(Purple Phrogg Records, North Lima, Ohio 5.25.2008)
As a young punk I used to drive by this place everyday on the way home from work at Cycle Sales. There wasn’t much of a punk collection, and I remember a ton of guitars for sale. The rumor was that the storefront was used to launder money from weed sales.
Whether that’s true or not, it was by far the only interesting business in the area. The owner, a stereotypical middle-aged, small town hippie, was always friendly. I’m surprised his business lasted as long as it did.
Nowadays, North Lima, located south of Youngstown and near the Rt. 76 exit closest to Pennsylvania, has an abandoned grocery store, a strip club, and a brand new Arby’s. I asked some kid at Arby’s what happened to the Purple Phrogg.
“I dunno, they smoked too much weed, I guess,” he said.
Like all towns in this area, things are slowly getting worse, or at least more boring. These are bleak times in deed, you know that’s true whenever the phroggs die.
