Souvenir Photo Cover - Club Sevenoaks, 1400 Austin Highway, San Antonio, Texas, 1953
Through regular advertising and coverage of the many social events that took place at Sevenoaks, the long-lived night spot was a continual presence in both local dailies for nearly two decades. The first ads ran in January 1943, when the club was still at its original location, 5130 Broadway. Sevenoaks, “the South's finest,” offered dancing and fine foods every night and Sunday afternoon for a “low cost” in a “refined atmosphere,” inviting readers to “Make a date now for a sparkling, gay evening of fun at the new Sevenoaks.”
During the next few years, Sevenoaks found its niche as a glamorous destination for special-occasion dining on “the best steak dinners and chicken dinners” and dancing to the music of Mack Rogers and “Texas Finest Orchestra,” touring bands and novelty acts such as a calypso troupe. The most-advertised special was a $1 filet-mignon dinner, and Sevenoaks promised “no dull intermissions — continuous live music a la Stork Club.” The first house band was Mack Rogers, who would be replaced by Bill Geyer and other local and touring bands.
While some have conjectured that the club was named after a stand of trees, it was actually a nod to the English heritage — the town of Sevenoaks is in Kent, England — of owner Benjamin Franklin Chadwick, whose daughter was Josephine Sevenoaks Chadwick. In 1948, the club moved from Broadway to a new building at 1400 Austin Hwy., the location most people remember across the street from the Skyline Motel. A terrace offered outdoor dining in “San Antonio's first sidewalk cafe” as well as dancing; ads invited people to “Dine under the stars to wonderful music ... for the young and young at heart.”
Touring musicians, from the calypso ensemble to Tommy Dorsey's band, provided music.
Sevenoaks even made national news when a roster of politicians, headlined by senators John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, campaigned there for Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson. At the $25-a-plate chicken dinner, Johnson, Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and future Texas Gov. Price Daniel were featured speakers, but “the youthful, red-haired Massachusetts senator” gave the keynote address, as described in the San Antonio Express, Oct. 25, 1956. Introduced by Johnson as one of the “rising young stars” of the Democratic Party, 38-year-old Kennedy skewered the Republicans as “the party of Richard Nixon” and predicted, “The future belongs to us.” Attended by 738 people, the evening at Sevenoaks “brought in a net profit of nearly $19,000 after expenses.”
The club's future was not as glamorous as its 1940s and '50s heyday. Interstate highways made Austin Highway less relevant to travelers, and the road and its businesses never entirely recovered from the bypass. According to city-directory research by Beth Standifird, San Antonio Conservation Society librarian, by 1961, Sevenoaks had become El Antonio Hotel and Country Club. The new owners kept the Terrace Dining Room and added a Sky Room Club “featuring name entertainment,” but the club was not too exclusive to run ads inviting new members at an annual cost of $137. Under new management again in 1963, El Antonio Treadway Motor Inn offered Sunday buffet at $1.95 for adults — “Mom dines free” — and $1.25 for children.
During the 1970s and '80s, the former club was owned by Sheraton, and the old name briefly was restored for the Sheraton Sevenoaks Inn and Conference Center. After standing empty for years, the building was destroyed in a March 5, 2004, fire. The Legacy Heights Apartments were built on the site.
Souvenir Photo Cover - Club Sevenoaks, 1400 Austin Highway, San Antonio, Texas, 1953
Through regular advertising and coverage of the many social events that took place at Sevenoaks, the long-lived night spot was a continual presence in both local dailies for nearly two decades. The first ads ran in January 1943, when the club was still at its original location, 5130 Broadway. Sevenoaks, “the South's finest,” offered dancing and fine foods every night and Sunday afternoon for a “low cost” in a “refined atmosphere,” inviting readers to “Make a date now for a sparkling, gay evening of fun at the new Sevenoaks.”
During the next few years, Sevenoaks found its niche as a glamorous destination for special-occasion dining on “the best steak dinners and chicken dinners” and dancing to the music of Mack Rogers and “Texas Finest Orchestra,” touring bands and novelty acts such as a calypso troupe. The most-advertised special was a $1 filet-mignon dinner, and Sevenoaks promised “no dull intermissions — continuous live music a la Stork Club.” The first house band was Mack Rogers, who would be replaced by Bill Geyer and other local and touring bands.
While some have conjectured that the club was named after a stand of trees, it was actually a nod to the English heritage — the town of Sevenoaks is in Kent, England — of owner Benjamin Franklin Chadwick, whose daughter was Josephine Sevenoaks Chadwick. In 1948, the club moved from Broadway to a new building at 1400 Austin Hwy., the location most people remember across the street from the Skyline Motel. A terrace offered outdoor dining in “San Antonio's first sidewalk cafe” as well as dancing; ads invited people to “Dine under the stars to wonderful music ... for the young and young at heart.”
Touring musicians, from the calypso ensemble to Tommy Dorsey's band, provided music.
Sevenoaks even made national news when a roster of politicians, headlined by senators John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, campaigned there for Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson. At the $25-a-plate chicken dinner, Johnson, Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and future Texas Gov. Price Daniel were featured speakers, but “the youthful, red-haired Massachusetts senator” gave the keynote address, as described in the San Antonio Express, Oct. 25, 1956. Introduced by Johnson as one of the “rising young stars” of the Democratic Party, 38-year-old Kennedy skewered the Republicans as “the party of Richard Nixon” and predicted, “The future belongs to us.” Attended by 738 people, the evening at Sevenoaks “brought in a net profit of nearly $19,000 after expenses.”
The club's future was not as glamorous as its 1940s and '50s heyday. Interstate highways made Austin Highway less relevant to travelers, and the road and its businesses never entirely recovered from the bypass. According to city-directory research by Beth Standifird, San Antonio Conservation Society librarian, by 1961, Sevenoaks had become El Antonio Hotel and Country Club. The new owners kept the Terrace Dining Room and added a Sky Room Club “featuring name entertainment,” but the club was not too exclusive to run ads inviting new members at an annual cost of $137. Under new management again in 1963, El Antonio Treadway Motor Inn offered Sunday buffet at $1.95 for adults — “Mom dines free” — and $1.25 for children.
During the 1970s and '80s, the former club was owned by Sheraton, and the old name briefly was restored for the Sheraton Sevenoaks Inn and Conference Center. After standing empty for years, the building was destroyed in a March 5, 2004, fire. The Legacy Heights Apartments were built on the site.