(Announcer) Biloxi Memories and the Broadwater Beach Hotel is made possible by The Joe W. and Dorothy Dorsett Brown Foundation, and the Producer's Circle, a group of generous contributors dedicated to the support of WYES's local productions.

♪ [Ray Fournier singing "Down In Biloxi"] ♪ I know ♪ a place where you can go, ♪ it's on the Gulf of Mexico ♪ down in Biloxi.

♪ Every day ♪ lots of fun and games to play.

♪ ♪ Let's go fishing in the bay ♪ ♪ down in Biloxi.

♪ A place ♪ where life is fun and fancy free, ♪ ♪ southern hospitality ♪ down in Biloxi.

♪ ♪ (female narrator) Since 1848, the Biloxi lighthouse has served as an enduring symbol of this coastal community.

Biloxi continues to fascinate all who venture there.

I can remember as a child saying I can't wait to get there, I can't wait to get there, and as you got closer and closer you could smell, you know, the sand and the beach and the water and it was, it was just beautiful memories.

I remember us just cruising the beach.

We'd go to Keesler, check out the boys, uh college boys were all over the place, looking for beach parties whatever.

That was a lot of fun.

We'd chase girls at the pools, you know.

At 16 you have high goals and a lot of disappointments.

I think people who love the water and who love the beach, um, they simply miss it.

They don't feel whole when they are away from it.

And as you can imagine if was visiting this area, there was nothing like the Broadwater.

In its heyday it was absolutely the jewel of the coast.

We picked the Broadwater because everybody went there.

You know you had family coming into town who were staying at the Broadwater, so you'd get to go over there and play in the pool.

You know it was an oasis.

We went there so often that it was almost like a second home.

♪ (narrator) The Biloxi coastline has long attracted dreamers, explorers, and entrepreneurs.

On February 13, 1699, French Canadian Pierre LeMoyne Sieur d'Iberville landed on the Biloxi peninsula.

Iberville named it Biloxi for the native American tribal group who were hunting and fishing in the area.

In 1803, under the Louisiana Purchase, the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast became part of the United States.

In 1811, Louisiana Governor William C.C.

Claiborne sent Dr. William Flood to survey the population.

Claiborne's emissary reported on the Creole families that settled there, and then made a fortuitous prophecy, "The high sandy soil, beautiful bays and rivers "would provide an antidote "to the unhealthiness of the climate of New Orleans."

Most of our early tourists came from the New Orleans-Mobile area.

People needed to get out of the cities during the hot part of the summer.

There were lots of issues that they needed to get away from.

And then come 1871, the railroad comes through that ties New Orleans to Mobile and tourism takes off in that period.

(narrator) Construction of cottages, boarding houses, and small gulf-side hotels sprung up along the coast.

By the mid-19th century, centrally-located Biloxi earned the title "Queen of the Watering Places."

The summer homes of the Toledanos, the Howards, and other well-to-do families lined the beach front.

People and goods arrived by skiffs, schooners, and small packet steamers.

They docked at piers that extended far out into the water.

♪ As the sun's rays intensified, visitors and residents flocked to the piers to cool off.

For the more daring, public piers offered a variety of amusements including one called the Chute-the-Chute.

Beach attire evolved, and swimsuits became more fashionable.

Bathing beauty contests were all the rage.

The winners were from all over.

They had the Miss Biloxi contest.

The Elks Club put them on in the early 1900s.

(narrator) In the 1926 All Southern ELKPAT Bathing Revue, Mabel Reilly of New Orleans won first place.

And in the 1928 ELKPAT pageant, Mildred Garrison of New Orleans was the beauty queen winner.

In 1955, diesel-powered trains such as The Hummingbird brought travelers to the Mississippi coastline, dubbed the "American Riviera."

With an increased influx of tourists, downtown Biloxi grew, as did the need for deluxe accommodations.

Following World War II, the older establishments were given a facelift, while new more modern hotels offered a range of amenities, restaurants, pools, and bars.

Biloxi was an entirely different place, entirely different.

Whiskey was illegal, but whiskey in bars was everywhere.

It was, it was a wide open area.

(narrator) Pete Martin's Broadwater Beach Hotel with its Art Deco facade, catered to the out-of-state gambling crowd.

Across the highway, a 600-foot fishing pier led to a "Beach House" with a dancing pavilion, and a casino with "sports" results.

(male #1) And at that point, the gambling on the Gulf Coast was while it was tolerated, it was still the type where you went up to the door, knocked on the door, and the little window would open, and the guy behind that little window would look at you and case you out and if you passed, well, you were permitted to go in.

(narrator) By the 1960s, a new owner had transformed the Broadwater from a gaming venue into the pleasure dome of the Gulf Coast.

(D. Paul Spencer) Yes, Joe Brown purchased the hotel because he was doing a favor for his friend, T.W.

Richardson, who owned the hotel and who wanted cash to go to Vegas and buy into the New Frontier in Las Vegas.

At that time, Mr. Brown was ill. And after he died, it didn't take Mrs. Brown long to realize that she needed some kind of a project to take her mind off her husband and to keep herself busy, and the Broadwater Beach renovation was a natural.

(narrator) Under Dorothy Brown, the former Art Deco hotel took on a Mid-Century Modern flare with a sweeping front canopy.

When you pulled up to the Broadwater, it was magnificent to us.

It was, I can imagine as in today's world it would be something like the Bellagio.

But to us it was the Broadwater Beach.

In its heyday, it was the place to go.

