Ch11 Austin Tales Ep6 Hattie Valdes' Whorehouse

Our Westlake

Dear Listeners - this tape is a challenge - please take the extra care to make it out - One-of-a-kind stories!
Emmett Shelton Sr tells of his experiences with one of the most famous Austinites, Hattie Valdes. She ran a famous Austin bordello known as Hattie's Place. Texas legislators were rumored to be among her most frequent customers. Hattie was well-known by most folks in Austin in the 1950s.
Emmett tells of his first encounter with Hattie in 1929, she wanted a divorce but had no cash. She paid her bill with a fine set of bedroom furniture, with a twist. Then, she wanted to draw up her Will to include her illegal business. Austin Court Records show that in 1934 Hattie was charged with owning an illegal gambling device - called a 'marble table' - which was destroyed at Hattie's expense.
Hattie's first of many arrests was in 1955 by her buddy Austin Sheriff T. O. Lang. Eventually, District Atty Tom Blackwell filed for a permanent injunction to close her bordello, which Hattie promptly violated. Judge Garner ordered her to serve 3 days in jail and it wasn't the last.
Time Magazine (Jan. 1964) in an issue devoted to the Texas mystique - included a one-sentence description of Austin -- moonlight towers, broad and clean streets — and a well-known South Austin brothel where “the star attraction has a skunk tattooed on each buttock.”
Emmett tells of a real estate investment Hattie made in Bluff Springs that went wrong and Emmett tried to set it straight. Austin has many crazy stories regarding Hattie for instance: She catered the sheriff convention, and put the "party" in Democratic party. Hattie brought her girls from out-of-state to "earn" their college tuition. Her old lawyer Bob Flanagan slowed down the expansion of Austin city limits to keep Hattie's Place outside the city limits.
In the 1950s, Hattie developed a partnership with Tim Overton and his brothers. The Overton Gang was Austin's own band of men who robbed banks, stole cars and ran prostitution rings. Tim was a star football player at Austin High and got a scholarship to the University of Texas under Daryl Royal -- But, then he and his pals went wrong.
In 1960, Hattie was working out of the M&M Courts on So. Congress and was said to have partnered with the Gang. However, after an old west style shoot-out due to a deal gone wrong, Hattie left Austin.
Hattie then moved to her operations to Cuero where she also struggled keeping her businesses open despite numerous encounters with the law.
Hattie Valdes died in 1976.
After her death, Hattie left her three houses in So. Austin, the rest of her estate to her daughter, a Sister in the Order of the Holy Cross.
Music By: Best Little Whore House in Texas, Dolly Parton (Youtube)
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Stories told by Emmett Shelton / compiled and submitted by Cynthia Shelton.