Page 48 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2016

The Music They

Played on 7th Street

Oakland Walk

Of faMe

Gathered for the Walk of Fame’s unveiling in March 2015, (l to r) “Terrible” Tom
By Ronnie K. Stewart, Executive Director, Bowden, vocalist and unofficial Mayor of West Oakland; Pastor Greggory Brown,
West Coast Blues Society of Oakland’s Miracles of Faith Community Church; Ronnie K. Stewart, Executive
The Music They Played on 7th Street Oakland Walk of Director of the West Coast Blues Society; City Councilwoman Lynette Gibson
McElhaney; Mayor Libby Schaaf; and Henry Delton Williams, celebrity clothing
Fame pays tribute to the great musicians, club owners, record designer and community activist. Photo by Bob White/ CRW Photography
companies and related independent businesses that put 7th Street Special recognition must also be given to club owners Harold
in Oakland, CA, on the map as a top entertainment destination. “Slim” Jenkins and Esther Mabry. Jenkins opened Slim Jenkins
Over the years, a plethora of top performers – some already Supper Club on the day Prohibition ended in 1933, and the
established and some just starting their careers – graced the club quickly became the place to “see and be seen.” Operated
famed entertainment district. Such performers included Billie by Esther and William Mabry, the landmark Esther’s Orbit Room
Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Sugar Pie DeSanto, B.B. King, Nat operated for over 40 years, the longest running club on 7th
King Cole, Louis Jordan, Etta James, Ike and Tina Turner, Sammy Street. Esther, the grand dame of 7th Street, was able to continue
Davis, Jr., Big Mama Thornton, Lowell Fulson and many more. the club’s operation by evolving her soul food breakfast club into
The Flynn Saloon opened in 1886 and was the first social a popular cocktail bar and restaurant showcasing live music.
place on 7th Street (then called Railroad Ave.). However, it 7th Street was the entertainment and social center for the local
wasn’t until 1918, with the opening of Sid Deering’s Creole African American community, and these two remarkable venues
were the heart and soul of it.
Café – a famous venue of New Orleans-style jazz and big band 7th Street shined into the 1970s, affectionately referred to as
dance – that 7th Street began to gain notoriety. “The Harlem of the West Coast,” where world-class entertainers
performed nightly in its lively clubs, bars and dance halls that
lined the thoroughfare. Established and upcoming artists flocked
to 7th Street because its clubs and businesses offered good pay
and steady work. The style of music varied from blues, R&B,
gospel and jazz to supper club music.
Time passed and urban renewal destroyed the entire 7th
Street corridor. As a testament to the history of one of the most
important entertainment districts in the U.S., The Music They
Played on 7th Street Oakland Walk of Fame unveiled its first
installation in 2015. It currently consists of 88 bronze plaques
dedicated to 7th Street legends and the organizations that were
fundamental in implementing this project. Funding has already
been secured for another 120 plaques that will be installed at the
site of the Slim Jenkins Supper Club. Come visit the Walk of Fame
and pay homage to those who created, produced, presented
and played America’s indigenous musical art forms.

Oakland, CA, native Ronnie K. Stewart – guitarist turned historian,
music teacher and blues community activist – founded the Bay
Area Blues Society and the West Coast Blues Society, the latter of
which he serves as the executive director. Stewart produces three
Lenny Williams, soul crooner and Oakland native, was one of 85 artists honored major festivals that have been held annually for 17 years, as well
with a plaque Photo by Bob White/ CRW Photography as the West Coast Blues Hall of Fame & Award Show.

46 Blues Festival Guide 2016