The White Rock Terrace restaurant brings back plenty of fond memories for Rene Gray.

“Coming to the White Rock Lake area was like being out in the country back then,” says Gray, recalling the restaurant she co-owned in the 1950s and early ‘60s.

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“We (she and then husband Dick Ferguson) bought the restaurant the same time we bought our home in Lakewood – 1952, and owned it for 10 years.”

“Dick organized a reading band that played on Saturday nights. Chuck Carrel (drummer), Jim Cullum (saxophone), Garner Clark (trumpet) and Dick Rayner (Ferguson’s stage name) were some of the band members.

“I was known as Rene Ray and would sing songs like the ones you hear on (big band radio station) KAAM. On Saturday and Sunday nights, we took reservations when entire families would come to the restaurant to enjoy dinner and the music.”

White Rock Terrace was built in the early 1940s and was located at the southwest corner of Northwest Highway and Lawther Drive.

“We had a very nice clientele,” Gray says. “I still run into people who loved the Terrace.” The Terrace offered more than big band music.

“There were also Dixieland jazz bands that played at the Terrace – we brought Dixieland jazz back to Dallas.”