Who had the “biggest deal in town”?
The Lakewalk Voyageur Inn has finally been completely demolished (after a long time of sad hotel half-rooms on the hill). Revealed is this old sign. What used to be at that location?
The Lakewalk Voyageur Inn has finally been completely demolished (after a long time of sad hotel half-rooms on the hill). Revealed is this old sign. What used to be at that location?
The loose theory is that there was a Plymouth dealership there. The advertisement above refers to “the biggest deal in town” on a “new ’55 Plymouth.”
Pair that with the item below from a paper called “Tour Old Duluth, the Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas” by Sheldon T. Aubut and Maryanne C. Norton:
Drove by this morning; this bit of concrete history will likely be gone soon. They are digging at the site to prepare it for new construction.
I really miss Hacienda del Sol. They had a sweet outdoor garden spot there for awhile where you could enjoy a margarita. What other businesses were in that block of buildings? Wasn’t there an Asian grocery, too, for awhile?
“Come in and look us over” is the second line, for the record.
Mike, that is extra creepy if the legend about the original hotel builder and the peep holes is true!
And Lager_Man, yes, there was an Asian grocery there, maybe in the early 2000s? The owner was very friendly. I too enjoyed Hacienda del Sol, and was sad to see the murals for that patio area just hanging out in mid air for a while, too.
It seems that the slow tear-down process allowed a Google Streetview car to capture the Hacienda del Sol mural for posterity last June.
Sunday
Sunday 2
Ah, if only history had been different … (and here’s a glimpse of the building that also once housed the Asian grocery store back in the day).
And here’s a little glimpse of the Hacienda del Sol patio from 2008.
First Oriental Grocery was at 323 E. Superior St. location until around 2004. It moved to Fourth Street and then to First Street before ceasing operation in 2009.
The 323 structure was designated as a contributing building to the Duluth Commercial Historic District, but that carries little weight in terms of preservation based on how many have been demolished.
The National Register of Historic Places registration form for the Duluth Commercial Historic District from 2006 offers this information on the building:
I think it was the chorizo enchilada on Fridays and Dos Equis on tap for lunch. Good times.
While I walked by the construction site on June first 2024, I found that the old Plymouth dealership sign (1) and the Voyageur Lakewalk Inn sign (2) were still standing.