100 things to about Hot Springs

Maxine’s

Maxine’s has had a long, colorful, occasionally sordid history, dating back more than 100 years, on its road to becoming a popular live music venue, bar, restaurant and tourist stop in Hot Springs.

Located at the corner of Central and Prospect avenues, the building was the site of a confectioner’s shop, a cafe and women’s dress store between 1917 and 1938. From 1940 until 1977, it operated downstairs as Sidney’s Shoe Store, but upstairs was another story. Mary Williams ran the Prospect Rooms, up a flight of stairs off the Prospect side, as a brothel.

Williams sold out in 1950 to one of her employees, Maxine Temple Harris (later Jones), an experienced prostitute from Texarkana. Jones would eventually operate brothels in at least five locations around Hot Springs, with the Prospect Rooms geared toward blue collar workers, who were charged $5 a visit. Jones would later write a memoir, “Call me Madam - The Life and Times of Hot Springs Madam,” famously recounting her experiences.

It isn’t known when the Prospect Rooms officially closed its doors, but Jones went to prison in 1963 for cocaine possession and the powers that be began cleaning out the illegal operations in the city.

In the ensuing years, the building would house a candle shop, a gift shop and a Christian Outreach coffeehouse before closing in 1986 and sitting vacant for several years. In January 1991, Maxine’s, a coffee shop and restaurant, was opened by Bob Sabo, a retiree from northwest Indiana, who had bought an apartment building on Chapel Street a block over, and became interested in the Maxine’s property and bought it out from some earlier investors.

Sabo obtained a liquor license and made it a coffee shop and puzzle bar, stemming from his love of chess and puzzles, which were always available to patrons who came in. Knowing the history of the place, Sabo capitalized on it, mounting antique headboards on the walls, each named for one of the “ladies,” and decorating them with oldfashioned lingerie.

Brendee Marshall, Sabo’s daughter, said she once put a red light above the side entrance as a joke, but after a man came to the door late one night thinking they were still in business, they took it down. Jones even stopped by herself a few times. In 1999, Marshall took over the business from her ailing father and sold it in 2002.

After several owners, who each made changes and improvements, Maxine’s Live is now owned by Cassie and Gino Francioni, offering live music Thursday through Saturday.