When patrons first enter the Hilltop Lounge, just off the lobby of the Stratford Hotel in Alton, Ill., their eyes are immediately pulled toward the six large murals of stampeding buffalo, runaway wagon trains and wild-eyed cowboys riding wild-eyed broncs. No pastoral scenes, these -- in fact, they're rather violent and grotesque in some cases. Handpainted sometime in the 1940s by a transient guest only identified on the paintings as "Beaty," the murals mimic the furniture in the lounge and... More »
