Fats
Domino
Duane
Eddy
Buddy
Knox
Rhythm
Orchids
The
Ventures
Others
??
The Kennewick Social Club was perhaps the most important dance hall in the Kennewick/Richland/Pasco (Tri-Cities) area. This dance hall hosted the likes of Fats Domino, Buddy Knox and the Rhythm Orchids, Duane Eddy, The Ventures, and many many others that I cannot remember. Area bands played there regularly on weekends and the Social Club was "the" place to be. It was housed in a building on what is now Clearwater Avenue and was run by a gentleman named Basil Mabe. KEPR-TV housed one end of the building and the Social Club was in the other end of the building.A band that I was part of, the "Chessmen", was the regular band on KEPR's "Teen Time", a weekly talent show on for half an hour on Tuesday night in the late 50's. In the early 60's, the building went up in flames and was destroyed. I was scheduled to play at the Social Club that night and luckily we hadn't moved our equipment in yet so I suffered no personal loss. However, the loss of the Social Club was the end of an era in the Tri-Cities and nothing like it has ever replaced it. Another hot spot for local musicians was the "Wagon Wheel" in the Richland "Y".
Bud Derrick, April 2007