(narrator) Two men were instrumental in implementing Dorothy Brown's grand design, her nephew T.M.

Dorsett tasked with overseeing the project, and skilled millwright Eddie Johnston of Chalmette, LA.

So when T.M.

had the job of redoing the hotel, why he asked Eddie and his family to come over to Biloxi.

He called my mom and said, "honey we're moving to Biloxi."

(narrator) Mrs. Brown's renovations encompassed the entire 240-acre property.

She was a trooper.

She really knew how to run a place like that.

(narrator) Although there was an existing pool on the property, Dorothy Brown wanted a new more glamorous pool area.

And she just got on a plane and went to Hawaii and spent two weeks there, uh looking at swimming pools there because that was a big thing then.

(narrator) Finding a design she liked, the indomitable Mrs. Brown ordered construction to begin immediately on the new Lanai pool.

She knew what she was doing, she knew what she wanted, she knew how to get it.

It was a 3-level pool.

One for regular swimming, one for ladies, and the ladies had tables in the water where they could be served drinks or whatever in the water, and then a little kids pool.

(narrator) The luxurious Lanai rooms overlooked the dramatic new spa-like Lanai pool.

New Orleans bride Leslie Landry enjoyed the Lanai rooms so much with husband number one, that she insisted on coming back with husband number two.

Well, the first time I went to the Broadwater was in the sixties.

Uh, I went for my honeymoon and they had just built the new marina and uh, it was glamorous.

(narrator) A decade later, this repeat bride returned.

Oh, I went back for my uh second honeymoon, about 10-12 years later.

It was with my second husband and it was in the '70s, and uh wanted to go back to the Broadwater.

And so again stayed in the Lanai room, hung out at the trophy lounge.

(narrator) Husband number two had little to say in the matter.

It was like we're going to the Broadwater, and I remember him saying, "Really?

I know you went there for your first one."

Well, that's where I want to go.

(narrator) The Broadwater Beach Resort was also favored by a long list of celebrity clientele.

Mrs. Brown's guests gave high marks to her new decor.

The former Grill Room became the fashionable and upscale Royal Terrace.

(female #1) The Royal Terrace was pink and white with crystals everywhere.

They had crystal wall sconces, chandeliers playing, and it was a hot, lipstick pink.

They did table side cooking, they would do the Caesar's Salad, the Steak Diane, they would flame the Bananas Foster.

(narrator) The Royal Terrace was equally notable for its live music.

Leon Kelner's orchestra, who played New Orleans Roosevelt Hotel for many years, was there with us for many years, and he was very popular.

I not only recall him very well, but we were sort of buddies Leon, Leon was a character.

Many people came to see him from New Orleans, that they were familiar with his music.

My wife and I would go with couples from New Orleans many, many times and stay at the hotel and eat at the Royal Terrace and dance to his music.

(narrator) Kelner recorded some of the favorite tunes from the Royal Terrace in his "Takin' It Easy" album.

(Diane Bounds) Kathleen Cool is the one that performed with Leon prior to me being his singer.

She was in the Miss Mississippi pageant and won Miss Mississippi in '73.

When I went in the Miss Mississippi the following year, Kathy crowned me so Leon actually had two ladies sing for him that were both in the Miss America pageant in consecutive years.

I loved to sing and I loved to perform, so to me that was a dream job.

Um, I worked in the evenings and had all my days off so as a young person, we usually hung out by the Broadwater pool.

(narrator) Mrs. Brown's hotel offered the best and the newest in service and amenities.

In 1966, when Mississippi became the last state to repeal prohibition, the Broadwater was ready.

You had to apply for an alcohol beverage permit.

And the Broadwater Beach held the first one, I believe it was seven zeros and a one.

And we received the first delivery from the state, and, it made the news, 'cause it was a big deal.

(narrator) Dorothy Brown transformed a casual dining area into the Trophy Lounge and added signature touches in honor of her husband and their prized race horses.

Well, the Trophy Lounge was a delightful piano bar area.

It was a small intimate type lounge.

It was a bar as well as table seating.

There were niches created in the walls with a uh shelf on which some of Mrs. Brown's trophies were displayed.

Our specialty drink was the Daily Double.

And it was a short, red glass with the horses going around it and the mixture was quite strong.

It started out with brandy, Cointreau, and rock-and-rye, which is very hard to get back there.

It had lemon juice, orange juice, and was topped with 151 rum.

(narrator) The Daily Double was a favorite with entertainers.

Premiere ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and his troupe, made quite an impression at the Trophy Lounge.

They were rowdy, they smoked like crazy, drank like crazy.

And a lady sitting to his right was one of the dancers.

She wanted to go somewhere and he was sitting down, he picked her up, in the chair, she kicked her feet out, and put her down over there.

Like, do that again.

(narrator) While the Broadwater's clientele was often high-profile, Dorothy Brown also created more affordable apartments and cottages for families and large groups.

And we'd go to the Broadwater on Labor Day weekend.

It was a whole group of people, like a community of people.

It was just a big family reunion and it was like, you're talking about two hundred people.

That was a big part of our business, the repeat business.

And New Orleans people stayed there so often they knew the hotel as well as we did.

We used to get the same room every year, used to get the ones right behind the back pool uh right next to the big oak.

That was like our spot and then it got to be, you know, my dad's side of the family, my Aunt Angie and Uncle Cinto and all the Donzes'.

It got to be a multi-family event.

I can say over the years, we stayed almost in every location.

We stayed in the cottages.

We stayed in the back.

