March 2019 Posts

Video: Duluth Winter Surfing 2019

Hudson-based F3 Visuals shot this Lake Superior surf video earlier this year and released it this week.

Monthly Grovel: Time to tip your servers

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It takes a lot of geek hours to keep this website going strong. So once a month we set our dignity aside and remind readers how much we appreciate their financial support.

Postcard from Duluth’s Edgewater Motel

This undated postcard from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography depicts Duluth’s Edgewater Motel, probably circa the 1960s. Today it is known as the Edgewater Hotel & Waterpark, located at 2400 London Road.

Brittany Lind is new host of “The Duluth Local Show”

The Duluth Local Show has a new host. Brittany Lind recently took the helm of the Sunday night radio program that features music by Duluth-area musicians. Her first broadcast was March 3.

Lind replaces Mike Novitzki, who hosted the show from May 2016 to December 2018. Andrea Swensson served as interim host.

The one-hour show on St. Paul-based Minnesota Public Radio’s the Current is broadcast on Sundays from 8 to 9 p.m. on three Duluth satellite stations — 90.9, 94.1 and 104.3 FM. It does not air in the Twin Cities market, but is on the Local Current stream on Mondays at 2 p.m. and archived at thecurrent.org.

Duluth Tooth Puller Runs Amuck in 1903

Making the rounds on Facebook is this New York Times clip from March 5, 1903, reporting events from the morning of March 4, 1903. The Times and some other sources refer to the freelance dentist as “Johnson,” but his name is John Simonson in other accounts.

Split Rock Review, Spring 2019

Issue #12 of Split Rock Review is available. My favorite piece is “Transfers” by Hava Zitlalik.

New Scenic Café celebrates 20 years

Photo by Lissa Maki

New Scenic Café will mark its 20-year anniversary on April 1. Although Chef Scott Graden has carefully refined his approach over the years, the acclaimed destination eatery on Lake Superior’s North Shore continues to emphasize quality and culinary artisanship.

Mystery Photos #85-87: Probably Skyline Parkway in the 1920s

An early 20th Century family photo album was recently unearthed in the Nicklawske archive room and I discovered some old Duluth photographs. I pulled three pictures from the book that included images of an automobile trip my grandfather and his sister made to Duluth in the 1920s. My grandfather, Jim Nicklawske, lived in St. Paul at the time and his sister Mae was visiting from her home in Great Falls, Mont. It appears they traveled to Duluth with a third, unidentified person who made pictures of the event.

Going out today to rebuild the rink

This week will be cold but relatively free of precipitation, so any rinkspace recovered will likely survive a few days. It looks like a blasted moonscape out there right now, but a couple hours of shoveling will uncover the byways of our lost civilization, that culture of pure leisure we established whose spirit survives.

Long Winter Reprieve

Summer scenes from several of Duluth’s many swimming locations to help shake off what seems a very long winter.

Lost in the Woods

Under cozy plush sheets and a thick comforter, I wait for heat from a newly lit fire to reach me. Chilly mornings in Lakewood Township, and by chilly I mean winter cold, have a different meaning to me than to most. I didn’t realize how accustomed I had become to this way of life until a visitor asked why I get ready for bed with a light winter hat nearby. I show my guests how to start and feed the fire. I tell them the alternative to rising from their warm cocoon is to simply yell through the blanket, “My head is cold,” and I will resolve the situation.

Mornings aren’t tough here. There are no winter boots that get put on to tend to livestock or sled dogs. I do not crawl into a chicken coop to gather breakfast. There is running water, but I don’t drink it. Instead I fetch water from the natural spring off Highway 35 and Midway Road. There is electricity, but no Wi-Fi or television. Life here is a little, alternative, I shall say. Alternative in a slightly archaic fashion, but by no means, difficult. I only notice my gradual slip into this alternativeness when I open the door to the outside world and along with it comes a want for “normalcy” that has become unfamiliar to me.

Selective Focus: Duluth

According to Instagram, here’s what’s been happening in Duluth, MN.

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