George Douglas Lee is a BOI. Born On Island. Yes, born and raised on this eccentric, colorful Island of Misfortune as it was named by the first explorer to document the adventure, Cabeza De Vaca (Cowhead), when he was washed ashore and encountered the bizarre (and cannibalistic Karankawa Indians. Then Jean LaFitte established a headquarters here after being expelled from Lousiana. He called it Cam
pece. The Island's first settlement began to develop, then LaFitte burned it to the ground when he was ordered to leave Texas. Two con-men named Michael B. Menard and Samuel May Williams used a phony Mexican land grant to begin laying out a city on the sandbar, and Galveston was born, named for a Spanish count, Bernardo de Galvez, who never saw it. The Civil War came, and Galveston seceded with the rest of the State, was captured, then returned to Confederate hands in a strange battle, and Juneteenth was born here in 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger arrived to read orders freeing the slaves, amongst other commands. The growth came rapidly, continuing until Galveston was the most modern city in the state, with electricity, telephone, telegraph, street cars and wealth. Nature brought Galveston 's pre-eminence to an end on September 8, 1900, when a killer hurricane savagely destroyed the city, killing between 6,000 and 10,000 lives. But Galveston came back, not in its former glory, but resilient. Two Italian barbers from Sicily, Rosario and Salvatore Maceo came to Galveston in the twenties from Louisiana, and quickly took over the local gangs and profited from prohibition with illegal alcohol smuggling, gambling, drugs and prostitution. Slot machines were everywhere. The first air-conditioned nightclub in the U.S., The Hollywood Club, was built on sixty-first and Avenue S, until shut down by the IRS. It was then that the Balinese Room, a nightclub, restaurant and gambling palace stretching six hundred feet out into the Gulf of Mexcio, became the Maceo's headquarters, symbolic of what was then called the Free State of Galveston. The Maceos brought big name entertainers to the Island, the most delicious cuisine and drink;, plus elegant interior design, and for a time, Galveston Island resembled Havana, Cuba. In fact, Bugsy Siegel came to the Island for a week to study the Maceo's operations and he recreated it in the desert of Nevada, and Galveston became the model for Las Vegas. However, a decline began when Sam Maceo died in 1952, followed shortly by the death of his brother Rose. Moody, Jr. died in 1955, and Galveston began to follow them all to a limbo, not unlike Blanche Dubois in Streetcar Named Desire. The gambling empire was officially busted in 1958, but by then it was only a seedy shadow of its former glory. Hurricane Carla slammed into the Island on September 11, 1961, and left Galveston shell shocked. BOI George Mitchell began to invest in improving Galveston in the 1970's, and it became a tourist destination, a far cry from its previous position as a leading city. Hurricane Ike dealt another severe blow to the city, but as always, it came back, and is as you experience it today. George Lee is old enough to have heard these stories as a child, when much of it was still happening. He has researched Island History, to separate truth from fiction, myth from reality and delve into the legends, presenting them to make you feel as if you were, and are there. Call 409 370-7350, as all tours are scheduled by appointment. You will see a film made by Entertainment One, for the History Channel, now airing on the Smithsonian Channel, in which Mr. Lee is a featured on-camera narrator, then tour the very locations seen in the film as they are today, many changed very little from the 19th century. Film and Tour are scheduled by appointment. Call 409 370-7350. $20.00 per person
