Image and stickers available courtesy of your friends Bratwurst.

I have it on decent authority that work is being done right now to bring four or five Chipotle restaurants to the Twin Ports area. My source says that one of the stores is destined for Cloquet and the rest are going to be in Duluth/Superior.

I won’t get too excited until the doors open, but I think many will agree that this is a long time coming for this area. No more trips south just to get a burrito (yes, I’ve done that).

Umm.

Ask the City of Duluth to use eminent domain to claim vacant houses for our affordable housing stock.

openhouseduluth.blogspot.com

I was reading the (DNT Duluth Armory flood damage article) and happened upon this comment:

I wonder if the Armory Arts Org has bitten off more than it can chew. This place is really a white elephant but that is the regretful truth. The scale of difficulties in dealing with a place of this size, age and state of disrepair – now with flood damage and other problems – It’s just not going anywhere!

An alternative would demolish the Armory and devise an arrangement that would masterplan the whole city block around a public square. Around the square, the Armory Arts Org could pursue the music and recording studio it wants in a purpose-built facility. The farmers market could relocate to the square, perhaps attracting a public food hall (bakery, butcher, fishmonger, flower market, eateries) of Northland food producers. There could be artist studios and galleries, artisans’ workshops, seasonal pop-up shops and lots of outdoor plaza space. Much needed student and artisan housing on site would make it 24/7 and give roots to the Creative Corridor.
The whole place could grow organically but adhering to design criteria and sustainability (environmentally and fiscally) with public:private financing from the city, charities, arts organizations, guilds, co-ops,developers and private benefactors.

It would really rejuvenate the east Downtown, East Hillside and anchor some really positive things there for everyone to enjoy – the young, the elderly, the craftsmen, the artists, the students, the families – Duluthians.

- Blighty

I just thought it was a very interesting thought. I live in the neighborhood and would enjoy walking the dog past this and perhaps even patronizing it.

On the heels of a Duluth City Council vote to broaden legal beekeeping within the city, Jonathan and Erin Otis of Lake Superior Honey Company announced the launch of an online campaign to raise funds for the expansion of their successful honey company. Continue the story at: kickstarter.com.

Did anyone else catch Dan Hanger’s feelings on some footwear at the very end of tonight’s (Thursday) Fox 21 newscast?

“I don’t like boots.” … awkward silence … roll end credits.

I only wish I had the video clip.

The new Flame Nightclub at 26 N. First Ave. W. in Downtown Duluth opens on July 29.

Apparently the old Ragstock location at 7 W. Superior St. is going to be transformed into a bar. Consider this a “before” shot.

…more than you might expect, according to the folks who stopped by our bike station at Lake and Superior on Bike to Work Day a couple of weeks ago.

On almost every point, Superior suffers by comparison. Duluth has 90,000 inhabitants; Superior has 30,000. Duluth has some of the most impressive nineteenth-century architecture in the Midwest; Superior is famous for asphalt shingles and insulbrick. Duluth is known for first-rate medical facilities; Superior has an oil refinery. Duluth has Spirit Mountain and a ski jump; Superior is flat as a turkey platter. Superior is clearly inferior to Duluth, but if you like an underdog, you have to love that town across the harbor. I sure do.

–Barton Sutter, from “Sister City,” an essay in his book Cold Comfort: Life at the Top of the Map

It’s back. First day I’ve seen A and Dubs open this year.

I couldn’t find any reviews from burgerdogboy for some reason and he’s usually got Duluth hand food pretty well covered. However, I did find this little blurb on Jim Heffernan’s blog.

PDD reader-generated A & Dubs stories are most welcome in the comments.

Yesterday I was out at The Princess Bride with a couple of goslings and other uberfans at the Zinema for their excellent Saturday-morning-movies-for-the-whole-family series. That would have been awesome enough, but they threw in free juice boxes for the kids, but it got even better. In the place where we expected the opening previews, or maybe a video short to roll we were treated to this 2006 video, by Duluth’s Willie the Warlock

Willie the Warlock Youtube video

(more…)

I don’t recall ever seeing a car covered in bumper stickers that wasn’t expressing a liberal-leaning point of view.

And I don’t recall ever seeing a sheet-of-plywood sign painted in block letters posted outside someone’s home that wasn’t expressing a conservative-leaning point of view.

Feel free to share your own examples and offer theories on why this is or is not true.

Not sure why I missed this but my Twitter friend Tim Landis and his amazing instagram pictures were featured a month or so ago on the Huffington Post (more…)

Of all the obvious jabs at MN 8th District Congressman Raymond “Chip” Cravaack for moving to New Hampshire – which reached a fever pitch today for the New Hampshire primary – this is definitely the funniest. (Note to moderators, it’s blatantly partisan, certain to test the new commenting policy).

Not sure if the movie clips are fair-use or not so I suppose it could get yanked at any time.