The Agora Theatre and Ballroom (commonly known as the Cleveland Agora, or simply, the Agora) is a
music venue located in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, founded by Henry "Hank" LoConti Sr. The Agora name was used by two other Cleveland venues in succession, the latter of which was damaged by fire in 1984. The current Agora venue, known as such since 1986, first opened in 1913 as the Metropolitan Theatre.
On December 29, 2011, the LoConti family donated the Agora to MidTown Cleveland Inc., a nonprofit organization.
History of the Agora
Cornell Road
The first Agora in Cleveland, informally referred to as Agora Alpha, opened on February 26, 1966, at 2175 Cornell Road in
Little Italy
Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are ...
near the campus of
Case Western Reserve University.
East 24th Street
In 1967, the Agora moved to a second building on East 24th Street near the campus of
Cleveland State University. Once settled in their new location, the new Agora Ballroom, informally referred to as Agora Beta, played a role in giving exposure to many bands, both from the Cleveland area and abroad. Many artists such as
Peter Frampton,
Bruce Springsteen,
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Grand Funk Railroad
Grand Funk Railroad (often shortened to Grand Funk) is an American rock band formed in 1968 in Flint, Michigan, by Mark Farner (vocals, guitar), Don Brewer (drums, vocals), and Mel Schacher (bass). The band achieved peak popularity and succ ...
,
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sou ...
,
Kiss
A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
and many others received much exposure after playing the Agora. The Agora Ballroom was also the setting of the concert by
Paul Simon's character in the opening minutes of the 1980 movie ''
One-Trick Pony.'' The front facade of the Agora Ballroom was temporarily swapped for the one shown in the movie. It is also one of three locations used to record
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...
's live album ''
Back to the Bars'' in 1978.
The East 24th Street building also housed Agency Recording Studios, located above the Agora. The onsite recording studio and the close proximity to radio station
WMMS
WMMS (100.7 FM) – branded ''100.7 WMMS: The Buzzard'' – is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Widely regarded as one of the most influential rock s ...
allowed for high-quality live concert broadcasts from the Agora. Some of these concerts were later released commercially, including Bruce Springsteen's ''
The Agora, Cleveland 1978'',
the Cars
The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes ( keyboard ...
' ''Live at the Agora 1978'',
Ian Hunter's ''
You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic Deluxe Edition'' and Dwight Twilley Band's
Live From Agora.
The popularity of the club led the Agora to expand during the 1970s and 1980s, opening 12 other clubs in the cities of
Columbus,
Toledo,
Youngstown
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, which ...
,
Painesville
Painesville is a city in and the county seat of Lake County, Ohio, United States, located along the Grand River northeast of Cleveland. Its population was 19,563 at the 2010 census.
Painesville is the home of Lake Erie College, Morley Libra ...
,
Akron
Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...
,
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
,
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
,
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...
,
Tampa,
Hallandale,
Hartford
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...
, and
New Haven
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
. However, the Cleveland location is the only one still in existence today.
On May 3, 1982, the attendees at the
Huey Lewis and the News concert inspired
Huey Lewis
Hugh Anthony Cregg III (born July 5, 1950), known professionally as Huey Lewis, is an American singer, songwriter, and actor.
Lewis sings lead and plays harmonica for his band, Huey Lewis and the News, in addition to writing or co-writing many o ...
to write the song, "
The Heart of Rock & Roll
"The Heart of Rock & Roll" is a song performed by Huey Lewis and the News, released as the third single from their 1983 album ''Sports'' in 1984. The single peaked at number six on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100.
Background
The song was inspire ...
." Lewis was skeptical that the Cleveland rock scene was better than his home area of San Francisco, but the appreciation of the show and participation of the fans caused him to realize it was the heart of rock & roll.
In 1984, the Agora was damaged by a fire and closed. Two years later, the Agora reopened in a new location on
Euclid Avenue, east of
Downtown Cleveland. It has remained there since then, and today is still a popular concert club, with many national acts playing there when they stop in Cleveland.
History of 5000 Euclid Avenue
![Pelle Almqvist in 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Pelle_Almqvist_in_2008.jpg)
The building currently known as the Agora first opened on March 31, 1913, with an English performance of ''
Aida
''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 Decemb ...
'' as the Metropolitan Theatre. It was the brainchild of Max Faetkenheuer, an opera promoter and conductor who had also been involved in the construction of the monumental Hippodrome Theatre on Euclid Avenue five years earlier. The new opera house was well received and did well early on, but later struggled to stay profitable. Among various uses, the Metropolitan was home to a Cleveland's Yiddish theatre troupe in 1927. This brief episode in its history came to an end a few months later in 1928 after the troupe was involved in a bus accident on the way to a performance in Youngstown; the actors were too injured to perform and the venture went bankrupt. By 1932, the venue had turned into a
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
/
burlesque house called "The Gayety," hosting "
hoofers,
comics and
strippers." The Metropolitan returned to its original use for a short time during the mid-1940s staging comedic musicals, but by the end of the decade stage productions had ceased and the theatre became a full-time movie house. From 1951–78, the theater offices were home to radio stations
WHK (1420 AM) and
WMMS
WMMS (100.7 FM) – branded ''100.7 WMMS: The Buzzard'' – is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. Widely regarded as one of the most influential rock s ...
(100.7 FM); the theater itself was known as the WHK Auditorium. In 1968–69 the theater was known as the Cleveland Grande. In the early 1980s, it briefly re-opened as the New Hippodrome Theatre showing movies.
Following the fire which damaged the Agora Ballroom on East 24th Street, club owner Henry LoConti, Sr. decided to move to the 5000 Euclid Avenue location. Following extensive renovations, the new Agora Metropolitan Theater, the third Cleveland venue to bear the Agora name, opened in October 1986. The Agora has two rooms: a 500-person capacity, standing-room-only ballroom with adjoining bar, and an 1800-seat theater. It is available for rentals and hosts nationally touring acts. Plans are underway to reopen the Backstage Cafe.
The Agora is the host of Cleveland-based band
Mushroomhead
Mushroomhead is an American heavy metal band from Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in 1993 in the Cleveland Warehouse District, the band is known for their avant-garde sound and horror film-inspired imagery which features masks and costumes as well as ...
's annual Halloween show.
Henry LoConti Sr. died on July 8, 2014, at age 85.
Further reading
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References
External links
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Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: Agora BallroomClevelandHistorical.org: Cleveland AgoraClevelandRockAndRoll.com: Agora BallroomMidTown Cleveland Inc.Hemingway Development
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agora Theatre And Ballroom
Event venues established in 1913
Music venues in Cleveland
1913 establishments in Ohio