History
Video Archive: David Lee Roth 1987 Duluth Concert Promo
There’s already a post on PDD about the two Van Halen shows in Duluth, so here’s some love for ol’ Diamond Dave … or as the TV spot says “Dynamite.”
Decades before GTFO skateboarders …
The Ramp Riders vs. The Thrashers.
A not-so-perfect Duluth day in 1869
Because it’s fun to write about crime if it’s more than a hundred years old, I submit for your reading pleasure an article on Duluth’s first murder.
Writing it made me think of this a lot:
Skyline Art Gallery features local artists; showcases Duluth history
This weekend I visited the Skyline Art Gallery for its grand opening. This location, right near the crest of Thompson Hill is an area that I recognize as the spot where I feel like I am “home” and the awe-inspiring views of the great inland sea and the cities of Duluth and Superior open up before your eyes when approaching on I-35 from the south. I’m sure that many others have a similar sentiment, the owners of this gallery could be included in that group.
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Video Archive: Flipping the bird across Duluth, from east to west, decade to decade
The video above, by Mark Ryan, is a collection of film footage from 1970 of dudes hanging out at the old London Inn and other places in eastern Duluth, flipping off the camera. It first appeared on PDD in 2008.
I brought it back for this post because I just came across some footage I shot in the halls of Denfeld on Oct. 17, 1988, that I hope is of similar quality.
Audio Archive: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s honorary degree acceptance speech at University of Wisconsin-Superior in 1996
On May 17, 1996, the University of Wisconsin-Superior held its 100th commencement ceremony at Siinto S. Wessman Arena. Dr. Joe Domitrz, Dean of the College of Business and Economics at UW-Whitewater, gave what had to be one of the most overshadowed commencement addresses of all time, because Arnold Schwarzenegger took the microphone a bit later to accept an honorary Doctor of Human Letters degree.
The event was carried live by KUWS Radio and Schwartzeneggar’s remarks were later rebroadcast on the KUWS program Between the Lines. Captured in the video above is the radio rebroadcast played on Public Access Community Television in Duluth back in ’96.
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Around the time Wesley Willis died …
From the August 2003 Perfect Duluth Day archives:
- The B-52s cancel a Duluth show due to lack of ticket sales.
- Starfire endorses Greg Gilbert for mayor and plots to cover Enger Tower in bedsheets.
- Ca-chee recalls her days as a bad ass in shop class at “Ordeal” Junior High.
- Dirty Knobs vs. Duluth, Minnesota is released
- More skinny dipping.
- Godsey drinks excessively. (more…)
That pizza joint on the hill
Oh, my 40-year-old brain! I have been sitting in the same chair all day trying to remember the name of the pizza place that was up on the hill, I think, across from Shakey’s. It had a weird pizza joint / olde tyme candy shoppe / barbershop quartet theme. The logo was a guy with a handlebar mustache wearing a striped red shirt. My brother remembers enormous jaw breakers. Extra credit to anyone who can name the owners. They went to Holy Rosary.
Please help. I may never sleep again.
Freediving the Ruins of Duluth’s Outer Harbor
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyh72tSSZys
Freediving the century-plus-old ruins of Duluth’s outer harbor. First the old breakwater wall (cribbing filled with rocks) that stretches 1000′ from the Vietnam Memorial to the red buoy. The buoy’s function is to mark this as a shipping hazard (at that distance from shore the buoy is in 30 feet of water). The destruction of the breakwater wall in a storm spurred the digging of the canal. Then the column or pillar of Uncle Harvey’s Mausoleum, essentially a bundle of timbers sheathed in concrete. Then Uncle Harvey’s itself, in 16 feet of water, also built on cribbing.
The F-94C Starfire of Memorial Park Fame
The relic in the photo above is a Lockheed F-94C Starfire. It was on display at Memorial Park in West Duluth from May 1960 until October 1996 (photo of its removal above). It is not the same airplane that is currently displayed in the parking lot of American Legion Post 71.
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Video Archive: Low video “Over the Ocean” premiere on MTV from 1996
MTV’s Matt Pinfield introduces the premiere of Low’s “Over the Ocean” video during the program 120 Minutes. The video was directed by Philip Harder; the song is from Low’s album The Curtain Hits the Cast.
Dispatches from the Low/Radiohead tour, Green Man, skinny dipping and other happenings from July 2003
July 2003 is the first complete month of archived posts on Perfect Duluth Day. It was a time when Facebook didn’t exist and the word “blog” was still a year away from being named Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year.
PDD was a pretty different thing back then, both in appearance and attitude. Founders Barrett Chase and Scott “Starfire” Lunt used the Blogger publishing platform initially (until August 2004). If you look at the archive, it’s getting sloppier all the time as many of the images that were hosted on other sites aren’t there anymore and most of the links are dead.
