Paul Lundgren

For those in a summer mood …

vimeo.com

“Duluth Sketches: Park Point After The Flood” video by Shawn Donovan.

Duluth Mystery Photo #5: Baby Marge

This photo is for sale on eBay under the heading “Vintage Snapshot Photo Babies Family on Rocks 1920s Duluth Minnesota #250.” The description reads: “Offered is a great vintage picture of a darling baby girl sitting on a pile of rocks with another child and a group of adults. Photo is from the 1920s. I bought these photos from a living estate, and baby’s name is Marge and lives in Duluth Minnesota. This picture was taken down by Lake Superior probably.”

There’s not much to go on here for pinpointing a location, but apparently we do have a baby name. So, who is this Marge?
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UMD Bulldogs Hockey 101

The 12th episode of this series about the National Collegiate Hockey Conference profiles the University of Minnesota Duluth and its hockey history, NHL success, the campus and the school itself.

Chad Salmela’s Access Gold Medal

We had the clip here from Access Hollywood of Duluth’s Chad Salmela accepting a Gold Medal for his announcing of the 30k Skiathon as a cross-country skiing analyst for NBC. As you can see if you click on it now, NBC has put the copyright kibosh on it. Hopefully that means NBC has the clip available somewhere.

Twenty-two consecutive days below zero

Duluth Mystery Photo #4: Mr. Dillner?

I saved this photo graphic at some point in the past and titled the file “Dillner.” Call it sloppy archiving on my part, but I’m guessing that might be his last name and on the front of the photo is the photographer’s name, which looks like it’s maybe S. F. Dahlquist. The address is 19 E. Superior St., Duluth. So that’s what we’ve got to go on. (more…)

Martin Pattison

Historical sketch from the Dec. 31, 1913, Duluth News Tribune.

The three-time mayor of Superior was the original owner of the Fairlawn Mansion, which was completed in 1891. Read about rumors of paranormal activity in the mansion at unexplainedresearch.com.

Martin Pattison is also the namesake of Pattison State Park, which was established in 1920. Read about that on zenithcity.com.

Duluth Album Releases in 2014

Charlie Parr
Hollandale
Chaperone Records (Jan. 25)


Dave Simonett
Razor Pony

(Jan. 29)
Available on Bandcamp


Dirty Knobs
I Want to Live Inside the Sun
Xero Music (Jan. 29)
Available on Bandcamp

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Duluth Mystery Photo #3: 1938 Neighborhood Hockey Game

It happened in Duluth in 1938. That’s all we know. What rink? Who are these kids?
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Paul Robeson in Duluth

What is Paul Robeson’s connection to Duluth? For some reason I’ve never wondered about this before. Today someone asked me.

Paul Robeson was a singer, actor and football player who was involved in the Civil Rights Movement. You can read about him on Wikipedia and numerous other places on the Internet.

The Paul Robeson Ballroom is part of the Kozy Apartments complex, which has been shuttered since 2010 due to three arson fires. (Photo above by Daniel Kerkhoff.)

There is a one-man show, The Tallest Tree in the Forest, running at Arena Stage in Washington D.C. through Feb. 16, that mentions Robeson was in Duluth in 1947. (The show is probably based, at least in part, on the 1977 documentary film The Tallest Tree in Our Forest.)

That’s all we’ve got. Help fill in the blanks.

Five Perfect Duluth Years on WordPress

A minor anniversary for Perfect Duluth Day: Five years ago today we stayed up late on a Friday night and switched to the WordPress publishing platform. From September 2005 to January 2009 PDD used Moveable Type and looked like this:


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From Gaylord to Mookie: The Best Names in the 1982 Topps Baseball Card Set

How this could possibly be relevant to the Perfect Duluth Day website will be explained at the end, but up top we present the 30 best names of the 1981 Major League Baseball season, as preserved for history in 1982 Topps cards.
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NorShor: Duluth’s big bet on Old Downtown

“Ghosts and spirits make the place. So when you sit down and play a place like the NorShor, not only do you have a group of people sitting around you, but you have another community of history sitting around you, too.” — Charlie Parr

Minneapolis Star Tribune: “Stage set for restoration of NorShor Theatre in Duluth

Duluth Mystery Photo #2: Family Outing

1905-duluth-family-outing

This photo is for sale on eBay under the headline “Vintage 1905 Cabinet Photo Duluth Minnesota Family Outing Woods Photograph 1052.” So what family is this? Where are they?

Battery of a police officer or excessive force arrest? Here we go again.

Natasha Lancour was arrested in the parking lot of the Keyport Lounge on Jan. 5 for allegedly striking Superior Police Officer George Gothner. Above is the unedited dashboard-cam video; below is a report from WDIO-TV.

Duluth reference in The Cutting Edge

Yes, the 1992 movie The Cutting Edge is utterly cheesy, but we’re nothing if not thorough at PDD, so we must include it with the other references to Duluth in the realm of major motion pictures.

D. B. Sweeney plays the part of Doug Dorsey, a hockey player from the fictional town of Mayhorn, Minn., which is apparently supposed to be near Duluth. When Sweeney’s career is cut short, he goes back to Minnesota. It is unclear whether he is in Mayhorn or Duluth, but the radio station he listens to broadcasts out of Duluth.
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Vacant city council seat up for grabs

The Duluth City Council is accepting applications for the recently vacated Second District council seat previously held by Patrick Boyle, who recently was elected to the St. Louis County Board.
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Mystery Photo #1: Chester Bowl

This photo was purportedly shot at Chester Bowl in 1936. Who are these gals? What were they doing that day? Who shot the photo?
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What to do when it’s really cold outside

Just when you thought you’d seen enough of those cold videos, Henry Reich of Hayward puts all of the activities together in one.

District 2 St. Louis County Commissioner Special Election Result

With 11 of 11 precincts reporting:

Patrick Boyle — 2,783 (65.5 percent)
Jim Stauber — 1,465 (34.5 percent)

Don’t bother adjusting your antenna … KDLH is having transmitter issues

If you’ve been throwing your antenna around the room since the first segment of 60 Minutes on Sunday, give up. KDLH channels 3.1 and 3.2 are experiencing a transmitter outage. Engineers are working on it.

Update: You can temporarily pick up KDLH on channel 6.3 while technicians continue work to solve the issue.

Jan. 12 road conditions: Ridiculously icy

Above is the scene on Mesaba Avenue Sunday morning. (Photo by Dave Diercks.) Freezing rain turned streets into hockey rinks.

Below: Blake and Jeremy road surf on Third Street near Mesaba Ave.

Ice Boulders

We’ve had a lot of awesome ice-sheet events on Lake Superior, but I can’t say we’ve had smooth, round boulders. This video by Bob Smitka shows ice boulders on the Lake Michigan shore at Glen Arbor from the polar vortex days.

Mayor Ness named Person of the Year by Twin Cities Business magazine

Twin Cities Business magazine has named Duluth Mayor Don Ness the 2013 Person of the Year. Editor-in-Chief Dale Kurschner wrote in a statement that Ness “stood out for outstanding leadership that has strengthened our state’s economy, business opportunities and culture.”

2013 Person Of The Year: Duluth Mayor Don Ness

This is the first year Twin Cities Business has designated a Person of the Year.

Someone wrote a headline like this once and it was shared on Facebook. Then something amazing happened …

Do you miss the days on Facebook when all the clickbait headlines your friends shared were numbered lists?
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