Paul Lundgren
Postcard from the Bellows restaurant in Duluth
The Bellows was a fine dining restaurant and cocktail lounge that operated at 2230 London Road from 1969 to 1997. It was founded by Don M. and Verna Bellows, and the round-shaped design came from architect Robert W. Prestidge. (more…)
Gopher Lounge Photos Circa 1995
Take a step back in time and view some of the friendly faces at West Duluth’s Gopher Lounge during the mid 1990s. Some of these folks are long departed; others still prowl the area of Ramsey Street and Central Avenue in search of porcupine meatballs. (more…)
Homegrown Music Festival 2017 Primer
If this isn’t your 19th time attending the Homegrown Music Festival, here are some links that might be helpful:
Homegrown website
Homegrown schedule
PDD Chicken App schedule for smartphones
Homegrown Facebook page
Homegrown Twitter page
Seasons 1-4 of Seth Langreck’s Duluth Band Profiles
Admission wristbands are $30 for the full eight days of music, but there are also many free-admission events.
There are 199 bands on the schedule. A 100-page Field Guide is available to help navigate the festival. Pick one up at any Homegrown venue or various random locations.
The hashtag for this year is #hgmf17. The same hashtag applies for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
This is the first Homegrown in which a ridesharing service is available. The Lyft app has been functioning in Duluth since April 27.
Duluth is the best something or other of 2014 or ever
Remember back in 2014 when Outside magazine named Duluth the “Best Town Ever”? It’s referenced in a new story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
“How Duluth became the outdoor capital of the Midwest”
But what exactly was Duluth named by Outside magazine? The headline of the 2014 article calls Duluth the “Best Town in America.” But then the subhead calls it the “Best Town Ever.”
The online poll referred to the contest as ““Best Towns 2014.” Outside also published a countdown article of “The 16 Best Places to Live in the U.S.: 2014,” listing Duluth as #1.
Destination Duluth often referred to the online poll as “Best Outside City,” while at the same time using a graphic referring to it as the “Best Place to Live.” Both MPR News and the Star Tribune reported in 2014 that Duluth won the “Best Outdoors Town” poll.
The only conclusion one can draw from all this is that Duluth is the Best Outside or Outdoors City or Town to Live in or in General Throughout the Midwest and America or the World in 2014 and Forever.
Old Central chimes will return in a few weeks
The chimes of the 125-year-old Central High School clock tower fell silent last week when one of the clock’s gears failed. A new gear is being made and should be in place within about six weeks, according to Dave Spooner, manager of facilities for Duluth Public Schools.
“We’ve got the clock apart and we’re in the process of having another gear made,” Spooner said. “It’s not something you can buy, you have to have them made. … It’s just a failure of an old part.”
Central High School opened in 1892, built with a clock tower that rises 230 feet. A new Central High School opened in 1971, and the original building was converted into the school district’s administrative offices. The building has since been known as the Central Administration Building or “Historic Old Central.”
Postcard from Grandma’s Saloon & Deli
Founded by Andy Borg and Mick Paulucci, Grandma’s Saloon opened at 522 S. Lake Ave. on Feb. 8, 1976. The undated postcard shown above depicts the restaurant’s early days, when it went by the name Grandma’s Saloon & Deli. The moniker eventually was changed to Grandma’s Saloon & Grill. (more…)
Duluth Book Releases in 2017
The Forever Girl: A Love Story
David Pagel
amazon.com
(Jan. 12)
The Release
Tom Isbell
harpercollins.com
Harper Collins (Feb. 14)
Hiking the North Shore, Second Edition
Andrew Slade
amazon.com
There and Back Books (March 14)
Happy 4/20
Help yourself to some carrot cake on the steps outside Duluth Family Sauna.
Mystery Photo #50: Children racing at Bayfront Park
The fundamentals of what’s happening in this old photo are fairly simple. It’s obviously shot at Bayfront Festival Park in the days of the old yellow canvas tarp-covered stage, prior to the 2001 construction of the 76-foot-tall steel-canopy pavilion that stands today. And clearly the image shows kids running a race.
So the mysteries are: What race is this? Can we zero in on a date or are we limited to the vague guess that it’s the mid 1990s?
First Tick of the Year — 2017 Edition
Happy Resurrection Day! I wish I were referring to the savior Jesus Christ and the Easter holiday, but today was the day I found my first tick of 2017. So April 16 marks the beginning of the 2017 tick resurrection. It’s something I’ve posted about almost annually on Perfect Duluth Day since 2005. Sometimes it happens as early as March, sometimes not until June, but the ticks always come back.