We stayed in the Lanai rooms when they first were opened.

We weren't a wealthy family and that's where we spent our vacations.

So all year anything that ever happened revolved around August Labor Day weekend at the Broadwater Beach.

We would stay in cottages and our families would cook.

So many people brought so much food.

I mean we never had to go anywhere.

I can remember that Jackie Caminita's mother used to bring hot tamales.

Glenn made tiramisu and I love tiramisu.

No matter where he was, I was going to go find that because I loved it you know.

We came from a big Italian family so there was always lasagna and Italian sausage and meatballs and spaghetti.

Our cottage um, especially my dad's, where he was like a short order cook.

It was like a revolving door.

It would be nothing for thirty, forty people to be walking in and out of the uh the room at any given time.

(narrator) At the rear of the property, there was a large pool for families.

There were diving contests.

♪ And swimming contests.

♪ (Dorothy Ziegler) They gave little trophies out, now this was from the Broadwater.

This is Mrs. Brown, you know she would ah produce these things and give it to them in the back where the pool was.

Oh, and you would think the kids won a million dollars.

Oh, it meant a lot to her.

We had people come back years after that and tell us, "we still have our trophy."

I mean, they were proud of them.

Miss Brown that was running the place at that time, it was, it was kinda like what you see in the movies, the old, the old resort type places.

(narrator) There was a playground for the little ones with swings, slides, a merry-go-round, and a snack bar in the back.

(Marilyn Reynolds) The kids would just go run around.

They ran around the whole Broadwater.

I mean playing hide-and-go-seek.

You know, all of that.

And so we never ever had to worry about them.

Not ever.

My cousin Jeff Denney when we were kids, his favorite thing at the Broadwater, or one of his favorite things was, uh, we'd go out at night and roam the property.

And they'd have this old security guard that would drive around in a golf cart.

And he'd park it and go off and do something.

And he always found it funny to grab, to jump in the cart and just drive off.

And the security guard would come chasing after us.

And we'd drop it off someplace and run.

(Dorothy Ziegler) And my daughter Sheryl and Roxy, they just loved going to the Broadwater.

They played with all the rest of the kids around there, they walked around the grounds.

They even had a little train, a little small train, that would start in the front and go very slow around.

It ran all around the whole Broadwater.

It would drop people off.

It was mostly, it was just strictly for the kids.

Oh my God the train.

The train was amazing.

We loved the train.

They had family night, they had games.

I remember playing bingo um and almost winning.

There was a show, a talent show, sometimes called the "Gong" show.

They didn't like you they took a hook and they just pulled you right off.

And Gong Show was really funny.

That was really funny.

And I mean, no matter what you did, you got gonged.

You know, I mean we gonged everybody.

They had some girls that would go there, beautiful girls.

They would come out in their little bathing suits and they would perform.

They started wearing costumes like they do in Las Vegas and I'm telling, they would come out parading like that.

My husband used to do the MC of it all the time.

And they go around and collect money from everybody that was sitting in there.

And the reason for it was the Jerry Lewis Telethon.

We would keep going back to the Broadwater because we had good memories of going there when I was little, and I brought my children there because I thought they would enjoy it, and I would enjoy going back to visit it.

There were several years when we would pack up on a Friday, go to the Broadwater Beach with pots and food and alcohol and everybody in tow, then all of a sudden Nash Roberts would come on and say "Everybody beware, get off the Gulf Coast if you're there."

So we would pack everything up put everybody in the car, go back to New Orleans wait for the warnings to leave, and then we'd pack everybody up in the car and go back to the Broadwater.

So that's how much we loved the Broadwater Beach.

It was something to look forward to except I can tell you this, except when we'd go there for Labor Day because in those days school started the day after Labor Day.

So Labor Day itself would be pretty depressing.

And I remember many times after the Edgewater Mall had been built, they had a, uh, department store called Gayfers.

We'd have to go to Gayfers to buy school uniforms.

And that just, you know, ruined the whole, the whole weekend.

(narrator) Mrs. Brown's deluxe resort had a full range of sporting activities with four tennis courts and two golf courses, the Sun Course and the Sea Course.

Whatever she needed, she built.

We had a par-three golf course there, which of all things, were lighted at night.

And that was a first.

It was so much fun because it was created for, for families.

And little kids would get out there with their parents and it was such a joy to see them having a ball, just running around and hitting all over the place.

We had no clue how to swing clubs.

(narrator) The Broadwater Beah Hotel continued to expand.

Across the way was a beautiful marina, where you could drive out and there were boats, and you could fish off of the sea wall.

It was a big area.

You could go into the right and go straight back to the marina, or you could go to the left and circle around to a huge park-like area.

People would have picnics, where the little kids could run around, and it was just a delightful place and the boat slips were state-of-the-art.

I mean lots of people from New Orleans would engage a slip for the weekend, or for a week, or for a summer.

(Leslie Landry) They always had these fabulous yachts in the marina, so it was always fun to walk around and look at them and wish you had one.

I had friends over the years in the '70s and in the '80s that would bring their boats to the marina, and there would be maybe twenty of us that would go out to Ship Island to have a great time out there.

I mean Ship Island had the fort, they had the beach.

(narrator) Mrs. Brown kept two boats at the Broadwater for her guests and visiting VIPs.

Several times, Mrs. Brown's skipper would bring my family and I from New Orleans to the marina for a weekend and bring us back by boat Sunday afternoon.

(narrator) The Broadwater's other boat, the Papa Seagull, was a favorite of Mrs. Brown's nephew T.M.

