Question.

Has anybody done the math on what Superior and Duluth bars are geographically closest to each other? I’m thinking Schultz’s and Quinlans. Am I right?

56 Comments

Starfire

about 15 years ago

Maybe the Oliver Bridge is the key.

vicarious

about 15 years ago

I think Google Maps might be of some help in this matter, though I'm much too lazy to look into it myself.

lojasmo

about 15 years ago

North pole bar (Duluth)

The Shack (superior)???

lojasmo

about 15 years ago

That was as the crow flies.

jj

about 15 years ago

Hammond and either Keglers or Blue Crab.

oldknifey

about 15 years ago

The Oliver Bridge was the answer. The Alpine in Gary (Duluth) is 2.4 miles away from The El Dorado in Oliver (Superior). The Northstar Pub (formerly the Blue Crab) is about 3.3 miles away from the Hammond.

Paul Lundgren

about 15 years ago

Oliver isn't a neighborhood of Superior, though. Oliver is a township.

Starfire

about 15 years ago

So picky Paul.

Pune

about 15 years ago

3.0 Miles from Grandma's in West Duluth to the Shack

Pune

baci

about 15 years ago

Anchor to Western Tavern as the crow flies: 2.27 miles. Is the bay frozen? Kayaks?

Barrett Chase

about 15 years ago

The bar closest to the Blatnik Bridge is the Hammond. 

There are at least two downtown bars closer to Superior than Quinlan's: the Spot (formerly Kegler's) and 5th Avenue West (bar inside the Radisson). Of these, the Spot is closest. (Three other bars, Score, the Pioneer, and Sneaker's, are in close contention with Quinlan's.)

The Western Tavern closed long ago, and is actually the furthest West End bar from the Blatnik. The closest West End bar to the Blatnik Bridge is the Northstar Pub (formerly the Blue Crab).

As Pune said, Grandma's in West Duluth is the closest West Duluth bar to the Bong Bridge and the Shack is the closest Superior bar. HOWEVER, things get shaken up depending on which direction you're going. If you're traveling from Superior to Duluth, there's an on ramp right next to the Shack, so it's even closer in that direction. Also the bike lane enters/exits there, so the Shack is closer if you're traveling by bike or on foot.

In sum, according to Google Maps:

- Hammond to Northstar Pub: 3.2 miles
- Hammond to the Spot: 4.0 miles
- Grandma's Grand Avenue Cafe to the Shack, via car: 3.0 miles
- Shack to Grandma's Grand Avenue Cafe: 2.6 miles

dbrewing

about 15 years ago

The Mile long club is the Superior bar closest to Duluth.

Starfire

about 15 years ago

I knew PDD would have the answer. Now if someone could just tell me why my iTunes keeps crashing...

Barrett Chase

about 15 years ago

I forgot about the Mile Long Club! But the distance between the Mile Long Club and the Alpine is 4.4 miles -- farther than all of the above.

oldknifey

about 15 years ago

Google Maps gives the address of the El Dorado as technically in Superior, so I was going based off of that technicality.

mrashley

about 15 years ago

Can't blindly trust the google.

Soren

about 15 years ago

What if I am swimming? Quinlan's and the Loading Zone might be a nice trip.

speechie

about 15 years ago

All residents of Oliver, businesses included, claim Superior as the address.

Ramos

about 15 years ago

Any calculation involving the Hammond can be beaten by using JT's instead. I would submit JT's to T-Bonz as a possible contestant. 

Wait...Lost in the 50's to T-Bonz!

Contendor

about 15 years ago

I would like a map of the best way to visit every bar within the Superior city limits and the Duluth city limits with the least amount of back tracking.

Ramos

about 15 years ago

Straight-line distance, of course.

Which Duluth and Superior bars are the farthest apart?

Paul Lundgren

about 15 years ago

The Choo-choo Bar or Eddie's Ribs in Superior and the Afterburner in the Duluth Airport would be my guess for farthest apart.

And picking South Range bars is cheating. I'm nipping that in the bud.

Barrett Chase

about 15 years ago

JTs to T-Bonz: 3.9 miles. Lost in the 50s to T-Bonz: 4.1 miles. Ramos, I'm not sure why you think bars that are farther from the bridge would result in a shorter overall distance, but I'm guessing it involves some kind of cabbie math. That kind of drunk-eye mind trick might work on the road, but I'm sober with access to Google Maps.

Eddie's Ribs to the Lakeview Castle is 21.7 miles. Eddie's to the Afterburner is 16.7 miles. I know the Castle is closed, but it'll open again.

wildgoose

about 15 years ago

Amazing how excited people get over the combination of local geography and bar knowledge. I see it all getting played out on a Saturday afternoon scavenger hunt.  