I picked up this year’s first tick by walking to the eastern terminus of the Millennium Trail in Superior and continuing past the parking lot there on a grassy trail to an overlook of Kelly Bay. I found two ticks while hiking; by the time three body searches were completed at home, the total count rose to six wood ticks and one deer tick. (more…)
Postcard from the Hiawatha
The stamp was removed from the back of this postcard, and the postmark went with it, but it appears to be circa the 1960s. The caption reads: “Daily excursions during season from Grand Portage, Minn., to Isle Royale National Park. For further information write the Sivertson Bros., in Grand Portage or Duluth, Minnesota.” (more…)
Vulgar Graffiti
The most common word in graffiti is “fuck.” It often appears by itself — a single word left for others to ponder for decades or else paint over. It is probably meant to express general dissatisfaction with life. An expanded version of the sentiment might read: “I wish to say ‘fuck you’ to every random person who passes here. Such is my anger with the state of affairs in this world and the specific circumstances I deal with in my personal life. Though most people are not necessarily responsible for the things that upset me, I nonetheless hold everyone in contempt.”
It is also not uncommon to see the word “shit” spray painted as a one-word message, which leads me to believe the act of graffiti is often more about exercising the ability to be profane in a public and semi-permanent way than about getting across an idea. At least, I hope so. It seems unlikely that graffiti artists write “fuck” and “shit” as instructions to encourage public fornication and defecation. If they did, they could be much clearer by writing, for example, “shit here.”
There are actual graffiti artists who paint brilliant and thought-provoking murals on concrete pillars, the sides of train cars and so on, but their rebel collages are a bit less common than the scribbled words of the artistically challenged. (more…)
Costello Block rubble of 2007; Wieland Block of 2017
The top photo is from April 5, 2007; the bottom is from the same spot on April 5, 2017.
Ten years ago the Costello Block was a pile of bricks, brownstone and timber at 22-24 E. Superior St. It was demolished to make way for A&L Properties’ redevelopment and expansion of the Wieland Block, which incorporated two century-old structures to the east of the Costello Block — the Hayes Block and the Wieland Block, shown in both images above. (more…)
The view from Duluth’s “House of Rock”
Perhaps second only to Glensheen Mansion in fame among Duluth homes is the Arthur and Ella Cook House at 501 W. Skyline Parkway. For those who have looked at the property and wondered what the view of the city is like from that bluestone stairway, the postcard above offers an illustrated perspective from roughly the 1930s. (more…)
Duluth Technical College baking classes TV commercial
We’ve had bits of luck on Perfect Duluth Day in the past when we’ve put out requests for someone to step forward with video of old Duluth TV commercials. Well, here’s another attempt.
A query in the PDD inbox reads:
I’m searching for an obscure commercial for baking classes that were held at the vo-tech college, old LSC, from the 1980s. We’ve recently had a family member pass away and he was in the commercial as the baker. If you have any ideas of where to get the footage, that would be fantastic. We believe it was on Channel 10, WDIO, with Jack McKenna.
Lake Superior College was known as Duluth Technical College in the 1980s. It merged with the Duluth Community College Center in 1995 to form LSC.
Video Archive: Insane Clown Posse in Duluth
Crack open a Faygo soda and … do something other than watch this video if you know what’s good for you. Nothing of much interest happens, unless you are enough of a Juggalo that listening to professional wrestler Pat Tanaka talk about the size of Andre the Giant’s penis sounds appealing. Nonetheless, for the purpose of novelty if not entertainment, Perfect Duluth Day presents two segments from the earliest days of video blogging, when the Detroit-based horrorcore duo of Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope brought their Insane Clown Posse to Duluth. (more…)
Duluth helps Uncle Sam kick the Kaiser off the map
This photo was shot about a century ago, outside the American Exchange National Bank at 230 W. Superior St. in Duluth — where Wells Fargo Bank has its main Duluth branch today. (more…)
Popular Mechanics: Duluth adopts system of community garages
According to this very vague story from the November 1921 issue of Popular Mechanics, Duluth may have been at the forefront of developing community garages. What happened? One of the garages shown in the magazine still exists today in the Morgan Park neighborhood. (more…)
Duluth Golden Girl Friendship Postcard
An oddity circa the 1970s from the minds at Gallagher’s Studio of Photography in Duluth.
Thirty Seconds at the Beach
Spring is the best time of year for exploring the white sand beaches of Wisconsin Point. The “white sand” is slowly melting and will soon be gone, opening up the true beach season … but it’s fun to climb the temporary icy cliffs while they last and watch the slush heave.
Of course, be careful out there.
A Busy Corner in Duluth
The view looking east from the corner of Second Avenue West and Superior Street in Downtown Duluth.
SS America, 1925
The America was a passenger and delivery ship that operated between Duluth and Port Arthur from 1902 to 1928, servicing outposts along the way such as Isle Royale and Split Rock Lighthouse. (more…)