Dorsett, who took guests out for deep sea fishing excursions.

Oh, the Papa Seagull, it's actually back and has been completely refurbished, and is sitting at the harbor, a small craft harbor in Biloxi.

Daddy has some pretty infamous stories about fishing trips, deep sea fishing trips with Mr. T.M.

and other vendors taking I guess an afternoon boat ride and enjoying cocktails, and daddy said as they were stepping off the boat, they had uh Mr. T.M.

miss-stepped and slipped right down in the water between the boat and the pier, and that when they grabbed, leaned over to grab him and pull him up, he came straight up with his cocktail, full of sea water, but never, never spilled that cocktail.

♪ (narrator) To guide boats into the marina, the Broadwater had its own scaled-down lighthouse at the end of the pier.

At the end of the Marina, looking at it on the right hand side, was where the restaurant was, the seafood restaurant.

(narrator) For artist Mike Koskie, preserving Dorothy Brown's Broadwater became a passionate pursuit.

You know, I probably sold more paintings of the Broadwater then I have anything else.

I got to wondering who would want to buy a picture of a hotel.

Well, little did I know that everybody that stayed at the hotel, liked to have memories of it like I did.

(narrator) For guests who wanted to venture beyond the Broadwater, Biloxi offered a variety of attractions.

We played Goofy Golf.

That was, that was something we did all the time.

And they had a lot of strange type of cartoon characters, and you just played a game of putt-putt.

So we'd go play Goofy Golf because it was just so much fun.

I do remember going to the wild west show.

With, you know, the cowboys.

You know, shooting it out on horseback.

(narrator) And then there was 26 miles of white sandy beach.

(Jerry Montalbano) As a child I remember using it, going to the beach in the sand and the saltwater.

And they had these men would sell these kites, these spinning kites.

So, they were all along the coast.

I remember the little burs, the little sand burs that would get stuck in your feet, and so I would walk very lightly on the beach.

(narrator) Restaurants close o the beach ranged from the casual, like Baricev's on the water, to Mary Mahoney's Old French House featuring an enclosed courtyard.

In 1964, Mary Mahoney's career in the hospitality industry soared when she opened her restaurant in Biloxi's historic district.

♪ After dining at Mary Mahoney's, writer John Grisham wanted to use it as a setting for his novel Runaway Jury.

He says, "Bob, you know, my next book I'm doing "is in Biloxi, Mississippi."

He says, "Bob, would you mind if I put your restaurant in a book?"

I said, "mind?"

I said, "I'd be tickled to death."

(narrator) In the best-selling novel, the judge invites the jury to be his guests at Mary Mahoney's.

(Bob Mahoney) He turned to his law clerk and said, "call Bob Mahoney and tell him to prepare the backroom."

So naturally I keep sending him gumbo every Christmas, so you never know when he is liable to take another fictional ride to Biloxi, Mississippi.

(narrator) Mary Mahoney's is known for its interesting mix of characters, and Mary couldn't resist when a patron walked into the bar with this pair.

Mary made him an offer and they are now on permanent display.

They're Faust and Marguerite.

They're from the opera Faust.

They were part of the original furnishings of the Old French Opera House in New Orleans.

(narrator) Mary Mahoney's Old French House remains a year-round favorite, but Gus Stevens Restaurant and Nightclub can only be found in the collective memory of its numerous fans.

Elvis Presley did come to dad's and dad looked at him and at that time and said, "You're never gonna make it."

I think it was the movement that was somewhat controversial if you'll recall.

(narrator) The line-up of performers who did get to play at Gus Stevens included Jerry Van Dyke, Brother Dave Gardner, Jerry Lee Lewis, and a chorus of exotic dancers.

(Elaine Stevens) Dad had a coffee shop and dining room and then a supper club in the back.

We were open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The mermaid in the window at Dad's was my mother's nemesis which men would often bedeck with Mardi Gras beads.

And then the truck drivers along Highway 90 would look at this mermaid and often times come close to collision.

However, she sort of represented our lives from the standpoint of being very open in public and visible to the public, as was our lives at the time, um, especially after the Jayne Mansfield incident.

My then fiance, Ronnie Harrison, came to my home to say goodnight to me the night of the accident.

And they were headed to New Orleans to do the Midday show and to see a bit of the French Quarter.

And they had, Jane and her entourage, had asked to use my father's car and was going to pay Ronnie to drive them.

The accident occurred at approximately 1:30, or 2 o'clock in the morning.

The call came through and I could hear my mom's screams down the hallway.

All the adults in the car were killed instantly.

(narrator) Elaine prefers to remember Jayne in happier times.

Jayne Mansfield was a very soft-spoken beautiful woman, who was very attentive to her children.

She was more than a sex symbol.

She was a highly educated, very intelligent woman who knew exactly what she wanted.

And when she performed at Dad's, she caused quite a sensation.

We took her on our yacht, uh, The Blue Dolphin.

We went out with her many times.

(narrator) The Fiesta Lounge on the Biloxi strip also drew large crowds.

Back in the '70s we'd go down to the Fiesta.

They had bands playing and we'd go there too and have a good time.

(narrator) With so much to look forward to, the drive to Biloxi often became an event in itself.

(Dorothy Ziegler) I think everybody was so excited.

We're going to the Broadwater, you know.

This was, this was a big deal.

Prior to when the interstate was, uh, built we had to travel down Highway 90, and Highway 90 was always a real thrill because it is a real serpentine roadway, and it was only two lanes.

