History
The Louie Show: Intro and Theme
Here it is, the opening theme to The Louie Show. Thanks to Waferdog for passing along this essential archival VHS treasure from 1996.
There isn’t really any Duluth footage in the opening, other than the big “Duluth” sweatshirt Louie sports.
Goodbye, Woodland Jr.
Last chance to visit Woodland Middle School this weekend. Classic junior high 1980s memories of fashion issues and general awkwardness. And lots of “going out with people” started and ended often via notes.
Duluth News Tribune: Say goodbye to Duluth’s Woodland Middle School
Old Howard Mill and the (Possibly) Incendiary Howard Boys
Back in 2009, some folks on PDD wondered about the Old Howard Mill Road, where it went, and who the heck the Howards were. I just wrote an article that sheds some light on that subject, for your reading pleasure.
Above is a photo of the Howard family marker at Forest Hill, with an annoying late afternoon shadow across it.
Did JFK have a ball in Duluth?
Well, this is a pretty big anniversary. Not two months after his 1963 stay in the Hotel Duluth, Jack found a bullet, or three, in Dallas. I’ve been reading up on the frothy array of differing assassination opinions and greatly look forward to another go around with the subject this week on PBS. The more you get into it, the deeper and messier it gets, the more suspects there are, and on and on. I doubt the fine bloggers of PDD are closer to the truth than anyone, but please, offer your ideas or memories.
Jim Heffernan’s Blog: “A Kennedy affair to remember — even in Duluth“
Miss Dorothy Crawford’s Duluth Adventure
There’s a fun piece on the Glensheen Blog called “No Outdoor Sports Until it Warms Up to Zero.” It’s a 101-year-old letter from a Vassar College student named Dorothy Crawford, who traveled to Duluth to visit her classmate, Helen Congdon, and stayed at the Congdon mansion. She writes about the comforts of Glensheen, going to the bonspiel, going to a show at the Orpheum (now the NorShor), eating caviar sandwiches at the Hotel Spaulding, skating on the lake, etc., and concludes with a tobogganing party at Chester Bowl.
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The Louie Show
Minnesota-born comedian Louie Anderson starred in a CBS sitcom in 1996 that was set in Duluth. It didn’t last long. Six episodes were produced; five were aired. None of the episodes were shot in Duluth, but the opening theme featured Louie in a sweatshirt with “Duluth” across the chest and some transition footage was shot in Duluth. The show is not available on DVD or streaming on Netflix, but thanks to old VHS copies floating around town we’ve been able to pull together excerpts from four episodes (see below).
Duluth-Superior Harbor Circa 1975
This postcard image was published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography. My great aunt Jennie mailed it to me in 1975, noting she had a “wonderful ride on a boat called the Vista Queen.” She specified that “there were 147 people on the boat” and “the trip took two hours.”
I was 3 years old at the time, and my family was living in Albuquerque, N.M., with plans to move back to Duluth. Jennie ended her message with, “Little Paul, can you count all the boats in the picture on this card?”
Well, I’m 40 years old now and I got the answer wrong. I counted 12 boats. How many do you see, little readers?
The printed info on the postcard reads: “Duluth-Superior Harbor: Foreign vessels are shown at the Arthur M. Clure Public Marine Terminal. The Duluth-Superior Harbor is the westerly terminus of the St. Lawrence Seaway.”
And that concludes today’s Show and Tell.
Duck’s feet and bird’s nest soup in Duluth
Duluth News Tribune — Oct. 16, 1916:
Hello, my name is October 2003
A search through the PDD Archives for October 2003 reveals a wild month. Rick Boo closed the NorShor Theatre (causing much reminiscing on PDD), Bone Appetit was supposed to open for Ratt at the Third Rock Bar until Ratt cancelled at the last minute, people on PDD started posting short introductions about themselves and telling ghost stories, Starfire got his jaw jacked, Jamie Ness was voted Hottest Ness Brother, a cake/fist fight broke out at Slim Goodbuzz’s book-release party, Elliot Smith died and Shaky Ray Records hosted some kind of party.
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And now a commercial break … from 1993
Here’s a block of 1993 Duluth-related television commercials, because, as noted before on this site, commercials stop being annoying and turn into cheesy little historical treasures when they get old.
