October 2014 Posts

Five-minute excerpt of Minnesota Woolen film from 1959

It’s been more than a year since a post was published on PDD inquiring about the history of Duluth-based clothing manufacturer Minnesota Woolen. The first thing that came out of that post was the discovery that the Northeast Minnesota Historical Center Collection has a 16mm film about the company, but does not have a projector. Well, a projector was found this week and loaned for a little screening.

House Hunting in Riverside

My husband and I have recently thought about buying a house in Duluth. There have been a few houses in the Riverside neighborhood that have caught our eyes, but we aren’t really familiar with that part of town. Can anyone offer up any kind of information regarding Riverside?

Charlie Parr music in “Town of the Living Dead” TV show trailer

zombieThe song “Ain’t No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down” by Duluth musician Charlie Parr is prominently featured in this trailer for the new TV series Town of the Living Dead, which premieres Oct. 7 on the Syfy cable network.

Poll: What is the best brewery in the Duluth area?

Duluth is the Beer Capital of Minnesota, at least according to the unofficial claiming of the title by Mayor Don Ness in The Growler magazine in 2013. So, which local brewery has the best blends of barley, hops and yeast? Well, it’s time to decide with a fancy PDD poll.

We often have a nomination process for polls, but in this case it seems appropriate to just throw all the breweries into the running for our first round. We also typically rule out areas farther than 10 miles from Duluth city limits, but since the beer from more outlying areas makes it’s way to taps in Duluth, we broadened the range to include the north and south shores.

So now, without further ado, we ask …

What is the best brewery in the Duluth area?

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This poll is now closed. Bent Paddle Brewing and Fitger’s Brewhouse were the top finishers and will advance to the final ballot.

Robert Plant and Mike Simonson

Hey Duluth. It’s been awhile.

Two radio-related things happened today I heard here in Madison and thought you might be interested in.

1) Robert Plant gave a nod to Duluth’s own Low in a CBC interview on their show Q (it’s towards the end).

2) WPR announced the death of Mike Simonson, a journalist for whom I have the utmost respect and enjoyed hearing on the statewide news whenever his stories showed up. He cared about reporting what needed to be reported and unpacking the news in a very authentic way. Looks like Final Edition has had its final edition. He’ll be greatly missed.

Bent Paddle 14° ESB wins medal at Great American Beer Festival

Bent Paddle 14-degree ESBDuluth’s Bent Paddle Brewing won a bronze medal in the Extra Special Bitter category at the Great American Beer Festival this past weekend in Boulder, Colo. Presented by the Brewers Association, the Great American Beer Festival is the largest commercial beer competition in the world.

This year 268 medals were awarded in 90 categories covering 145 different beer styles. A group of 222 beer experts from 10 countries evaluated the 5,507 commercial entries from 1,309 breweries.

Fitger’s Brewhouse is a past medal winner, taking home a bronze in the American-Style Sour Ale category in 2012 for its Fitger’s Framboise and another bronze in the French- and Belgian-Style Saison category in 2004 for its Farm House Reserve.

Fall Colors on the Brule River at Judge C. R. Magney State Park

Brule River at C. R. Magney State Park

Photo Tour of Nopeming

Nopeming photo by Andrew Perfetti

Photographer Andrew Perfetti has posted an interesting series of photos of his time “discovering the abandoned hospital on the hill.”

For background, there’s a history of Nopeming on Zenith City Online. Also, check out Substreet’s “The Nopeming Stories: Recollecting a Century of Use and a Decade of Abandonment.”

Nopeming Chateau Roof

This week: debates, rivalry and belly dancing

boo-perfect fall-colors-duluth bue-day

Here’s a sampling of what you have to look forward to this week on the PDD Calendar.

As election day approaches here are some opportunities to see candidates discuss their views:

Want to learn Swedish? There are classes for beginners and intermediates at the Nordic Center starting this Tuesday.

Renegade Theater Company presents Grace, a play about an evangelical Christian couple having a crisis of faith, at the Teatro Zuccone on Thursday and it runs three weekends. There will be talk back sessions hosted by yours truly after the show on Thursdays.

Let your colors fly. The Duluth East Greyhounds host the Denfeld Hunters at Ordean Stadium on Friday.

Mystical Nights features area dancers at Weber Hall this Saturday.

There are also a few Halloween themed events this week, including Boo at the Zoo and a Zombie Pub Crawl.

So what are you doing this week? Can we tag along? Any upcoming events that you want to promote? Let us know.

Fred Tyson – “Free Man”

Sometimes larger creative projects beget smaller ones. Here is one such instance. Submitted for your viewing pleasure, a music video for Fred Tyson’s “Free Man,” captured on a cross-country road trip while shooting for the feature film Half Super. What’s captured in the tag at the end can only be explained as the late-night result of three guys punch-drunk from a dozen days together in a small car. Enjoy.

Oh, and Fred has no idea about this. So happy birthday, Fred! What?? It’s not Fred’s birthday you say? Nonsense, every day is your birthday when you’re Fred Tyson!

Duluth Mystery Photo #20: Who was F. W. Miller?

F. W. Miller Residence on Park Point

He had a house on Park Point. That’s all we know.

Last One Leaving Duluth Billboard – Myth Confirmed!

leavingduluth

This (in)famous billboard has been discussed many times, but it seemed there was never any conclusive evidence of it’s existence, until now.

Mayor Fedo was able to dig up a copy from his records, thus solving the mystery of the billboard that kicked Duluth while it was already down.