A 1928 Loew's movie palace where the ghost of Clarissa — said to have fallen from a balcony around 1930 — reportedly drifts through the auditorium trailing the scent of lilac perfume.
362 South Salina Street, Syracuse, NY 13202
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Ticket prices vary by performance. Public access during performances and announced tours.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Restored historic theater with accessible seating
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1928 · Movie Palace Architecture · Thomas W. Lamb Design · Loew's Theatre Chain · Preservation Success Story
Groundbreaking on what would become the Landmark Theatre began in 1927, and the venue opened on February 18, 1928, as Loew's State Theatre. Designed by Scottish-American architect Thomas W. Lamb in an Indo-Persian fantasy style — a deliberate exotic flourish for Loew's growing palace chain — it seated 2,908 patrons and combined a working stage with a full movie operation. Loew's marketing called it 'the last word in theatrical ornateness and luxuriousness' at its opening.
Through the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s the theatre operated as a first-run movie palace and occasional vaudeville house, drawing on Loew's vertically integrated production-and-exhibition model. As mid-century downtown audiences dispersed to suburban multiplexes, the State's fortunes declined, and by the 1970s the building was in serious physical distress.
In 1977 the theatre was scheduled for demolition to make way for a parking garage. A grassroots preservation campaign — the Syracuse Area Landmark Theatre organization — purchased the building, halted demolition, and began a multi-decade restoration. Renamed the Landmark Theatre, it reopened as a live-performance venue and has hosted touring Broadway, concerts, comedy, and community events ever since.
A major capital campaign in the early 2010s expanded the backstage area and improved load-in facilities, allowing the theatre to host modern touring productions that previous stage dimensions could not accommodate. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and remains downtown Syracuse's largest indoor performance venue.
Sources
The Landmark's resident lore centers on Clarissa, a woman who — according to repeated retellings on the Haunted History Trail of New York State, in The Daily Orange, and on Visit Syracuse's tourism pages — fell from a balcony to her death not long after the theatre opened. The Haunted History Trail places the fatal incident in 1930, two years after Loew's State Theatre's 1928 debut. According to The Daily Orange and Visit Syracuse, Clarissa appears as a pale apparition in a white dress, sometimes preceded or followed by the unmistakable scent of lilac perfume. She is reported as particularly active when patrons or staff break theatre rules — most often when someone tries to smoke inside the building.
A second named spirit, Oscar, is described as a stagehand who died in the building; some retellings hold that he was electrocuted in the course of his work. A janitor known as Charlie, said to have died of natural causes on site, is occasionally added to the roster. The areas most often cited for activity are the back of the auditorium, the Red Room and the Walnut Room (both period interior spaces), and the basement, which staff refer to as 'the catacombs.'
The CNY Ghost Hunters have investigated the theatre on multiple occasions; published accounts of their work describe apparitions, disembodied voices, and unexplained blue lights, particularly in the auditorium and lower levels. The lore is treated within the theatre's own programming as part of the building's identity — house staff routinely share Clarissa's story with patrons, and the building has been included in Onondaga County's Haunted History Trail listings since the trail's formation.
Notable Entities
The Landmark periodically offers history tours that include the building's restoration story and the lore surrounding Clarissa, Oscar, and other reported spirits. Check the theatre website for scheduled dates.
Attend a touring concert, comedy show, or Broadway production in the restored 2,908-seat Indo-Persian fantasy auditorium where staff and patrons have reported sightings of the white-dressed Clarissa apparition over decades.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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