Month: December 2025
Save Time and Money: Read as You Ride
These photos of Duluth Streetcar 166 were purchased recently on eBay from a reseller who didn’t know anything about them or the other Duluth transportation photos in the lot. This one above is labelled with the time 2 p.m., date 10/27/30 and the initials ETM. (more…)
Postcard from a Bird’s Eye View of the West End in Duluth
This postcard of Duluth’s friendly West End was mailed 115 years ago today — Dec. 8, 1910. The recipient was Mrs. Joseph Lindquist of Kerkhoven, Minnesota. The perspective is from the Point of Rocks at West Fourth Street, looking southwest. (more…)
Duluth Deep Dive #11: When the Hollow Concrete-Block Building Boom Came to Duluth
Left: Cover of the 1908 catalogue for the Miracle Pressed Stone Company of Minneapolis; Right: The first hollow concrete-block house in Duluth. (Sources: The Minnesota Digital Library; The Duluth Evening Herald, Feb. 3, 1906)
A few months ago a friend of mine from elementary school moved into a house on Park Point. When he asked me to help look into its history, we learned he had purchased the first hollow block concrete home ever built in Duluth, and one of the oldest still standing in Minnesota. This Duluth Deep Dive looks at the start of the hollow concrete-block building boom in Duluth and where it led. It describes the links between local concrete homes and the Duluth shipping canal. It also challenges the claim that Duluth had the first concrete streets in Minnesota. (more…)
Trailer: Death of a Piano
Tomas Soderberg’s upcoming documentary, Death of a Piano, follows four years of Duluth’s SubSuperior Underwater Music and Art Festival. A discarded piano emerges as a central character as festival participants decide how to conduct a proper sendoff.
Video: Flying Squirrel Flying Against its Will
The latest trail-camera highlight from the Voyageurs Wolf Project shows a bobcat whipping around a flying squirrel. The footage was captured in Voyageurs National Park, about 100 miles north of Duluth.
Ian Alexy – “Living in a Dream”
The latest from Duluth’s Ian Alexy is a bluesy rock track with an afrobeat inspired chorus, featuring Emma Lee Heart on guest vocals. The “Living in a Dream” video features a collage of footage from public archival sources, edited by Alexy.
Alexy’s new album, The Tao of Ian, releases on Dec. 9.
Sparky’s 2025 Owl Footage
Mark “Sparky” Stensaas shares his favorite video clips of owls from the early months of 2025. The bulk of the observations were from south of Duluth, Sax-Zim Bog, the Two Harbors area, Lake County, Superior National Forest and Grand Marais.
Postcard from the Duluth Carnegie Library
This undated postcard, published circa 1910, shows the Carnegie Library in Downtown Duluth at 101 W. Second St. The building was designed by Edwin S. Radcliffe and Charles Willoughby Adolph Rudolf. It opened in April 1902, serving as Duluth’s main library until 1980. Since then it has functioned as an office building.
Duluth Album Releases in 2000
Dial back the sound system one quarter of a century. The year 2000 was of particular significance to the Duluth music scene. It’s possibly the first time more than a dozen local albums were released in a single year. The emergence of a few local music labels is partially the reason, but in general the reduction in the cost to put out compact discs, growth in the number of bands and easier access to recording technology all contributed to the spike in output, which has only accelerated since.
Compiled here is an incomplete list of Duluth-related music releases from 2000. If you spot something that’s missing, feel free to comment here or send an email to paul @ perfectduluthday.com. (more…)