WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) – The Foo Fighters will be inducted into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame Saturday night in Cleveland, which is why Warren’s Dave Grohl Alley should be an especially busy spot.
Grohl is the Foo Fighters founder and frontman. He was born in Warren and the alley is the city’s dedication to its native son.
“I think we’re getting a lot more people down here than we realized we were going to get,” said Aaron Chine, an artist who runs a tattoo shop on Warren’s Dave Grohl Alley.
Two of the pieces of artwork are his: the triple Dave Grohl headshots, along with the welcome mural.
“We see all sorts of people coming through here, a lot of kids taking senior pictures, a lot of photographers; it seems like a lot of people even musicians, artists,” Chine said.
“He’s very, very proud of that alley,” said Joe O’Grady, a retired Warren policeman who created the Dave Grohl Alley. “I went down to the health department. I got his birth certificate made sure it was Trumbull Memorial Hospital, born in Warren. It’s verified.”
O’Grady says Grohl lived at a house on Perkinswood Boulevard Southeast until he was 2 or 3 years old before his family moved. His father was a reporter for The Vindicator, who later returned to live in Howland until his death five years ago.
“He still has kinfolk in the area so don’t be surprised if you’re down at the alley, this guy walks up to you and says, ‘Hey, I’m Dave Grohl,’” O’Grady said.
On August 1st, 2009, Grohl returned to Warren for the dedication of his alley. Joe O’Grady wasn’t sure he’d be there.
“I saw this little station wagon Volvo show up, and guess who was driving? It was Dave Grohl,” O’Grady said.
“We’re in the middle of this family vacation in Delaware and all this stuff, so we flew in and we’re going to hang out and do this. It’s so great. You can’t even imagine it,” Grohl said.
He then played for about an hour on Courthouse Square. Six years later, in April 2015, Grohl and the Foo Fighters returned and played for a small crowd at the Record Connection in Niles.
He’s also been back at his alley a few times.
There’s a lot of speculation on whether Grohl will visit the alley this weekend. No one knows for sure. Chine says he hasn’t seen Grohl since his father died.
