Hotel Galvez holds fast to history
GALVESTON, Texas — Back when Bobby Lee Hilton started working at the Hotel Galvez, a cup of coffee cost about a nickel and Harry Truman lived in the White House.
Things have changed at the grand old hotel since then. Hilton, now 80, no longer makes his money as a coffee boy. He’s now the hotel’s guest ambassador and revels in giving visitors a glimpse of the building’s storied past.
Walking through the Hall of History with him is a little like watching Gone With the Wind with Vivien Leigh at your elbow. He points at old black-and-white photos of the hotel and tells you what it was like then.
He remembers the time Gen. Dwight Eisenhower stayed at the Galvez and reminisces about the glamorous crowds that once strolled the sea wall.
The Hotel Galvez opened on June 10, 1911, a little more than a decade after Galveston was decimated by the great hurricane of 1900. It served as the hub of social life in The Hotel Galvez & Spa is located at 2024 Seawall Blvd. in Galveston, Texas. For more information, call 409-765-7721 or visit www.wyndham.com. Search for Hotel Galvez. the port city, hosting national politicians and entertainers.
In the early days, it had its own candy factory, barbershop, soda fountain and doctor’s office. During World War II, it served as a military barracks for the U.S. Coast Guard.
By the time Hilton reported for duty as a teenager in 1949, a pair of Sicilian barbers known as the Maceo brothers were doing big business operating a clandestine gambling room and nightclub called the Balinese Room on a pier across the street. The club featured entertainment by Fred Astaire, Guy Lombardo and Frank Sinatra, who frequented the Galvez.
The entire hotel was renovated in 2011, and the lobby and restaurant were modernized in 2013.
Today, it’s fun to sit at the lobby bar, with a polished wooden backdrop salvaged from an old Galveston speak-easy, and daydream about the glory days. If you do settle in there, order a punchy pink cocktail called the Galvez Sling and enjoy.