Account written in "Moan You Mourners: Part Two" published May 1994:

"Everybody in town knew about Eastwood. It was in the country, sure enough, miles outside the city limit, but it bore as much resemblance to Seven Oaks or Turtle Creek as the Vatican does to the Chicken Ranch. A dark and cavernous place, always crowded, it held about five-hundred.

The corral-like stage was surrounded by tightly fitted tables and chairs. Eastwood was a complex operation consisting of a restaurant specializing in jumbo shrimp and T -bone steaks; a floor show without rival in the South, featuring a house band, an exotic dancer (My dad always referred to them as 'shake' dancers) a chanteuse (Savannah Churchill and the young Della Reese are two I remember well), and a headliner, taken from the ranks of the greatest black stars on the chitlin' circuit of those days. Johnny Ace, La Verne Baker, Bobby Blue Bland and Little Junior Parker were regulars.

When one of the big name stars like Dinah Washington or Ray Charles would play a concert downtown at the municipal auditorium, they would always drop in after their show to unwind and cut loose at Eastwood. During those years, Eastwood was the only place in town where black, brown and white could safely socialize and even dance together without fear. There was also a constant game in the 'back room' behind the kitchen and dressing rooms. It was my father's job to keep them honest, profitable for the house, and non-violent. He was the only person, (besides the owner, Johnny Phillips an affable man who looked like a plump version of Cab Calloway,) who was allowed to count the money made hand over fist there nightly. This meant that he now didn't get home till three or four in the morning and slept till the late afternoon, which was O.k. by me, since during that time we were barely speaking."

EASTWOOD COUNTRY CLUB. Eastwood Country Club, a legendary club on St. Hedwig Road in eastern San Antonio, sometimes called Eastwoods, opened in 1954. The club, owned by Johnnie Phillips, was instrumental in helping young up-and-comers to practice their music, as well as giving well-known black performers a place to play. Eastwood was one of the major San Antonio black clubs during the "Chitlin' Circuit" era.

According to saxophonist Spot Barnett, Eastwood Country Club was one of the few places during the social unrest of the 1960s where blacks sat, drank, and danced beside whites in peace. Barnett observes that Phillips probably didn't realize the effect the club would have on race relations in San Antonio. As Phillips once said, "The Eastwood was one of the few places where people, no matter what color they were, were always welcome. Everyone from gamblers to politicians and Texas Rangersqv came there. We had the most mixed audience of any club."

Without regard to the cost, Phillips booked the top-notch black performers of the era to play Eastwood, including such musicians as Fats Domino, Pearl Bailey, B. B. King, the Drifters, Tyrone Davis, Ike & Tina Turner, Bobby Bland, Gatemouth Brown, T-Bone Walker, Little Richard, Chubby Checker, Bo Diddley, Della Reese, and Big Joe Turner. Comedian Redd Foxx performed at Eastwood for two months and tended bar when he was not onstage.

Many talented local musicians were part of the various house bands that would open for major acts at the club. Those bands included the Fats Martin Band, Shake Snyder's Band, Spot Barnett's Band, and Curley Mays's band. Part of Curley Mays's act was to play the guitar with his toes. Johnnie Phillips operated the Eastwood Country Club until his health began to fail him in 1978. The owner sold some assets, closed and reopened under a business sale to Douglas & Emma Lott.  The Country Club was destroyed and burned down in arson, January 15, 1986

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 

Estella Reyes Lopez, "The Chitlin Circuit," San Antonio Current, February 15–21, 2001. San AntonioLight, November 3, 1985.