Day Tripper

Prowl secret underground tunnels at this illicit former Texas casino

This former casino always had a lookout at the front gate.

Photo courtesy of Top O' Hill

Arlington has no shortage of tourist destinations, but one of my favorites is one of the most offbeat: Top O' Hill Terrace, a former gambling den that's now home to a Baptist college on the western edge of town.

This place was built in the 1920s as a restaurant and tea room, but it led a dual life. It also had a casino with a gambling operation, brothel, and bar; this was back during the Prohibition days, when gambling was still illegal. All these famous people, like Bonnie and Clyde and actors Lana Turner and Tom Mix, would visit.

One of the wildest things is that it had a set of underground tunnels where people could escape if the cops came. There was always a lookout at the entrance gate who would signal if the cops were approaching. Everything in the place rotated so that the gaming tables could be moved out of sight, and people would run out through these tunnels.

It closed down, and in the '50s became the grounds for Arlington Baptist College (and as of June, it graduated to become Arlington Baptist University). There are now classrooms and dormitories, but some of the buildings and tunnels from Top O' Hill Terrace remained. That's the crazy thing: A place with this seedy history is now the site of a Baptist university.

The tour
Tours are offered for $10 a person. The website says, "No group is too small," but there is a minimum. I brought a small group of moms, so they put us with a church group.

It's like an estate with a big house, with a big stone wall around it. The guide is Vickie Bryant, whose husband was previously president of the school. She researched the background of the Terrace and made it the tourist attraction it is. Then the Texas Historical Commission proclaimed it an official State Historical Landmark.

She does an hour-long PowerPoint presentation, where she sits on a stool and narrates over the slides. She shares the history of who owned it and who came there. That room has lots of memorabilia that Bryant has collected over the years, with clippings and artifacts. She continues to seek out things, like the poker chips she found at an antique shop in Granbury with the initials of the guy who owned the estate.

The gambling room downstairs is now pretty sterile; it looks like a cafeteria. But you can see the escape tunnels behind panels of Plexiglas. These aren't like some crawl tunnel, it's not hunks of dirt. They were built to be sturdy and secure and tall enough to accommodate a human who just happens to be running away from the cops.

One tunnel leads to an outdoor tea garden. It's serene. You can walk around that part, and you can walk over to the border of property and look down over the wall to see where one of the escape tunnels comes out on the side of the hill.

There are said to be more tunnels on the property. Bryant did a demonstration with a divining rod where she walked to a spot and the rod responded, which indicated there was probably a tunnel underneath. But it would cost a lot to dig up the property and find out if anything is there.

Part of the property is deteriorating, so Bryant began a fundraising page in 2015 which has so far gathered more than $6,000 in donations.

The lunch
I had read about Tandoor, an Indian restaurant not too far away that had a couple of things of interest. For one thing, it had two buffets at lunch, one with meat and one that was vegetarian — very good for a group.

It also had a tandoori oven, the clay oven used in Indian cooking. It was in an ornately tiled room that was glassed off, but you could see them placing slabs of bread dough against the walls of the oven to cook it. I've eaten in quite a few Indian restaurants and I've never seen a tandoori oven on display like that, where someone is working the oven and cooking the bread.

vacation tours lunch

Now hear this

New Texas museum shines spotlight on Tejano music history

Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum, San Antonio, tejano music

Photo by Edmond Ortiz

Roger Hernandez serves as board president of the Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum.

For a city that proudly calls itself the capital of Tejano music, San Antonio has long been missing a permanent place to honor the genre’s pioneers and preserve its history. That gap officially closed In December with the opening of the Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum at 1414 Fredericksburg Rd.

The music couldn’t have found a better steward than its founder and board president. Roger Hernandez has had his finger on the pulse of Tejano music for decades. His company, En Caliente Productions, has provided a platform for countless performing artists and songwriters in Tejano, conjunto, and regional Mexican music since 1982.

Hernandez says his wife, who ran a shop at Market Square years ago, would often get questions from visitors about the location of a physical Tejano music museum, a thing that simply did not exist. In 2022, he banded together with friends, family, and other local Tejano music supporters to make the nonprofit Hall of Fame a reality.

“I decided I've been in the music scene for over 40 years, it's time to do a museum,” Hernandez recalls.

Hernandez says a brick-and-mortar Tejano music museum has long been needed to remember musical acts and other individuals who grew the genre across Texas and northern Mexico, especially those who are aging. Recently, the community lost famed Tejano music producer Manny Guerra and Abraham Quintanilla, the renowned Tejano singer/songwriter and father of the late superstar Selena Quintanilla-Perez. Both deaths occurred roughly one week after the Totally Tejano museum opened to the public.

“They're all dying. They're all getting older, and we need to acknowledge all these people,” Hernandez says.

The Totally Tejano Museum — named after Hernandez’s Totally Tejano Television Roku streaming — has 5,000 square feet of space packed with plaques, photos, promotional posters, musical instruments, and other memorabilia honoring the pioneers and stars of the beloved genre. Mannequins wear stage outfits from icons like Laura Canales and Flaco Jimenez, and a wall of photos remembers late greats. Totally Tejano Television plays legendary performances on a loop, bringing the exhibits to life.

The newly opened Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum includes a growing collection of memorabilia. Photo by Edmond Ortiz

Hernandez says the museum will soon welcome permanent and rotating exhibits, including traveling shows, a Hall of Fame section, and an area paying homage to Chicano music crossovers, such as the late Johnny Rodriguez, the South Texas singer-songwriter who blended country with Tex-Mex music. Plans call for the organization to hold its inaugural Hall of Fame induction in February 2026.

Eventually, a 2,000 square feet back room will be converted into additional display space and host industry gatherings, community symposiums, and record and video release parties. The museum also plans to add a gift and record shop and a music learning room where visitors can listen to early Tejano music and browse archival photos. Hernandez is already talking with local school districts about educational field trips.

Much like Tejano itself, the museum is a grassroots production. Hernandez and fellow board members have used their own money to rent, renovate, develop, and maintain the museum space. The board also leads the selection of the Hall of Fame honorees and curates the exhibits.

Hernandez has been heartened by the museum’s reception, both from media outlets and music fans around Texas and beyond.

“We had a radio station come in this morning from Houston to interview us,” he says. “People have come in from Lubbock, Texas. We have had people from Midland, Texas. We have another person who emailed us who’s coming in from New York. People are learning all about us.”

That includes many of the musicians who helped shape the genre. Johnny Hernandez, Sunny Ozuna, Elida Reyna, and Danny Martinez from Danny and The Tejanos are among the luminaries who have already graced the halls.

The Totally Tejano Hall of Fame and Museum is now open 10 am-6 pm, Tuesday-Sunday, and closed Monday. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. Fans can call 210-314-1310 for more information.

san antonio tejano music museums hall of fame music openings