The Civic

Description

The address of this venue was originally 533 Baronne Street, which had an arcade for customers to cross from Baronne St to the theater on O'Keefe, the arcade is still present as the lobby of the Civic Lofts & Penthouses building. In Sep 1947 the Star Theater closed with a new five year lease with Irwin Poché. After an extensive renovation to "install new stage scenery, lighting, painting, velours, chairs, and a complete facial lifting of the arcade." The venue reopened as the Poché Theater on 2 Nov 1947 with a musical called "American Serenade". The Poché closed in 1950 after a seaman named Theodore William Vasche, age 40 and docked in the city temporarily from Philadelphia, fell down the stairs and was killed. The 23 year old doorman, Richard J. Gridner, told police that the Vasche had lost his balance at the head of the stairs and fell to the first floor. The following September the venue reopened as the Civic Theatre for the first time with a mix of films and live performances. In 1977 it was rebranded again and opened as a nightclub called the Civic Theatre Discotheque. It was at this time that the address was also shifted from the arcade off of Baronne street to the back entrance, originally advertised as 530 O'Keefe. This seems to have lasted on a few months with the last reference in the newspaper being a party advertisement on 8 Dec 1977.