Eighth Step Coffee House

The Eighth Step Coffee House was founded in Albany, New York, in 1967 by FOCUS CHURCHES, a coalition of local historic churches focused on street ministry without proselytizing. For its first 30 years, it operated from the basement of the historic First Presbyterian Church at State and Willett Streets along Washington Park. It attracted students from the University at Albany, College of Saint Rose, and other nearby colleges, and by the 1970s had 2,000–3,000 members. The venue introduced contradancing to the Capital Region and hosted concerts by national, international, regional, and local musicians, as well as open mike nights, Celtic, jazz, bluegrass, folk rock, comedy, and theatre. After outgrowing its original home, it moved to the historic Cohoes Music Hall in 2000, then became a traveling series before accepting a residency at Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady, New York, in 2007.