Louis Oreck: Dealer in Curios
The business card above touts the goods for sale at Louis Oreck’s Curios store in Downtown Duluth circa the 1910s: souvenirs, American Indian crafts and mineral specimens.
The business card above touts the goods for sale at Louis Oreck’s Curios store in Downtown Duluth circa the 1910s: souvenirs, American Indian crafts and mineral specimens.
For this edition of the PDD Video Lab we’ve once again taken a silent film from Dominic Chione’s archive — this one from 1963 — and paired it with music by Duluth/Superior’s own Jerree Small. The track is “60 Words for Water” from the 2004 album Mobius.
Watch for a nice cameo appearance at the 1:30 mark by the old Sky Room Restaurant at the Buena Vista.
Can you identify some of Duluth’s historic architecture based on decorative details (and a few hints)? Quiz on to find out!
The next PDD quiz will test your knowledge of May 2020 headlines; it will be published on May 31. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by May 27.
History is being written today.
Documents from the Northeastern Minnesota COVID-19 Community Archive Project at the University of Minnesota Duluth are now live. More information about the project can be found at lib.d.umn.edu. If you would like to learn more, including information on how to submit, please check out the research guide.
This is a great resource, including art by UMD colleagues and friends.
This undated postcard shows scenes from the Mesabi Iron Range, the largest of four iron ranges in northeast Minnesota. The card uses a spelling more often associated with a roadway in Duluth — Mesaba Avenue.
Nerds will explain this in the comments.
In this 1972 clip from WDIO-TV, reporter Stu Stronach enlists cameraman Mark Ryan to buy an ounce of marijuana on Fourth Avenue West and Superior Street.
Ethan Freel transferred this film to video and added the music.
Remember when all of Duluth’s houses were pink? It was back when we all lived in the land of make-believe known as the illustrated postcard era.
So, what was “Glenn Rock”?
This undated postcard from Gallagher’s Studio of Photography depicts a “foreign vessel going under famous Aerial Lift Bridge,” according to the caption on the back.
In this edition of the PDD Video Lab we watch the bulk carrier Starbelle pass through the Duluth Ship Canal and under the Aerial Lift Bridge via footage from Richter Home Movies. The final 15 seconds features a nice look at Canal Park circa the early 1960s.
These two buildings still exist in Duluth, in slightly altered form. They are significant for different reasons. One of them is one of the oldest standing buildings in Duluth.
What are they currently used for? What was the October House? Hint: A baker named Bergetta Moe was involved at one point.
Reconstructed by the Richardson Bros. from records at the St. Louis County Historical Society
Full text below.
I was reminiscing of the olden days of Duluth, way back in 2001, where on First Street you could get a roast beef sandwich on a European Bakery roll for a dollar at Fichtner’s butcher shop.
I feel certain that the recipe for that roast beef a) is simpler than I expect and b) won’t translate to the home oven — that the secret was a 30-pound chunk of beef, sliced, sitting in hotel pan in the window for hours.
Anyway, if anyone has the recipe, please share.
In this edition of the PDD Video Lab we take a cruise through Virginia, Chisholm and Hibbing circa the 1960s with footage from Richter Home Movies set to the tune of Iron & Wine’s “Weary Memory” from the 2002 album The Creek Drank the Cradle.
This undated postcard from the Gallagher Studio of Photography shows the parking lot near the Duluth Shipping Canal, which is known as the Lighthouse Lot.
The caption on the back of the card reads:
Canal Park in Duluth, Minnesota
Westerly Terminus of the St. Lawrence Seaway
