Paul Lundgren
2024: The Year in Duluth Gig Posters
As we reach the end of another year of rawk and/or roll, Perfect Duluth Day once again looks back at the posters that pimped the gigs. (more…)
Postcards from Shorewood Terrace
Sherwood Terrace operated as a seasonal restaurant during the middle of the 20th century. Arthur and Ada Neeb were the proprietors. The location was either “on London Road” or “near Knife River,” depending on which old newspaper article is referenced. (more…)
The Most Read Saturday Essays of 2024
For the fourth year in a row, Jim Richardson has dominated the top of the charts. He has authored four of the five most read Saturday Essays of 2024. (more…)
Ashtrays of Duluth
In celebration of the nasty habits of smoking and advertising, collected here are various Duluth-branded ashtrays representing a variety of establishments. (more…)
Postcard from Good Shepherd Church and School in West Duluth
This undated postcard, published by Gallagher’s Studio, shows the Good Shephard Church and School at 5901 Raleigh St. in West Duluth. The building was completed in 1959 and the first mass was celebrated on Christmas Eve, 65 years ago. (more…)
Postcard from the Merchandise Docks and Passenger Terminals
This undated postcard, published by Kreiman’s Lyceum News & Bookstore, shows a portion of Duluth’s waterfront warehouse district at some point in the first half of the 20th century. The large building with “Fireproof Storage” on the side in large letters is the Northern Cold Storage & Warehouse Company. (more…)
More Duluth Show Case Company ads from the 1920s
The advertisement above is from a 1920 issue of Hardware World magazine. Apparently hardware stores were tucking a lot of merchandise into boxes and drawers back then instead of displaying as much of it as possible, so the Duluth Show Case Company emerged as an innovator in retail-store cabinet manufacturing. (more…)
Postcard from Duluth’s Carnegie Library in 1914
This postcard was mailed Dec. 2, 1914 — 110 years ago today. It shows Duluth’s Carnegie Library at 101 W. Second St. Constructed in 1902, it was Duluth’s main library until 1980. The building has since served as an office building. (more…)
Ice Spikes on Kingsbury Creek in West Duluth
From Wikipedia: “An ice spike is an ice formation, often in the shape of an inverted icicle, that projects upwards from the surface of a body of frozen water. Ice spikes created by natural processes on the surface of small bodies of frozen water have been reported for many decades, although their occurrence is quite rare. … Natural ice spikes can grow into shapes other than a classic spike shape, and have been variously reported as ice candles, ice towers or ice vases as there is no standard nomenclature for these other forms.”
Duluth Panorama Circa the Early 1960s
This Duluth Panaroma is from the Cliff’s Barber Shop Collection. It was likely shot in 1962, but might be from ’63 or ’64. At center is the Aerial Lift Bridge in the up position. (more…)
Postcard from Duluth to David Letterman
This unmailed postcard, published by Erickson Postcards & Souvenirs, shows an early 1980s (or perhaps late 1970s) scene of boats clustered outside the Duluth Harbor. The card must have been commissioned for promotional use by KDLH-TV in the 1990s or later, however, because it is preaddressed to David Letterman, courtesy of what was then the local CBS affiliate. Late Night with David Letterman ended its run on NBC-TV in June 1993 and the Late Show with David Letterman launched on CBS two months later. (more…)
Duluth suckers are skinned
Front page of the Nov. 20, 1924 Duluth Rip-saw.
If a dog farts in Duluth …
[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at its source.]
The television miniseries Category 6: Day of Destruction premiered on the CBS network on Nov. 14, 2004. Part one includes a reference to Duluth at the 21-minute mark. (more…)
Postcard from the Lighthouse at Duluth, Minn.
This 120ish-year-old postcard shows the Duluth Harbor North Pier Lighthouse on the Canal Park side of the Duluth Shipping Canal during a storm. (more…)
Did Kiss play Duluth twice in 1974?
Fifty years ago today — Nov. 3, 1974 — Kiss played the Duluth Arena in what is believed to be the band’s first of eight Duluth shows spanning five decades.
