Seven Oaks

Seven Oaks (recently destroyed by fire) was a quite nice dinner club located on Austin Highway about a mile and a half north of Broadway. In the late 40's and 50's it was a very popular dance venue.

I was privileged to do a 30-minute remote at 10 PM nightly from Seven Oaks. The house band was Cliff Gillette's Orchestra featuring vocals by his wife Ruth.

On weekends, when they could be booked, there were big name bands such as Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Charley Barnet, Shep Fields, Xavier Cugat, Ralph Flannagan, Carmen Cavellero and many others that I can no longer remember.

Seven Oaks had a spacious indoor dance floor as well as a great outdoor patio. The young lady who tended bar always saw to it that I was given a HIFI (equal parts of 7-Up and Mogen David wine) to take the edge off before my remote broadcast.

My most memorable moment occurred when I got to introduce Tommy Dorsey on the outside bandstand. "From the beauty spot of the great Southwest…Club Seven Oaks…KONO presents the music of Tommy Dorsey". At that very moment the slide of his trombone slid exceptionally close to my ear as he started his theme: I'm Getting Sentimental Over You. It turned out to be a great show.

Excitedly, I returned to the studio to listen to the show tape. I was sick to discover that the operator on duty had failed to start the recorder. I never got another chance to introduce Tommy Dorsey.

Bill Kiley

[ Home ]