The identity of the woman in this photo is likely lost to history, but the photographer’s last name is right there in print — Westberg. The Minnesota Historical Society’s Directory of Minnesota Photographers lists two Westbergs who operated in Duluth more than 100 years ago.
Comedian Mary Mack presents this short holiday video as a gift to you, noting “I think it may be one of those ‘if you know, you know’ things.”
You know the spiel. All of the content on Perfect Duluth Day can be read for free. It is produced by people who are paid either poorly or not at all. Advertising revenue keeps the operation going; donations help us do more and do it better.
Silver Bay, a city on the shore of Lake Superior about 50 miles northeast of Duluth, is planning for the second-largest investment project in its history. Minnesota Public Radio reports the nearly $25-million plan includes “a mixture of townhomes, vacation rentals, and seven residential lots, along with an event center.”
This undated postcard, published by Northern Minnesota Novelties, shows the Aerial Lift Bridge and parts of Canal Park and Park Point circa maybe 1960. The back of the card credits the aerial photo to maritime photographer Jean Basgen.
Cropped photo of a Christmas Eve service by Patrick Sweeney CC BY-SA 2.0
As this Sunday Geoguessr challenge is appearing on Christmas Eve, a topical theme seemed appropriate. I thought finding five local churches with midnight services would be a rather simple map to put together. It was not.
Greg Cougar Conley has a new album, Cougar Country, set for release Dec. 29. The video above delves deep into the KSTP-TV St. Paul archive for footage of the maestro’s 1962 debut on the Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Company Variety Hour.
Dan Lefebvre at Burger Paradox
Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood has burgeoned with new businesses of late. Three new restaurants opened there in 2023, including Bali Asian Cuisine, Burger Paradox and Oasis del Norte. A fourth, Ritual Salad, is slated to open in early 2024.
The Sunshine Café in West Duluth closed at the outset of the pandemic in March 2020. Owners announced this year it will not reopen. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
One of Duluth’s most significant restaurant closures of 2023 technically happened in 2020. The Sunshine Café closed more than three years ago as COVID-19 swept the country. What was considered a temporary closure at the time was finally announced as permanent in September 2023.
The Twin Ports restaurant scene has stabilized and grown as the pandemic has wound down, but the closure of the beloved diner at 5719 Grand Ave. in West Duluth can be seen as evidence the coronavirus fallout lingers. The Sunshine Café had been a neighborhood gathering place for more than three decades.
Duluth native Sydney Hansen has a new, original Christmas song. “Kringle Tingle” was written with Corey Lee Barker and produced by Kent Wells.
This post is about the new Minnesota State Flag, about abstract art, and about the exhausted feeling I get in contemporary politics.
Duluth has seen a multitude of music and arts ‘zines over the years. They are a part of culture that connect and inform people about niche things in a community. In the past, Duluth has watched ‘zines such as The Transistor come and go, but now there is a new sheriff ‘zine-maker in town and her name is Kristi Olson, creator of Duluth music publication On the Record. Click on the image above to hear Olson open up about breaking the mold of the “good ol’ boys club” that made up the Duluth ‘zine-crafting community for many years.
While this post isn’t specifically about Duluth, I am hoping that posting will bring some Duluth stories out of the woodwork.
Below are lists of Saturday-morning cartoons as they ran in my childhood. I remember many of them (Scooby-Doo, of course; repackaged cinema cartoons like Bugs Bunny Looney Tunes; originals like the animated Star Trek).
Looking down Fifth Avenue West toward Duluth’s Spalding Hotel in 1889. University of Minnesota Duluth, Kathryn A. Martin Library, Northeast Minnesota Historical Collections
A few weeks ago, David Beard wrote a post on the future of the plaza next to the Ordean Building, noting plans for it to be sold to a private developer in conjunction with a future housing project. I recently wrote a rather long post about Gunnar Birkerts, the architect of the Duluth Public Library, and because his firm also designed the plaza, I ended up with enough information about this project that I thought it might be worthy of a follow-up post on the history of the Fifth Avenue Mall, a name so forgotten that a 2015 Perfect Duluth Day post referencing the mall clarifies that the word ‘mall’ as used here is “not about a shopping mall, but instead something like the decorative median with trees that stands in the middle of the avenue today.”
This undated postcard from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography shows the ore carriers Wm. B. Schilier, Peter A. B. Widener and Henry Phipps at the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range docks in West Duluth.
All three vessels were built for the Pittsburgh Steamship Company. The Schilier was sold for scrapping in 1978 in Duluth. The Widener was sold for scrapping in 1986 and towed to Lisbon, Portugal in 1987. The Phipps was sold for scrapping in 1976 in Duluth.