We'd get to the point where we'd be behind maybe ten cars, so my father would want to get there in a hurry, so he'd have to pass these ten cars.

And he'd be driving as fast as a car could go, and my mother would be screaming, "Slow down!

Slow down!"

And she'd be terrified that he was passing all these cars.

We'd finally get back onto the right lane, and, and he'd be, uh, just about worn out listening to her screams.

And we always had to stop at the White Kitchen.

The White Kitchen was like the halfway point in the old days.

And we'd have to stop there and get a coke.

(narrator) The Friendship House also got high marks.

The Friendship House was on the highway on the main road, and you could see the water from there.

♪ (narrator) The best view of the coast remains from the top of Biloxi's iconic lighthouse.

This 65-foot, cast-iron tower was declared a Mississippi landmark in 1987.

Originally the lighthouse was at the water's edge and was manned by female keepers for more years than any other lighthouse in the United States.

Today it is the only lighthouse to stand in the middle of a four lane highway.

The Biloxi lighthouse was decommissioned in 1968 and is operated by the City of Biloxi as a private aid to navigation.

(male #2) Sometimes you'd see the Biloxi lighthouse lit up back then, and then you'd see the little Marina lighthouse, and that is how the guys would know whether they were to the east or to the west of where they needed to be.

(narrator) From its earliest days, the Mississippi Sound was a fishing haven.

Residents and visitors feasted on the bounty of the local waters.

During the Depression nobody had a job, but we were still able to eat because we were able to go out and catch mullet and that's what is still referred to today as Biloxi Bacon because that's how you could survive.

(narrator) One of the most stirring sights in the Mississippi Sound is the billowing sails of a "White-Winged Queen," gliding across the water.

The Glen L. Swetman is one of two replica schooners that harken back, back to a proud seafood heritage.

As early as the mid 1800s the workhorse of the Biloxi fishing industry was the swift sailing, shallow-draft Biloxi schooner.

Fisherman harvested the abundant oysters long the mainstay of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Each oyster shucker had his own little space, and he had a bench that he sat on.

And he would open the oysters and put the oysters in a container and throw the shells on the side, and when he accumulated a large enough pile of shells, a worker came along and shoveled them into a wheel barrel and rolled them out onto the shell pile, and the guys who did that were the strongest people I ever knew.

They had muscles and looked like some of these wrestlers that you see on TV.

(narrator) By the 1920s, more than forty seafood processing factories lined the shore.

Schooners would pull up next to the piers weighed down with oysters.

The way that worked is the oysters were unloaded from boats in shells, the oysters were dumped into a cart that was about eight feet long and two feet wide and maybe two feet deep.

(male #3) But these cars would then be pushed by hand into the factory where there were steam boxes.

The steam would cause the oysters to pop open.

The oyster car would go out the other end, and then they'd be surrounded by an oyster car gang uh of about eight people.

There were no child labor laws.

Uh, when my mother came to this country she was about ten-years-old.

She went with her mother to the factory and helped her mother shuck oysters and that was done for years.

When my mother got married and had children, she took at least two children with her to the factory.

Biloxi had a problem early on, because once this industry started, and started to be profitable, it did not have enough labor.

(narrator) To supplement the local workforce, Polish and Austrian immigrants known as "Bohemians" arrived from Baltimore.

Cajuns from southwest Louisiana swelled these numbers.

Each of the factories had a whistle with a distinct sound so the workers would know where to go next.

With the working factories, and the men who ran the schooners, he who got out to the oyster reefs first, and loaded up first, took off and came back first, were able to go back again quicker.

So the captains used to race back to the factory location.

Somewhere about 1884, the Biloxi Yacht Club, probably personnel from there said, you know, why don't we make this official.

You had each of the five major factories put up their best schooner to race.

In the 1960s, someone came up with the idea of inviting mayors from a variety of southern cities, like New Orleans, and Mobile, and Jackson, and Meridian, to come down and participate in a race against each other.

(narrator) The winner of the 1967 Mayor's Regatta was flamboyant New Orleans mayor Victor Schiro.

Today visitors can still enjoy a schooner ride under full sail.

Biloxi has long distinguished itself by both sea and by air.

The Thunder Jet mounted along Beach Boulevard was a familiar sight.

I was raised in West Biloxi, and I swear that the main landing strip was lined up with my house because I always felt like they were going to land right on the roof.

(narrator) Prior to World War II, Keesler began as the Biloxi Air Corps Technical School, and was renamed Keesler Air Force Base in honor of Mississippi native 2nd Lt. Samuel Reeves Keesler, Jr, killed on a mission over France during World War One.

The Air Force was part of the Army back then.

Initially it was established to be a basic training base.

Now basic training back then was pretty basic.

(narrator) In Neil Simon's Tony-award winning stage play and film Biloxi Blues, Matthew Broderick starred as naive army recruit Eugene Jerome who found out just how basic and grueling it was to be a trainee at Keesler during World War II.

Keesler's primary mission continues to be training.

The idea of service before self is as alive today as it was in World War II.

[Military Cadence] ♪ (narrator) For others, Keesler Air Force base was the road to romance.

In the 1940s, yankee flight engineer Robert Mahoney of Pennsylvania met Mary Cvitanovich at a USO dance club.

Marriage, and Mary Mahoney's restaurant followed.

In the late '50s, a chance encounter led to more wedding bells.

My mom is from New Orleans, and she and a girlfriend went to Biloxi for a, just a girls' weekend.