Farthest flung bar hopping road rally along the cardinal points? Tavern geo-caching for ... snapshots or tasks ... or whatever?  

These both seem like very real possibilities to me, as maybe a fundraiser for some worthy cause.  You could pick a few vehicles and designated drivers (naturally). Unless, of course you want to bus it.  In that case you're gonna need someone with a CDL.  Maybe Ramos, I hear he's real tight with the party bus folks at Custom.

Barrett Chase

about 15 years ago

Amazing how excited people get over the combination of local geography and bar knowledge.

1. Know your town.
2. Support local business.

lojasmo

about 15 years ago

You're using a PC?

gorplady

about 15 years ago

If you use the Google walking directions, El Dorado to Lakeview Castle is 24 miles.

Barrett Chase

about 15 years ago

Once again, though, the El Dorado is in the township of Oliver, Wisc., not Superior. The website confirms it.  Don't get me wrong; I love the El Dorado. To tell you the truth, a little over three years ago, I fell in love about ten minutes after leaving there. But it ain't in the Twin Ports, so it doesn't count.

Paul Lundgren

about 15 years ago

It should also be noted that the Lakeview Castle isn't in Duluth. It's in Duluth Township.

wildgoose

about 15 years ago

Barrett: Just wanted to clarify that I wasn't just amazed but also pleased by that as I wholeheartedly agree with points one and two above. I never know if I'm getting my actual point across ... this is exacerbated by the fact that I often don't seem to actually have a point.

oldknifey

about 15 years ago

The Choo Choo Bar and Grill is about 20 miles away from Billy's in Duluth. However, Billy's to the Alpine is 18-20 miles (depending on route), making it my guess for farthest points between bars within Duluth itself.

Ramos

about 15 years ago

I'm sorry for Google Earth, but there is simply no way that the straight-line distance between Lost in the 50's and T-Bonz is 4.1 miles. They're essentially right across the bay from each other, and the bay is not 4 miles wide. The Blatnik Bridge is slightly more than two miles long.

I just did it the old-fashioned way. I got out my Duluth-Superior area street map and, using the distance key, marked off one-mile increments on the edge of a sheet of paper. I then measured the distance between Lost In The 50's (at Tower and 3rd) and T-Bonz (at 26th Ave. West and Superior St.). 

Result? About 2.2 miles. Maybe 2.3.

Ramos

about 15 years ago

Of course, to follow that route you would have to cross some railroad yards and climb over a bunch of grain elevators and swim across the bay and clamber ashore near the municipal sewer plant, so you're probably better off just driving.

Paul Lundgren

about 15 years ago

Old Knifey, you cheating little bastard, Billy's Supper Club is in Rice Lake Township. Play fair, damn it!

Barrett Chase

about 15 years ago

Ramos, I didn't see your stipulation of straight-line distance. The 4.1 miles I quoted is via car.

The City of Duluth website has this [pdf] map of Duluth neighborhoods, which we've referenced here before. And these great maps showing Duluth's districts and precincts. But I've never seen a map that shows the various townships surrounding Duluth, along with their borders. Paul, are you doing this from memory, or is there an online reference we can all look at?

oldknifey

about 15 years ago

A reference to where the townships begin would be very helpful to me, because I obviously have troubles identifying them.

dv

about 15 years ago

if you want to know the distance between r.t's and  schultz's; you'll have to call the dta

Ramos

about 15 years ago

Whatever the closest and farthest apart bars turn out to be, I hope there is an official PDD ruling on the matter.

The likeliest candidates for closest bars that I have seen on this thread are:

1) The Shack and the North Pole.
2) The Shack and Grandma's West.
3) Lost In The 50's and T-Bonz.

Any others?

wildgoose

about 15 years ago

The other thing we need an official PDD ruling on is if we are measuring by driving/walking/biking distance or swimming/boating/helicopter.  I'm voting for dry feet, myself.

Paul Lundgren

about 15 years ago

I'm going on memory with my townships knowledge. I did find a decent online map once that showed the borders, but I found it kind of by accident and probably couldn't find it again easily.

Starfire

about 15 years ago

When I asked the question I was thinking as the crow flies. I guess we could have 2 categories. One for straight line distance and one by road. And since I am to lazy to make the definitive PDD ruling I defer to Barrett Chase on that.

wildgoose

about 15 years ago

On my way to set up for my gig at the Belgian club (featuring wifi, btw) I got these measures by driving:  
3.9 miles from Keglers to JT's and 
3.5 miles from Schultz's/Hammond to T Bonz

Barrett Chase

about 15 years ago

If we're talking about road distance (no matter if it's driving, biking, or walking) then it's the Shack and Grandma's Grand Avenue Cafe. CASE CLOSED. Both the map and simple logic confirm that obviously it's going to come down to which bars are closest to the base of the bridge. 

