Frugal Grips #3: You'll Grip Better in Toledo
Cheap and Deep Detroit Plates, Techy Garage, Jak'n House and Electro Funk
Toledo, Ohio: The Glass City. Birthplace of such luminaries as me, Katie Holmes, M*A*S*H* star Jamie Farr and his Tony Paco’s restaurants. As great as all that sounds, the city has a bit of a bad rap. Consistently rated as one of the worst American metropoles to live in, Toledo exists in that rarified zone between the departure of industry / urban blight on one end of the timeline and civic renewal / gentrification on the other. There have been attempts to move things into the future but the city remains largely unchanged since my childhood. New onramps(!), a casino and a hospital have gone up as the old stomping grounds, neighborhoods and schools of my youth have continued their 40+ year struggle to stay above water.
That said, these conditions do give Toledo a roguish charm that other Rust Belt cities enjoyed before cleaning up their acts. Where else can your smalltime weedman rent a Victorian mansion selling 1/8’s of reggies? Or an (allegedly) notorious nose-criminal own part of the downtown skyline, turning an entire floor into his personal roller hockey rink and another into a carnivalesque experience where cash is paid to destroy the space with glass bottles, bricks and whatever other implements you come equipped with? (Unfortunately the latter was a fleeting dream as the dude let BOTH basements flood and had the entire high-rise condemned). Toledo is a land of opportunity if sketchy fun is your bag.
To be sure, Toledo takes me by surprise from time to time – when an organic farm pops up on its outskirts or a well-attended Pride parade goes off. Over Thanksgiving there was a Real DJ Function with out-of-town talent at an arts center that, in a prior incarnation, rented my friend a closet to live in. So go Toledo! Whether you march boldly on into the corrugated-aluminum-siding future or stay exactly as you are, you’ll always have a place in my heart.
The Main Event of my visits for many years has been a trip to the South Toledo branch of Allied Record Exchange. This location gets funneled all the records taken in by the city’s other Allied stores, which are pretty much CD / DVD / video game swap shops. With few competing record stores, almost all of the city’s used records make their way through this particular shop. Also, Toledo is an hour’s drive from Detroit so there’s inevitably a handful of gems lurking in their electronic and dollar bins. In August I paid the Allied dudes (the same two since I’ve been going) a visit for what was my first proper three-hours-don’t-talk-to-me-can-I-use-your-bathroom? dig since before COVID. It was a successful outing with this usual haul of Detroit plates and plenty of heat from further afield.
Below, I’ve written about six of these finds, all of which are recession-proof bangers for grippers on a budget. To hop the paywall and check em out, please become a paid subscriber.