Story by Seth Roy | Photos by Meghan Gauriloff

Irv Terzic’s last day as a Kent State student was May 4, 1970. “I was in a business administration class when some girl ran in and said, ‘They shot our brothers and sisters,’ ” Terzic says. After that day, he never returned to school.

Instead, Terzic started to work for Ford Motor Company, climbing his way up the corporate ladder to quality coordinator.

It’s about 9:30 on a Tuesday night in September more than 35 years later. Terzic, 55, of Fairlawn, is standing in front of the Electric Café Co. on 252 N. Water St., putting his guitar in the back of his black sport utility vehicle — a Ford, of course. He just finished playing a set of ’60s and ’70s songs with his group inside the ECC, a weekly tradition they started at the beginning of August. “We come and jam out,” he says. “For a bunch of old fogies, we try hard.”

The group, which has no name, is made of three friends and the occasional guest. Together they play a variety of cover songs, which change every week. The group, at its core, features two guitars and vocals. Its set list “all depends on who shows up.”

Terzic says he enjoys playing at the ECC and having the ability to play with a number of different people and crowds. The ECC is the type of place that allows for an amalgamation of personalities and tastes. Patrons range in age from 18 to 55 and sometimes older. This open, easygoing atmosphere creates the quirky community that convenes inside the ECC and establishes the bar’s
personality.

Raising the bar
Walk into the bar on any night and find an assorted crowd and a distinct experience. The ECC is different from its neighbors, Panini’s and Fat Jimmy’s. Inside, on the right, a bar is stocked with domestic and imported beers, along with soda and coffee. On the left, a wall is filled with local art. Past the bar, a blue suede couch surrounds much of the open floor. Small tables and stools line the opposite wall to the stage.

People of all ages and styles fill the seats. A band or disc jockey is often on the stage, and everybody listens intently or talks with friends. Owner Joel Jacobson, 34, usually can be seen moving from group to group, serving drinks behind the bar or making sure no technical problems arise. He stands just under 6 feet tall and has dark brown hair that he has to brush back from his eyes. He seems to have the intensity of a 6-year-old boy playing right field, picking daisies. Even though everyone doesn’t know each other, all are welcome in the ECC’s comfortable atmosphere.

This atmosphere is what Jacobson had in mind when he created the ECC under its first name: Electric Community Center. His hope was that the ECC would be a place for multimedia production and hanging out in general. In fact, he likes to call the ECC “a public house for the 21st century.”