cool $25 then proceeded to pay it back until I gave up with $2 from my wins. Trick is to leave when you are ahead, only play a few races. Any way, I focused more on this painting than the Post Parade, so here it is....

 

Deer Park Spring Water Color

Continuing my quest to water color paint each available spring, using it's own water for the water color, I went back to Congress Park, and painted the offshoot spring of the mighty Congress Spring. So, ladies and gents, behold, the Deer Park Spring.
May I refer you to an earlier post describing the origins of this particular spring... http://briefingsfromaspacitymetalhead.blogspot.com/2015/03/health-history-lions-ravens-dogs-deer.html

Saratoga Springwater Colors Cont.; Polaris and Geyser Island Spouter

Spa State Park is home to several spouters, quite similar to the geysers located west of the Mississippi, namely Ol' Faithful. The main difference is, the western ones are due to geothermal pressure, whereas here on the east coast, water erupts from the earth due to gas pressure. 

Polaris Spring is the roadside spouter located in the Spa State Park. It is known to be slightly radioactive and has trace amounts of radon gas. It's good for the skin, as you will see people stand under the spouter and wear the mist. 

I dig the Polaris, I'm always game to grab a sip, simply 'cuz it's an easily accessible natural spouter, with a fountain that crests about face level, pretty cool!

The biggest attraction in the Spa State Park, I don't care who's on that stage at SPAC, is the Geyser Island Spouter. Early photos of this, (shown on a plaque near it) show the rock piping center before years of spouting, and now, the tufa dome covers most of the fountain, except for about a foot of the tip.

a photo from wintertime!

MORE TO COME SOON!!!

Saratoga Springwatercolors continued...

I have been rendering watercolor paintings of each spring in Saratoga Springs, using each respective spring's water, for the watercolor painting. Here's some more...

Congress Spring

 Possibly Saratoga's most famous spring, Congress Spring sits just south of the entrance way to Congress Park.  Gideon Putnam, Saratoga's founder, and original owner of the land known as Saratoga Springs, tubed it around 1809. Congress Spring was drilled to it's running state as we know it today, by John Clarke, around 1822. John owned the land later, and John built pavilions for Congress (and Colombian) Spring, using Greek Revival style pillars for the Congress that also adorn his mansion over looking the park, on Circular St. 
 The Congress Spring was named by the Jewel family, I found a neat story in a sweet book from 1880 called Reminiscences of Saratoga 

Colombian Spring
The Colombian Spring was drilled in 1806 by Gideon Putnam, creator of Saratoga Springs. It was known as Iron Water and was purported to strengthen the gut, and up your red blood cell count. The original spring no longer flows and now is basically tap water sourced from Loughberry Lake.

Thanks! More to come soon!

Springwater Colors

I decided to watercolor paint each available spring in Saratoga Springs, using the water from the respective spring in the painting. Here's my work so far......

 CHARLIE SPRING 

Charlie Spring is named after Charles S. Dake, a local businessman, whom along with his wife, Philly, hosted the first fundraiser to create SPAC back in 1962. 
 The Dakes made their money from pasteurizing milk after local ordinances left smaller farms to scramble for updated equipment. During this time, milk was delivered to houses around Saratoga by several farms, here's a link to that info http://dairy.wisc.edu/PubPod/Reference/Library/Barton.1989.pdf 
   The Dake's owned and still own Stewart's gas stations that are known for their ice cream, and milk. The Dake's milking empire started just a couple miles west of Saratoga Springs, in Dakestown, a part of Greenfield/Middle Grove, on Dakestown Rd at, you guessed it, Dake's farm. They have been a staple of our community for 100 years now, and sometimes they give free chili on their hot dogs, so keep your eyes and bellies peeled! hahahaha

this one is at a trickle (I'm using the spring water from the spring that I am water coloring.

 I'm also using a 1975 Saratoga Racetrack Giveaway cup)

( it's at the Hall Of Springs entrance to SPAC)

Orenda Spring
Orenda is an Iroquois term for a supernatural force in varying degrees, responsible for all actions, in all objects and people. 
Here's a link about the word Orenda http://www.jstor.org/stable/658926?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
Orenda is responsible for the huge travertine dome that is made of calcium carbonate, and visible looking south from the SPAC bridge. It has more potassium iodine in it's water content than sea water, if that means anything to you. Don't drink too much, for it has a laxative effect. I picture a thirsty jogger, stopping for a drink, only to realize later, he has more pressing issues at hand than thirst, hahaha I have some sweet shots of Orenda during winter time on my first post on this blog, check it out!

Using this particularly stinky water to paint with, plus a halo of mosquitos, made this painting a bit difficult, 

but here it is, a bit cartoony, I think, due to my impatience.

More stories, photos and paintings to come, there's a lot of springs in Saratoga Springs, New York!