Cedars West End opened in 2013, but its lineage goes back to 1975, when Cedars Lounge became a music venue on North Hazel Street in downtown Youngstown.

West End owners Mara Simon, daughter of original Cedars Lounge owner Tommy Simon, and her husband Billy Danielson celebrate that 50-year legacy on Saturday with a show featuring The Jellybricks, Turbo Lovers and Candace Campana.

Pete Drivere, who plays guitar in Campana’s band, and Boardman native Larry Kennedy of The Jellybricks have been attending shows and playing gigs at the original Cedars since they were teenagers.

Maybe no one has been a part of more Cedars shows than Drivere. In addition to playing there as a member of the Infidels, Pretty Demons, Deadbeat Poets and in Campana’s and Demos Papadimas’ bands, Drivere ran sound for more than 1,000 concerts at the two locations from about 2001 to 2021.

Drivere was 15 the first time Infidels played the club in 1981 or ’82, opening for The 8 Balls. He called it Youngstown’s version of legendary New York clubs like CBGB and Max’s Kansas City.

“You were able to go in there and go into a different world,” Drivere said. “There were artists, there were musicians, there were transvestites that hung out there. There were all kinds of characters that hung out there coming out of the ’70s and into the ’80s.

“That was kind of an eye opener for a young lad and even the people a few years older than me that were going there … It only existed there. There were a few clubs that came up after that, that kind of imitated its vibe, but it was a very, very interesting time.”

Cedars hosted many national touring acts over the years, but its primary legacy is providing a platform for local and regional musicians focused on playing original material instead of being a cover band. The club was integral to the success of the Infidels, which went from opening act to touring overseas, and the band’s local popularity grew Cedars’ clientele as well.

“I think the Infidels opened that place up for a lot of other people to discover,” Drivere said. “It’s just the type of band that we were — and maybe we ruined it, I don’t know — but we were a bit more of a band that maybe normal people, straight-laced people could relate to, and still we were alternative enough that we fit in.”

More than 40 years later, the Infidels still are together, even if the gigs are far less frequent. The band’s long-awaited fourth full-length album, “Never Forever,” will be released in August (it’s worth the wait, trust me), and a local show is planned in the fall.

Kennedy is one of those kids that Infidels lured to Cedars.

“My teen years were decorated with getting in trouble for going to Cedars without my parents’ knowledge,” Kennedy said.

He first read about the band in the former local music magazine Speed of Sound, and picked up one of its 45s.

“I was just kind of blown away that there was an original band from my town,” Kennedy said. “The first time I actually got to see them was on the rooftop of the YSU parking deck. They were playing an all-ages free show. My mother took me to see that. But after that, I just thought, well, I want to see these guys every time I can. And that’s how I wound up going to Cedars for the first time.”

Kennedy first played at Cedars with The Basement Band, a group he started with Boardman classmates that booked a show during a time when Cedars was hosting all ages events on Sundays.

Having a place like Cedars close to home provided the motivation to get better.

“It was an epiphany that you don’t have to be somewhere other than Youngstown, Ohio, to be creative and to make some noise and to get a reaction of what you were doing creatively,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy eventually ended up playing for a while in the Infidels, and he started The Jellybricks after moving to Harrisburg, Pa. That band has released seven albums, the last two on Stevie Van Zandt’s Wicked Cool Records. Kennedy’s “Age of Stupid,” featured on the band’s 2025 album “Dreaming in Stereo,” was voted Coolest Song in the World for 2024 by listeners of “Little Steven’s Underground Garage.”

The Jellybricks have played both Cedars Lounge and Cedars West End many times, but this will be the group’s first Youngstown gig in eight years.

“It was never really our intention to not make it back, but it just didn’t happen for a while,” Kennedy said. “We’ve been hoping to do it for quite some time, but then the anniversary came up, and I think Billy just recognized it was a perfect opportunity to get us back on the road and out to the neighborhood. As soon as I brought it up with the guys, they were all excited.”

The anniversary show starts at 8:30 p.m. Admission is $25.

Andy Gray is the entertainment editor of Ticket. Write to him at agray@tribtoday.com.