And they were just out on the beach close enough to the air base I guess where the guys were.

And that's where she met my dad and some of his buddies.

And they hit it off.

They got married at St. Catherine's Church in Metairie.

That's, you know, where my, the area where my mother grew up.

And after they were married and returned, they lived in the married housing on the base.

I was born on Keesler Air Force Base exactly nine months after they got married.

(narrator) While on the beachfront, casino infrastructure dominates they skyline, historic Biloxi's architectural styles reflect the city's French Creole origins -shotgun homes, Creole Cottages, wrought iron galleries.

And people are still coming to Biloxi looking for that Southern experience.

So luckily we still have things like Beauvoir that help to tell that story.

Jefferson Davis came to the coast in the late 1870s looking for a place to write his memoirs which became "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate States of America."

(narrator) Davis lived at Beauvoir with his wife Varina and youngest daughter Winnie.

A portrait in her bedroom depicts Winnie when she reigned as 1892 Queen of Comus.

New Orlean's oldest continuing carnival organization.

Following the death of Jefferson Davis, his widow sold the property to the Mississippi United Sons of Confederate Veterans.

And she did that with stipulations that it would honor Jefferson Davis and the Confederate soldier.

After that period of time in 1906, the state of Mississippi came in and operated Beauvoir as a Confederate Veterans Home from 1906 to 1955.

And we have over 780 of the veterans and their widows buried in the cemetery which is behind the bayou, behind the house.

We visited Beauvoir on a number of occasions.

It was right next to the Broadwater, so it was right down the road.

(narrator) Residents and summer visitors also gravitated towards "The Shoofly," an elevated porch-like structure offering cool gulf breezes and a view of the Sound.

By elevating the people, you didn't have as many bugs, so shoofly means go away fly.

(narrator) As people traveled back and forth along the coast, cultural traditions merged, including the celebration of Mardi Gras in Biloxi.

It's all about family, tradition, and catching those beads.

(narrator) The Magnolia Hotel, a survivor from 1847, now serves as Biloxi's Mardi Gras Museum.

Biloxi's Mardi Gras king and queen have regal home-grown names.

It's King d'Iberville, it's Queen IXOLIB and it's Biloxi spelled backwards.

(narrator) Another familiar phrase started at this humble store front in Biloxi.

(male #4) The slogan was, "Drink Barq's.

It's good."

And my great grandfather had a great vision.

He was going to invent a root beer, and he did it.

And just goes to show you can do anything in America.

(narrator) Born in New Orleans' French Quarter, Edward C. Barq married Elodie Graungnard.

In 1898, he moved to Biloxi and opened the Artesian Bottling Works where he created the carbonated sarsaparilla and caffeine-laden soda known world-wide today simply as Barqs.

It was the biggest seller, you know to all the little places that you would go to.

You'd get a sandwich and you'd get a Barq's Root beer.

And, of course, in New Orleans was the same thing.

You'd go to New Orleans, and when you'd get a po-boy in New Orleans, you'd get a Barq's root beer.

(narrator) Another Biloxi citizen effected change when change meant going against the accepted norm.

In the early 1950s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers fortified the beach to stem seawall erosion.

Those who owned homes facing the Mississippi Sound felt their property extended to the water.

Therefore, the beach was private and segregated.

There was strict segregation here in uh Biloxi.

The uh schools, the uh recreational facilities, um library, you know the use of water fountains, restaurants of course, it was segregated.

(narrator) Dr. Gilbert Mason, Sr., the only black physician in Biloxi, pointed out that the 26 miles of sandy beach were paid for with taxpayer's funds, and should be accessible to all.

Dr. Mason, I believe was the right man for that particular time to begin the fight for the, for the use of the beach.

(narrator) On April 24, 1960, Dr. Mason led a gathering of black citizens to the beach.

The wade-in came to be known as Bloody Sunday when a white mob turned violent.

Dr. Mason was allowed to tend to the injured before turning himself in to law enforcement.

Today, the City of Biloxi honors this historical event with a state marker recognizing the site of the wade-ins on the beach near the Biloxi lighthouse.

Now, the beaches of the Gulf Coast are open to all due to the courageous leadership of Dr. Mason.

On June 21, 2008, a section of Beach Blvd.

was renamed the Dr. Gilbert Mason, Sr. Memorial Highway.

♪ Also along Beach Blvd., The Ohr-O'Keefe Museum designed by internationally renowned architect Frank Geary, is a showcase for the work of George Edgar Ohr, the self-proclaimed "Mad Potter of Biloxi."

"Unequaled!

Unrivaled!

Undisputed!," Ohr anointed himself with superlatives.

His proclamations proved correct.

Ohr's art pottery set the standard for expressionism in clay that remains unsurpassed.

But Ohr's over-the-top gimmicks often blinded his contemporaries and critics to his talent.

(as George Edgar Ohr) "I found out long ago it paid me to act this way."

(narrator) In 1879, at the age of 22, Ohr went to New Orleans to begin an apprenticeship with family friend Joseph Fortune Meyer.

Ohr, along with Meyer and the Woodward brothers, formed the Orleans Art Pottery.

At the same time, he started his own pottery in Biloxi.

During his sojourns in New Orleans, dashing George fell in love with, and married Miss Josephine Gehring, a charming blue-eyed, not yet 18, New Orleans beauty.

(female #2) And totally had ten children, five of whom survived to adulthood.

So he was a busy man.

(narrator) This marketing maverick struck a pose with his pots, his wife and his "potted" children.