But the documentary TV series Biography released a two-part episode on Kiss in 2021 that briefly shows a handwritten 1974 tour schedule with the band slotted to play Duluth on March 27. Did Kiss play Duluth twice in 1974? Or does the documentary use a fake schedule scribbled together to create imagery for an interview cutaway shot? Or was there a canceled Kiss show before the real one seven months later? (more…)
Postcard from the Aerial Lift Bridge Circa the 1960s
This undated postcard, published by the W. A. Fisher Company, features a Kodachrome photo of the Aerial Lift Bridge circa maybe the early 1960s. (more…)
Boylan Threatens Murder
One hundred years ago today — Oct. 25, 1924 — the Duluth Rip-saw newspaper published a front page story attacking Minnesota State Senator Mike Boylan. The article contributed to the 1925 creation of the Public Nuisance Law, also known as the “Minnesota Gag Law,” which made publishers of “malicious, scandalous and defamatory” newspapers or magazines guilty of creating a public nuisance, and allowed judges to stop the publication of those periodicals. A restraining order was placed on the Rip-saw in 1926. Publisher John L. Morrison fell ill soon after and died.
In 1931 the gag law was challenged by Jay Near, publisher of the Saturday Press in Minneapolis. The Supreme Court ruled the law violated the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which protects the freedom of the press. (more…)
PDD Shop Talk: Help keep the information flowing
Two obvious things you should know about Perfect Duluth Day: 1) It could be better. 2) It could be worse.
The existence of this website depends heavily on the work of talented writers and reporters who deserve to be compensated. The funds to do that come from advertising sold to local businesses and donations from readers. The more cash that goes in, the more work that goes out. That’s why we occasionally toss up a post to remind everyone that donations are a big help. (more…)
Postcard from Lake View Tea and Dining Room
This undated postcard shows the Lake View Tea and Dining Room at 730 E. Superior St., “on the shore of Lake Superior where you can view the large steamers coming and going.” (more…)
Mystery Photo: Zweifel Studio Composite Print
John Rudolph Zweifel was a Duluth-based photographer from roughly 1885 to 1935. Several of his cabinet card portraits have appeared in Perfect Duluth Day’s “Mystery Photo” series over the years. Now a composite print of his work samples has emerged. (more…)
Postcard from the Incline
This undated postcard shows Duluth’s Incline Railway, which operated from 1891 to 1939. The tram system carried passengers from a housing development at the top of the hillside into the downtown along Seventh Avenue West.
Hoodies Are Stupid
I have four hooded sweatshirts in my closet. That’s probably not an unusual number, because the hoodie is a popular shirt style. It also seems like a very practical garment, designed to keep people warm and cozy. It’s like an indoor/outdoor jackety blanket for people who don’t want to feel weird about wearing a jacket inside or a blanket outside.
Though I sometimes wear hoodies and appreciate the idea behind the design, I don’t actually like them. The reason is that there are really only two things that differentiate a hoodie from a sweatshirt — the hood and the kangaroo pocket. And both of those things are stupid.
Yet, somehow, hoodies are far more popular than regular sweatshirts. The reason, I think, is because most people believe they sincerely like the hood and the jumbo single-pocket abdominal pad. But really, they don’t. They just can’t.
Surely hoodie lovers have been waiting for decades for someone to come along and explain how stupid they are. Well, here I am. Society is now just a few paragraphs away from the end of the hoodie, because everyone is going to agree with me, change their ways immediately, and heap praise upon me for freeing them from their misguided perceptions of fashion and comfort. (more…)
Guide to Duluth-area Blogs
The journey of blogging from personal to institutional has been slow and steady, but there are still individuals crafting creative narratives about their lives and the things they love. Of course, there are also organizations that want to promote tourism, hotel rooms and merchandise by mixing in lists of the ten best trails to lure in readers. Whether the medium is better or worse in 2024 than in 2004 is up for debate, but blogging is, at least on some level, still a thing.
Every two years or so, Perfect Duluth Day scans the web to see who’s active in the local blogosphere, compiling a comprehensive-as-possible guide to the region’s active web logs. Below is the roundup as of September 2024. (more…)
Postcard from the Willard Motel
This undated postcard shows the Willard Munger Inn circa 1970, when it was simply the “Willard Motel.” It is still in operation in Duluth’s Norton Park neighborhood. (more…)
Downtown Duluth 1964
This photo of Downtown Duluth, found on the French-language edition of Wikipedia, is dated Sept. 1, 1964. It shows East Superior Street from Lake Avenue looking northeast with the Hotel Duluth at center frame. Note the NorShor Theatre still had its tower marquee, which was dismantled in 1967. (more…)