Blogger didn’t support commenting in those days, so Barrett and Scott found some other thing to use, but the company behind it went out of business years ago, so all the comments from the posts on Blogger are long lost.
Since it was pre-Facebook, and was started among a group of friends, PDD initially was used a bit like Facebook, with a lot of inane daily updates — many of which stand the test of time and are cool to revisit, while others … not so much.
So what were the major happenings ten years ago as far as PDD was concerned?
- Starfire was a rock-and-roll nanny in Europe, traveling with Low and Radiohead (photos above).
- The second annual Green Man Festival was held at Spirit Mountain, featuring a giant gob of bands — the Big Wu, Wookiefoot, Shannon Wright, Heiruspecs, the Black-eyed Snakes, Ol’ Yeller, Pleasure Pause, Mark Mallman, White Iron Band, Cry on Cue, Spider John Koerner, Sweet Potato, Charlie Parr, Haley Bonar and so on.
- PDD achieved the number-one ranking on Google for the search term “skinny dipping pics.” Quoth Starfire: “I can’t tell you how proud I am of all of you.”
Listening to Steve O’Neil
More than 15 years ago, Minnesota Public Radio aired a half-hour documentary about Loaves and Fishes here in Duluth. This was not long after Steve O’Neil and Angie Miller had started the first Loaves and Fishes house.
Stephen Smith produced the story. It includes lots of audio from Steve and Angie. You can listen to or download it here.
Found: Warehouse Bar artifact
1988 relic.
Video Archive: Bad Company and Damn Yankees at the DECC Arena in 1991
Bad Company played Grand Casino Hinckley last night with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. Twenty-two years ago, Bad Company toured with Damn Yankees and played the DECC Arena.
The memorable part of the show was that the news came out during the concert that the Gulf War had ended. Ted Nugent celebrated by shooting a cutout of Saddam Hussein with his crossbow. (This seemed spontaneous, but it was actually something he was doing throughout the tour, because he’s Ted Nugent and that’s what he does.)
Casa Motel and Duluth Motel History
In a vein somewhat similar to the Ye Olde Corner Grocery post, I recently saw that the Casa Motel is for sale. That shoebox-looking motel has been a curiosity since I was a kid. It had a certain “stigma” about it, but I’ve always wondered, why there? What made someone build a motel there, in 1965? (more…)
The Economics of Sulfide Mining: Benefits and Costs
This address was given by Dr. Tom Power, Professor Emeritus at the University of Montana about a week ago in Duluth. (more…)
Ye Olde Corner Grocery
The latest posting at the Duluth Public Library’s Reference@Duluth blog is a look at a few of the lost corner grocery stores of Duluth.
Video Archive: Homegrown 2003
Here’s a sloppy VHS version of KDLH-TV’s coverage of the 2003 Homegrown Music Festival, including clips from the only Homegrown Kickball Classic ever held at the Wade softball fields — and the only time a TV news personality was invited to participate in the game.
Starfire’s fabulous mohawk appears near the end, although the quality of the video doesn’t do it justice.
Video Archive: 1989 World Series Earthquake
Duluth sports anchors report on the Oct. 17, 1989, Loma Prieta Earthquake that disrupted the World Series at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Featuring WDIO’s Steve LePage and KBJR’s Paul Guggenheimer.
Guy Lombardo regrets
I don’t know if I was being cheap or just avoiding my hoarding instincts, but I regret not coughing up $8 for this Guy Lombardo record at the Wallace Henkins Estate Sale in May. It appears to be a live recording on Duluth station WEBC from Oct. 14, 1948 — I’m not sure. It was an over-sized record, and I wasn’t sure if it would fit on my turntable. So, who picked it up and how long until it’s shared on the Internet?
Video Archive: Locker Room gets Blastered
The Third Base Bar on Tower Avenue in Superior used to be the Locker Room Lounge and Grill. Here is pro wrestling’s Gary “The Blaster” Lindgren extolling the virtues of the Locker Room, circa 1989.
Curiosity: Mysteries Near Boy Scout Landing
I have a curiosity about the history of our town and the surrounding area, and PDD has been a great source for finding answers and discovering new things. I hope someone can solve these mini mysteries, (at least they’re a mystery to me).
Out by Boy Scout Landing, there is this wedge-shaped foundation, (Search Google Maps for: 46.654688, -92.224903). It looks as if it was some sort of industry long since gone. (more…)
Granada Stage Bar
Here is a photo I took of the Granada Stage Bar during a snow storm in the early 1980s, a few years after moving to town. I don’t know or remember anything about it, including its actual location. In my mind I think it was on Superior St, but that organ has been wrong on a regular basis. Anybody have any knowledge of it?