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A Miracle on Pleasant Street...A Record Store We Don't Deserve
I'm not sure I want to tell you about this remarkable place, because I love it. There's a store that's a secret for most of us . on...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Mar 132 min read
45 views
0 comments


Another Hot Springs Love Letter
This is the second blog about the people and places I love in the Spa City. Stubby's BBQ,delicious. Yes I adore the smoked chicken and...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Dec 12, 20243 min read
25 views
0 comments


A Hot Springs Love Letter For Christmas
Christmas is just a few days away, so I've decided to write every couple of days about the people and places I love, for locals and...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Dec 11, 20242 min read
23 views
0 comments


Weirdos at Spa Con
It's weird, odd, bizarre, It's Spa Con, a weekend when all sorts of inexplicale kids and adults show up in Hot Springs with furry ears,...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Sep 21, 20244 min read
46 views
0 comments


Ouachita Bar and Grill....Just What We Needed
Isn't it grand when a new restaurant opens and it immediately feels like an old restaurant, one that's been part of Hot Springs for...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Jan 28, 20242 min read
290 views
0 comments


Shhh...There's A Secret Brewery Out In The Woods!
Out in the woods, probably 12 miles from downtown, there is a funky, quirky brewery in the woods. It's absolutely perfect if your looking...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Nov 8, 20202 min read
345 views
0 comments


A Trashed Out Vision of Elegance and Hope
I love the people willing to invest in Hot Springs! They are brave and visionary. Recently, a local realtor, Chris Rix, bought an old...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Oct 25, 20202 min read
1,740 views
1 comment


The Audacity of Deluca's
Once upon a time, a few years ago, a short man with dangerous charm and a heavy Brooklyn accent moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas. This...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Oct 11, 20202 min read
2,938 views
0 comments


A West Mountain Love Story
Have you been up on West Mountain lately? It's still gorgeous. I think it's amazing that we have a beautiful camel-hump of a mountain...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Sep 28, 20202 min read
541 views
1 comment


Faith and BBQ...BBQ and Faith
I wish a photograph could capture smell. Walking into Clampit's Country Kitchen and Meat Market is so ridiculously delicious. The air is...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Sep 20, 20202 min read
1,134 views
0 comments


Secret Brewery in the Woods
Out in the woods, probably 12 miles from downtown, there is a funky, quirky brewery in the woods. It's absolutely perfect if your looking...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Aug 26, 20202 min read
1,476 views
0 comments


Fordyce-Ricks Estate A Water Wheel and Love Story
I absolutely love walking my dog, Aries, around Stone Bridge in Hot Springs. It's right across from the entrance to Gulpha Gorge on Park...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Aug 20, 20202 min read
855 views
1 comment


Juice Running Down Your Arms at the Track Kitchen!
When you go to the Oaklawn Track Kitchen you feel like a cool kid, an insider. For years, the Track Kitchen wasn't really open to the...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Aug 16, 20202 min read
395 views
0 comments


Love In A Mexican Restaurant
Every time I drive up Ouachita Avenue and past what is now Colorado Grill, I smile a little. Not because I'm thinking about cheese dip,...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Aug 15, 20202 min read
687 views
0 comments


Uncle Daley and an Unhappy Cow
Back in the 90s we started The Spring Magazine in Hot Springs. One of the most popular columns was called Tales From The Arkansas House...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Jul 26, 20203 min read
209 views
0 comments


The "Incident" on Whittington
My dad, I Granger McDaniel, was a scrawny little boy during the Great Depression in Hot Springs, Arkansas. In the early thirties he was...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Jul 16, 20202 min read
1,016 views
0 comments


It's All Gone But Jesus
Here's a story you might not know, unless you attended St. Luke's Episcopal Church or day school on Spring Street. Any kid who went to...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Jul 6, 20201 min read
343 views
0 comments


Crawdads and Caddo Indians in Gulpha Gorge
There is not a sweeter spot in Hot Springs than Gulpha Gorge, the beautiful creek and park snuggled in between Hot Springs Mountain and...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Jul 2, 20202 min read
709 views
0 comments


Tiny Town is the Andy Griffith of Attractions
This week I was walking around Whittington Avenue, I parked in front of Tiny Town and realized the OPEN sign was all lit up! I hadn't...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Jun 27, 20202 min read
668 views
0 comments


Old Rocks in Hot Springs
Now that life has slowed to a meander, I'm walking around more. I take the dog on increasingly longer and longer walks. We are passing...

Diana McDaniel Hampo
Apr 25, 20202 min read
528 views
0 comments


A Miracle on Pleasant Street...A Record Store We Don't Deserve
I'm not sure I want to tell you about this remarkable place, because I love it. There's a store that's a secret for most of us . on...
Mar 132 min read


Daddy Jack and His St. Joseph's Nuns
Daddy Jack and His Nuns  In the 1920s through the late 1940s, my grandfather, Dr. Jack Stell, was a surgeon, then Chief of Staff, at St....
Jan 283 min read


One of My Favorite Stories Ever
For Christmas this year I asked a dear friend and local artist Michelle Yates to draw "The Bat Tower" for me. It was a Christmas present...
Dec 29, 20242 min read
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