The State Theater was an entertainment venue in

Youngstown, Ohio 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, whi ...

which showed films until the early 1970s and later became a popular night club establishment catering to major rock 'n' roll acts of the 1970s and '80s. The theater opened in 1927 at 213 Federal Plaza West and exhibited films until closing as a movie house in the early 1970s. On October 20, 1974, a night club called the Tomorrow Club opened in the old theater. Under the Tomorrow Club name, the venue hosted such bands as AC/DC,

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, ...

, Rush,

Ted Nugent Theodore Anthony Nugent (; born December 13, 1948) is an American rock musician and activist. He initially gained fame as the lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist of The Amboy Dukes, a band formed in 1963 that played psychedelic rock ...

The Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United S ...

and

The Runaways The Runaways were an all-female American rock band who recorded and performed from 1975 to 1979. The band released four studio albums and one live album during its run. Among their best-known songs are " Cherry Bomb", "Hollywood", "Queens of ...

. Most notably the club played host to The Ramones' first gig outside of the New York City metro area on July 20, 1976. This was also the gig where Joey Ramone was introduced to future members of the Dead Boys who later moved to New York City to set up shop as the house band at

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kr ...

. The Tomorrow Club closed on December 22, 1978 and the venue opened as the Youngstown branch of the Agora concert hall chain on December 31, 1978.The Youngstown Agora continued to book popular rock acts until it closed on July 23, 1982. It reopened under the State Theater and Civic Center name in May 1983, but it closed abruptly again in July 1983. The theater booked heavy metal and hard rock acts under the Star Theatre name from 1984 until early '86 before being bought by a group interested in turning the theater into a showcase for R&B, blues, jazz, hip-hop and soul groups in late 1986. The venue struggled under the Starr Palace name and closed for good in late 1988. The State Theater remained vacant until it was demolished in 2008. Only the facade remains.

References

External links

Steel Strings: A Youngstown rock history retrospective
{{Authority control Theatres in Ohio Cinemas and movie theaters in Ohio Music venues in Ohio