January 2022 Posts

From the Dizzo Archives: Last Place on Earth

Aside from being an occasional radio show host, I’ve always fancied myself a bit of an archivist. Some will say hoarder, but I’ll keep saying archivist. I attended the Last Place on Earth auction in Superior last weekend hoping to find some local treasures. I’m mostly a music and clothes collector so I was excited to see there was plenty of both.

Video: Five wolf pups emerging from a cedar tree den

The Voyageurs Wolf Project has released more trail camera footage from last summer of pups from the Paradise pack of wolves at Voyageurs National Park, about 110 miles north of Duluth. The den is under the roots of an ancient cedar tree.

Postcard from the Duluth Yacht Club

The Duluth Yacht Club was organized in 1890 and incorporated 1905. It’s facilities were on Minnesota Point at South 14th Street.

Minnesota Point Lighthouse Painting

This painting by the late Sylvia S. Reasor was sitting among the Pink Floyd lighters, Bob Marley patches, bongs, sex toys and whatnot at the Last Place on Earth liquidation auction this past weekend.

Condemned Esmond building gutted by fire

The Duluth Fire Department tweeted this photo at 7:55 a.m. noting a heavy fire on the second floor of the Esmond building.

The former Seaway Hotel, more recently known as the Esmond building, burned for seven hours today while fire fighters struggled in sub-arctic temperatures to extinguish it. The condemned structure at 2001 W. Superior St. in Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood has been vacant since 2020 with future plans for demolition and redevelopment.

The Slice: Claire Sahara

Claire Lemp, aka Claire Sahara, is an illustrator based in Duluth who showcases diversity in beauty in her illustrations and uses her life experience and everyday things for inspiration.

In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.

Historic Floorplans

I recently bought an older home in Congdon. Nothing special, but I like it. The previous owner made many changes to the interior in a misguided attempt to modernize the home. I am thinking about restoring it to its former layout, but I’m not finding much historic information about the home. Does anyone have any ideas on where I might get some information? The home is likely an American Foursquare that had some arts and crafts touches. Thanks for any help!

Ripped at Pizza Lucé in 2002

[Editor’s note: For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the archive of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. Pizza Lucé opened its Duluth location in 2001 and quickly caught the attention of the Sultan of Sot, who penned his review for the Jan. 9, 2002 issue of the Ripsaw newspaper. The restaurant has undergone several renovations in the past two decades, so we note here that the U-shaped semi-unisex restroom is no longer as it was. Also, the early morning openings are no longer a thing.]

As an old-fashioned Duluth rum hound, I want to dislike Pizza Lucé. When a Twin Cites enterprise expands to Duluth and sets up in a nice, clean new building, I pretty much go into auto-hate mode. But not this time. Pizza Lucé is a friend of the drinking class.

First off, there’s a decent happy hour seven days a week. Plus, there’s the extended hours — you can go there and get drunk at 7 a.m. (they actually have a list of morning-time cocktails for people who want to do just that), you can check out some live music in the evenings or you can go there for booze-soaking victuals after bar close.

Charlie Parr – “Blues for Whitefish Lake, 1975”

The new music video from Duluth’s Charlie Parr was shot and edited by Lei Shi, directed by Lance Lindahl and features Gar Lindahl as the boy. The song is from Parr’s album — Last of the Better Days Ahead, released in 2021.

Two Superior warehouses destroyed by fire

Warehouses at 1507 and 1515 N. First St. in the North End of Superior were destroyed by fire this morning. The Blatnik Bridge was temporarily closed due to smoke from the blaze.

Ferocious Finn falls to Polish strong boy in 1922 mat tussel

It was 100 years ago today that Henry Karhunsaari, “the Ferocious Finn of Virginia,” was knocked unconscious in the deciding fall of what Duluth Herald sportswriter Sandy MacDonald called “the most spectacular and most fiercely contested wrestling match ever staged in this city.”

Monthly Grovel: January 2022

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We urge everyone to proceed with caution while the Omicron variant works to spoil the parties, but events go on and the PDD Calendar has all the details as usual. Each month we reach out with one beggarly blog post to remind everyone that human beings and not machines are at work editing and publishing calendar events. So if you appreciate it, drop a few bucks in the PayPal account.

Low – “I Can Wait”

The new music video from Duluth band Low follows five people bogged down by the realities of their world, dreaming of a better life. Directed by Manuel Aragon, it is the sixth video release from the Grammy nominated 2021 album Hey What. The nomination is in the category “Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical” for the work by mastering engineer BJ Burton.

Postcard from a Bird’s Eye View of Duluth

This undated postcard photo of Duluth’s Downtown and Central Hillside area must have been shot from Point of Rocks, probably in the very early 1900s.

Seletive Focus: Sea Smoke

Lake Superior sea smoke is all the rage on Instagram.

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