In 1894, a fire destroyed much of downtown Biloxi, including Ohr's original studio and an estimated 10,000 pieces of pottery.

He salvaged all that he could.

And he called them his burned babies which some people find disturbing.

(narrator) After the fire, Ohr rebuilt a bigger and better pottery, housed in a three-story hot pink pagoda.

And he always made pottery for the tourist trade here in Biloxi, the kinds of tchotchke items that people would purchase to take home, that might be marked with Biloxi.

They were dribble mugs, puzzle mugs.

If you didn't have the right hole plugged with your finger the drink would dribble down your chin.

He also did the famous or infamous brothel tokens, and the question that we're always asked is, were they used only in New Orleans.

We said oh no.

(narrator) In addition to his namesake museum in Biloxi, Ohr's work is on display at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Considering himself the most expert thrower the potter's wheel has ever known, he would have found it joyously apropos that he had his own float in New Orleans premier Mardi Gras parade.

The theme of the Rex parade in 2006 was Beaux Arts and Letters.

It was a beautiful parade dedicated to artists of all kinds who worked in and around New Orleans.

The main figure for the George Ohr float was a replica of one of his pots.

After Mardi Gras in 2006, we received a call from the George Ohr museum.

They were aware of the figure in the float that had delighted the crowds here in New Orleans and they asked if there's any possibility that it might be brought to that museum.

And is now in the George Ohr Museum in Biloxi, Mississippi, a very fitting place for it to be.

(narrator) Thousands of years before Ohr's pottery became famous, the people of the Biloxi tribe were drawn to the warm waters and abundant seafood.

They too formed pots from the local clay.

They came here to, to feast on the oysters which we know they did because we found oyster mounds on Deer Island, just off shore.

So if you pick up a piece of Native American pottery here you are going to see these little white specs in there.

(narrator) After the Biloxi tribe migrated to Louisiana, Deer Island had some permanent residents along with occasional visits by campers, fishermen and shrimpers.

Yet in the annals of Biloxi lore, this narrow ribbon of sandy soil approximately 4.5 miles long will always belong to Jean Guillot, the Hermit of Deer Island.

In the 1950s, the tour boat Sailfish would bring tourists near the island hoping to catch a glimpse of the reclusive man.

And he would come out and serenade them, telling stories and singing songs.

And they'd be throwing coins into his little um boat that he would row out there and really was a character.

(narrator) Located between Horn and Ship Islands, another island has an equally colorful history.

Unlike the disputed legend of the sunken City of Atlantis, this capricious, but well-documented off-shore paradise, has a tendency to appear and disappear at will.

Sometimes you see it, sometimes you don't.

(narrator) By 1925, the island's untamed beauty, twenty-foot sand dunes, oceans of golden sea oats, pristine white beaches, and a prime location, just beyond the twelve mile limit of the law, captured the attention of Skeet Hunt and his partners who saw it as the perfect spot to build a casino resort.

Since Dog Key did not conjure up images of frolic and fun, they renamed it the Isle of Caprice.

(Jane B. Shambra) It was meant to be a family establishment, but at the same time it was a casino and they had dances and they had jazz bands.

So it was a very festive place.

(narrator) In 1929, the Isle of Caprice was promoted on a national scale with a 14-mile swimming marathon from the Biloxi docks to the island.

The winning time of the first marathon was clocked at 5 hours and 56 minutes.

Most visitors, however, chose a more conventional method to reach the island, but by the summer of 1931, the Isle of Caprice started to shrink.

Some blamed the erosion on visitors who stripped the island bare of the golden sea oats.

In the fall of 1931 a mysterious fire left the resort a smoking ruin.

(male narrator) "Coast Guardsmen early yesterday attempted to extinguish the blaze but to no avail.

"Walter H. Hunt, the owner of the Island who said the loss was $10,000."

(female narrator) And then the real vanishing act started as the island began to sink.

And there was nothing there but a sandbar and little by little over the years uh the water was above the sand.

(narrator) By summer of 1932, the island was no more but it was not forgotten.

(Jane B. Shambra) The Indian legend is such that the island appears and disappears.

Unfortunately, the Indian legend doesn't tell us how many years we have to wait.

But we'll be patient.

(narrator) The descendants of entrepreneur Skeet Hunt are very patient.

And what my grandfather told my daddy, my daddy and my momma told my sister and myself, pay those taxes, because if they ever for mineral rights, because if they ever strike oil, we can start the Isle of Capri over again.

(narrator) In 1990, the Mississippi legislature made dockside gaming legal, and the Biloxi coastline had a new look.

Following the death of Mrs. Brown in 1989, the Broadwater was sold to John Connelly who docked the President Casino barge at the marina.

The Broadwater was renamed the President Hotel, but not everyone was impressed with the changes.

That was his interest.

His interest was not in maintaining a luxurious Gulf Coast resort, consequently the hotel went to pot.

It depreciated.

He was interested only in getting the bodies there and getting the bodies to the President to gamble.

[wind howling] (narrator) Shifting sands, tropical storms and hurricanes are constant reminders that life along the Gulf Coast is fraught with challenges.

The hurricanes of 1915 and 1947 left Biloxi with a debris field of then unimaginable proportions, but the formidable ladies Camille in 1969 and Katrina in 2005 tested the resolve and resilience of the people of Biloxi.

The City of Biloxi remembers and honors those whose lives were lost in these devastating hurricanes.

Camille Memorial is a low-granite wall that has the names of the people that were killed.

The mosaic is actually shaped like the hurricane symbol.