In that equation, bars like T-Bonz aren't even an option, because you have to pass several other bars in order to get to them. Duh. 

As the crow flies, however ... that's another story. Lost in the 50s to T-Bonz seems most likely, since as Ramos said, Lost in the 50s looks like the Superior bar that's closest to the bay, and T-Bonz is right across from it.

The Shack and the North Pole are close too, but seem a little farther apart. 

I don't feel comfortable making a ruling on straight-line distance, because I don't have a reliable online utility for it, and we might be talking about a difference of just a few hundred feet.

As far as the bars that are farthest apart, that seems to depend on which ones fall within the actual city limits, and I don't know where the townships begin. (Billy's, for example, looks like Duluth to me -- it's on the corner of Tischer and Jean Duluth Road. Isn't that Duluth?)

Paul Lundgren

about 15 years ago

Billy's is about two miles outside of Duluth. Ridgeview Road is the border.

Barrett Chase

about 15 years ago

I'm looking at the map right now, and Ridgeview Road is 7.3 miles away from Billy's, and the entire Woodland neighborhood lies between them.

Paul Lundgren

about 15 years ago

Whoops. Billy's is actually one mile out of Duluth. The border takes a 90-degree turn at Arnold Road. So ... going north on Jean Duluth Road, the border is Martin Road. If you're going up Howard Gnesen Road, the border is Ridgeview Road.

Speaking of crossing the border, watch that Gravatar, buddy!

Ramos

about 15 years ago

If the PDD staff is unable (or, in Starfire's case, too lazy) to make the necessary measurements, we will have to find someone else. 

Earlier in this thread, baci gave a straight-line distance between the Anchor and the Western that sounded accurate to me (2.27 miles). Perhaps baci could be convinced to run the numbers for our other contestants, using whatever method he used.

If two guesses are extremely close, we will have to recruit someone with a GPS to go to the bars and take readings.

I concur with Lundgren's guess of Eddie's Ribs to the Afterburner for farthest-apart bars. My runner-up guess would be the Southwest Junction Tavern and the Other Place.

As for city and township boundaries, my cheap paper street map conveniently shows them all. You can pick one up at any gas station.

Barrett Chase

about 15 years ago

OK, I've got it. 

Straight-line distances are as follows:

T-Bonz to Lost in the 50s: 2.292 miles
The Shack to the North Pole: 2.128 miles
The Shack to Grandma's: 2.348 miles

So, on the road, the Shack and Grandma's Grand Avenue Cafe are the closest bars between Superior and Duluth. But as the crow flies, it's the Shack and the North Pole Bar. 

As for the farthest, in my opinion, the aforementioned Eddie's Ribs and the Afterburner are still in the lead at 16.7 miles apart. The address I'm finding for the Other Place is 3960 Kenroy Road, which is in Hermantown. Not that it matters, because it's only 13.2 miles from the South-West Junction Tavern.

Jeepers

about 15 years ago

MN Dot has some pretty detailed maps if you are wondering exactly where Duluth city limits are.  St. Louis County sheet 2 shows the Duluth area. 

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/maps/cadd/html/counties.html

Ramos

about 15 years ago

The Other Place I was referring to is the bar at Ridgeview Lanes in Woodland (3934 E. Calvary). The Southwest Junction Tavern to this Other Place should be more than 13.2 miles, but still not enough to beat the Eddie's Ribs to Afterburner juggernaut.

Now I can rest easy, knowing the truth about the closest and farthest apart bars in Duluth and Superior.

Purple

about 15 years ago

I think it's The North Star Pub & The Hammond. Going from the Crab to Garfield to the bridge to The Hammond is a pretty quick trip.

Barrett Chase

about 15 years ago

ONE LAST TIME

Closest by road: The Shack to Grandma's Grand Avenue Cafe -- 2.6 miles

Closest by straight-line distance: The Shack to the North Pole Bar -- 2.3 miles

Farthest by road: Eddie's Ribs and the Afterburner -- 16.7 miles

Barrett Chase

about 15 years ago

FYI Ramos: 3934 E. Calvary is 16.6 miles from the South-West Junction. A mere tenth of a mile short.

jj

about 15 years ago

If the old Branding Iron was still open on Garfield Ave near Goodwill it would be case closed.

Lojasmo

about 14 years ago

What do I win?  Will wildgoose forgive me for saying the CH is a ghetto?

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