A dare to knock on Al Capone’s door, in a hotel that looks like a crime scene

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — I guess it’s pretty fitting that the hotel Al Capone used to stay in looked like a crime scene.

The lobby at the Arlington Hotel in downtown Hot Springs is covered in white sheets and caution tape. Nothing seedy happened. They’re just doing renovations. But it’s definitely a tone-setter when you walk in.

I’m not sure Mark Shanahan, my fellow reporter, realized that this was still a functioning hotel until the young lady behind the desk asked if he had a reservation. It turned out we couldn’t stay in the room anyway — someone had it through the 21st.

The lady at the desk told us pretty much all the floors were in the same condition as they were when Capone was here. She spun the story about how he’d book the entire fourth floor, which gave him a view of pretty much the entire town — because, well, if anyone needed to see what was coming it was him.

He wasn’t the only big name that ever stayed there. Ronald Reagan was a guest. So was Babe Ruth. But he was the most infamous. Arkansas made for a good hideout because it was so close to Chicago.

We poked around the lobby a little more. Chatted with two couples who were just as curious as us about this place. We told one lady we wanted to go to Capone’s room but it was booked. She pretty much peer-pressured us into going up to the room and knocking anyway. Except we didn’t know what room was his.

We went back to the front desk. I asked the young lady, “I know the room’s occupied, but if we still wanted to at least check it out, how do we do that?”

She said, “You mean, if you wanted to see Room 443?”

See what she did there?

We traded knowing glances and I told her thanks.

As soon as you step foot on the fourth floor, you get the feeling something bad’s happened here. We committed to the bit: There were a lot of “You’ll never take me alive” jokes.

Then, there it was. “443″ at the top of a door that had clearly been painted over in that dark green too many times to count and for reasons I didn’t really want to know.

The light fixtures on each side of the door were opulent enough. The gold placard in the middle of the door engraved with “AL CAPONE SUITE” was almost intimidating, and the guy’s been dead for like 75 years.

There was a bell next to the door. I rang it once, then I asked Globe photographer Craig Walker how many times he thought we should ring it.

We settled on two as a good number.

I rang a second time, but then Craig said he wanted to get a picture.

(Dude?!l)

I rang one last time.

I could hear a TV in the background. Maybe that meant someone was in there. Maybe not.

Maybe it was like in the movies when the bad guy turns the TV up for background noise before he kills whoever’s in the room with him.

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