Now we also have a Katrina memorial that is on the town green.

And the height of the black granite wall depicts the height of the water during the peak of the storm.

And then names of the people that were killed in the storm are etched into that wall.

In Camille the water was about two feet in the bar.

In Katrina it was probably about eight feet in the bar.

Somebody said, "Why'd you stay here for Katrina?"

I said, "We thought Camille was the mother of all storms, "till we found out storms don't have mothers, you know."

Mother Nature can break any record she wants and don't think anything of it.

(narrator) The President Casino and the Broadwater Beach Hotel were among the casualties.

It was like you were looking in never never world.

Nothing was there, where it should have been.

I had a cottage right on the front, a real nice cottage where I lived.

Each time I pass there I think about that and I think about the Broadwater.

I just can't believe it's not there.

I don't know if we ever realized what a great place the Broadwater was.

It was one of the finest resorts in the south.

♪ Cause I'll miss you when you're gone ♪ ♪ and I know that it ain't no one, ♪ ♪ but I'm lost and I'm broke girl whenever you go away.

♪ My cousins have been back and then my cousin Dena Marinello and I took my three-year-old grandson at the time and we rummaged through the grounds and we found silverware and we found bricks.

(Marilyn Reynolds) It was just part of our history was gone.

And it was our history, it was definitely cause we just had a ball at the Broadwater.

(narrator) Much of Biloxi's distinctive architecture was felled by winds and towering waves, never to be rebuilt.

The Tullis-Toledano Manor, like so many other grand mansions, did not survive.

Historic Beauvoir was battered almost beyond recognition.

The name for Katrina is cleansing.

And Katrina cleansed our property.

And the old arch, that was in front of the house which was destroyed, the pieces of it are in the back of the cemetery.

(narrator) After an extensive renovation, Beauvoir reopened its doors and once again welcomes visitors.

In the trying years following Katrina, there were other stories of rebirth and renewal including the original white marble U.S. Post Office & Customs House now serving as Biloxi's City Hall, and the Victorian-style structure known as the People's Bank Building, replete with a copper-capped turret and witch on a moon weathervane.

The 1929 Saenger Theatre, once host to vaudeville acts, reopened as the Biloxi Performing Arts Center.

In 2006, Biloxi Mayor A.J.

Holloway hosted a ceremony for the refurbished Town Green with a new shoofly, and the restored Biloxi arch.

Established in 1986, the Biloxi Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum now has a new home on Point Cadet.

The landmark Biloxi lighthouse underwent an extensive restoration and continues to serve as a navigational beacon for all who enter the Mississippi Sound.

Sadly, Katrina's storm surge obliterated the circa 1840s Dantzler Mansion behind the lighthouse, but from the rubble the new Biloxi Visitor Center emerged.

As the rebuild began, Bill Raymond made a remarkable discovery.

I stood on top of the debris and was able to pull out nine stained glass windows intact, and we were able to incorporate them into this building.

(narrator) What was once Cannery Row along the Biloxi coastline became Casino Row as dockside gaming became legal in Mississippi.

Of course gambling's been real good for the city.

God knows what we'd be like if we didn't have all these massive casinos that we have here.

♪ (narrator) Thousands of visitors and participants also throng to Biloxi for the annual Crusin' the Coast, a 30-mile block party along Beach Blvd.

♪ The citizens of Biloxi are proud of their multi-faceted celebrations and heritage.

Descendants of the early settlers maintain a strong presence.

Newer arrivals such as the Vietnamese have added to the cultural diversity.

(Delmar P. Robinson) You'll find that there were people from all over the world who settled here.

Biloxi's culture is my culture.

I was here.

My family was here.

To me the greatest place in the world to live.

It's easy to get around and we only got three directions.

So it makes it a lot easier you know.

If you keep going south, you're in trouble.

The Broadwater Beach was one of the happiest places on earth it was just, you forgot about your job, you forgot about your school work, you forgot about everything.

It was just like a great three day weekend that uh seemed to last forever, but yet never long enough.

I have lived in many other parts of this country but I keep coming home to Biloxi.

Biloxi holds the magic for me.

We all had good memories.

(narrator) Biloxi is a tale of fantasy islands, bathing beauties and beaches, sailing schooners, the "White-Winged Queens," abundant seafood, "Biloxi Bacon", shrimp, oysters, gambling busts and booms, a landmark lighthouse, and one legendary "Pleasure Dome."

The Broadwater Beach Hotel and Marina is gone but lives on in the memories of those who love Biloxi and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

♪ [Ray Fournier singing "Down In Biloxi"] ♪ I know ♪ a place where you can go, ♪ ♪ it's on the Gulf of Mexico ♪ ♪ down in Biloxi.

♪ ♪ A place ♪ where you can lay out in the sun, ♪ ♪ play a game of 21 ♪ ♪ down in Biloxi.

♪ ♪ Every night ♪ they're having a party, ♪ ♪ down on the Gulf Coast ♪ ♪ down in Biloxi.

♪ ♪ Every day ♪ lots of fun and games to play.

♪ ♪ Let's go fishing in the bay ♪ ♪ down in Biloxi.

♪ ♪ There is ♪ a place I truly love, ♪ ♪ a piece of heaven up above ♪ ♪ down in Biloxi.

♪ (Announcer) Biloxi Memories and the Broadwater Beach Hotel is made possible by The Joe W. and Dorothy Dorsett Brown Foundation, and the Producer's Circle, a group of generous contributors dedicated to the support of WYES's local productions.