The lineup includes: Daugherty’s, Republic Bank, Duke Skorich Assignment: Serbia/Croatia, Minnesota Surplus, KBJR 6 News: The Team to Watch, Floor to Ceiling Store, Menards and Bullyan Recreation Center.
Does anybody know of any West Junior High yearbooks?
I’m looking for a yearbook from West Junior High from around the year 1938. I’ve checked DPL and all round the school district. I’m wondering if anybody has one laying around in an attic somewhere.
Before Big Daddy’s Burgers …
I’ve been to Big Daddy’s Burgers in Piedmont a couple of times and liked it, I need to go again sometime. However, I have a memory of another diner, an even smaller one, just next door to Big Daddy’s, (to the left at the end of the building). When I was kid, likely in the mid-to-late 1980s, my Grandma took me there when we were visiting my Great Grandma at Viewcrest nursing home. I may have only been there once, maybe twice, but it made an impression, mostly due to it’s size, it was the very definition of a hole-in-the-wall diner. There was a lunch counter that ran most of the length of it, the cook made the food right behind it, I don’t think there were even any tables, just the counter since it was so small.
Does anyone remember this place, the name, and I know this is stretching it, but perhaps pictures? It’s just one of those childhood memories that has stuck with me, and I’d love a little history? Thanks in advance!
A little early with his Halloween jokes
Duluth News Tribune cartoon by R. D. Handy from 100 years ago — Oct. 23, 1913.
Video Archive: KBJR Topline News and the Cheers party at the Western Tavern in 1993
This is the complete Topline News broadcast from May 20, 1993. You’ll notice it’s pretty short; that’s because from 1992 to 1998 KBJR experimented with an abbreviated 10 p.m. news program that ran about six minutes, not counting commercials, followed by a re-run of Roseanne with sports scores at bottom screen.
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Jerry Polinsky tries his luck in Atlantic City
Related to Minnesota Woolen Mills posts on Perfect Duluth Day is this December 1978 Corporate Report article.
Jerry Polinsky Tries His Luck in Atlantic City
Considered ‘insolvent’ in Duluth, the former Minnesota Woolens executive is laying heavy bets along the Boardwalk …
By Charles I. Mundale
In early summer 1977, a new hotel corporation was formed in Atlantic City, N.J.
In late summer 1977, an old retailing company bellied up in Duluth, Minn. (more…)
Fashion Wagon – Minnesota Woolen
A vintage flannel caught my eye this afternoon while taking a break from work and strolling into the Wise Buys thrift store in Bellingham, Wash. I was shocked to see “Duluth, Minnesota” on the tag. Does anyone know where this was located? I have never heard of it before.
A quick Google search shows the trademark was registered around 1960 and expired in 1987.
My arms are still itching from trying the shirt on.
A Case of Kid Cussedness from 1901
A Letter to the Editor at the Duluth News-Tribune on November 11, 1901:
I would respectively [sic] call the attention of the chief of police to an example of “Hoodlumism” on a street car in your city as I have never witnessed anywhere.
Surely the “kids” are under the surveillance of the police authorities, if the bums cannot be controlled.
Business relative to a burned building called me to Duluth Heights. When I returned to the city, just getting dark, half a dozen passengers came on the car; while passing a store, seven “kids” climbed aboard, and clear down to the incline gave such a specimen of cussedness that would never be tolerated on the Bowery.
Wrestling, scrapping, kicking and yelling, annoying all the passengers, even to insulting two women passengers by throwing one another’s dirty cans into the faces of the women!
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The Nonchalant Jaunt and other 2003 stuff
The Perfect Duluth Day Archives for September 2003 feature a number of posts about the Nonchalant Jaunt, an event in which seven hearty PDDers walked the length of Duluth, from the Wabegon Supper Club in the Superior Township to the Lakeview Castle in the Duluth Township.
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Duluth banker brings home “what probably are the first amateur motion pictures in color of native and animal life in Africa”
An interesting item from the New York Times, July 07, 1937:
Amateur films jungle in colors: Duluth banker sails today from Paris with rare movies of natives and animals
Laurence O. Anderson of the Northern National Bank of Duluth, Minn., after a month’s holiday in the Belgian Congo, will sail for the United States tomorrow on the Normandle with what probably are the first amateur motion pictures in color of native and animal life in Africa.
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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