PDD Quiz: October 2025
Review the past month’s headlines and happenings in this edition of the PDD Quiz.
The gales of November will blow your way on Nov. 16 with a quiz about the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Nov. 11. (more…)
Minnesota Power & Light Substation Fire of 1925
The 1925 fire at the Minnesota Power & Light Substation was not necessarily a particularly significant moment in Duluth history — the Duluth Herald offered just a simple photo and caption for its coverage — but the internet does not contain many photos of the building, so this fuzzy newspaper image has some moderate historic value.
The fire occurred on Oct. 25, 1925 — 100 years ago today. (more…)
R.I.P Todd Eckart
News broke today that Duluth musician Todd Eckart was one of two people killed in a head-on automobile collision in the southbound lanes of U.S. Highway 53 at Berg Park Road in Amnicon Township on Oct. 22.
Eckart was one of the city’s busiest performers, playing gigs at virtually every possible venue. Below is just a small sampling of his vast array of gig posters. (more…)
Pronoya – “Lost”
“Lost” is the latest single from Duluth band Pronoya‘s upcoming EP All for the Sun, due out at the end of November. The band plays a release show Nov. 29 at Pizza Luce.
Iron Country: Iron Ore and Minnesota’s Future (1955 Film)
This supremely cheesy 70-year-old promotional film explains the importance of mining through actors portraying a group of people chatting in the dining hall at the Minnesota State Fair.
Duluth appears briefly at the 7- and 21-minute marks. (more…)
War Bonnet – “You Belong to Me”
Iron Range-area band War Bonnet tips a hat to Hibbing native Bob Dylan with this video for the band’s version of a popular ballad from Dylan’s youth in the 1950s. Dylan recorded a version in 1994 for the Natural Born Killers movie soundtrack. The War Bonnet video features Chaz Wagner strolling by Dylan’s childhood home and high school.
Postcard from the Minnesota Point Lighthouse Ruins
This postcard was mailed 115 years ago. It shows the ruins of the Minnesota Point Lighthouse, which ended its run as a functional lighthouse in 1885. The faded postmark on the card is from February 1910. (more…)
North Country Trail in Wisconsin: Returning to the Border
During a group hike in spring 2024, I covered a new section of the North Country Trail in Wrenshall. At the time I didn’t think much about how my essay series is about the trail “in Wisconsin,” yet almost all of that hike was in Minnesota.
A few years ago, the Wisconsin section of the North Country Trail was all in Wisconsin, because it hadn’t been built yet near the Minnesota state line. The Minnesota side of the trail ended in the woods at the border, and the only way to start the trail at the Wisconsin side was to hike various highways to get to the parts of the trail that had been built.
Now that an official border route through the woods exists, however, the trail enters Wisconsin and runs for about a mile, slants over into Minnesota for about two miles, then swings back into Wisconsin.
There was a small part of that new section in Wrenshall I didn’t see on that group hike, because there was snow on the ground, groups move slower than individuals, and the rest of the group didn’t share my quest to cover every single bit of the trail. So I went back in the fall. (more…)
“Opiate War” by ©ontainer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y985ejC9_Lw
When you live downtown, you see some things. I’m just a guy with windows. (more…)
New Hong Kong-style cafe coming to Lakeside
Chef Antony Gor is opening a new Hong Kong-style cafe in Lakeside. The restaurant will take over the former longtime home of the New London Cafe. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
A new Hong Kong-style cafe will take over a longtime restaurant space in Lakeside as its chef-owner moves from hosting special pop-up dining events to a permanent brick-and-mortar location.
Chef Antony Gor has launched plans to open Sōl Cafe at 4721 E. Superior St., the former home of New London Cafe and, most recently, Falastin Palestinian Food. The new fast-casual, breakfast-and-lunch place is expected to open later this year. (more…)
Crazy Ken Band – “Tiger & Dragon”
Duluth artist Joe Klander, aka baby-eating professional wrestler Kurokumo Clutch, breaks out his ukulele to perform a charming little ditty.
Duluth 2025 General Election Sample Ballot
General Election Day for the city of Duluth and Independent School District #709 is Tuesday, Nov. 4. The sample ballot above does not reflect what an actual ballot will look like in any part of the city. Some voters will not see any district races; others will see either District 1, 2 or 4 races on their ballot.
JamesG – “Everything Hurts”
JamesG brings up a sore subject in his latest music video.
The 100 Block of East First Street in Duluth Circa 1928
All of the buildings in the foreground of this century-old photo are still standing, though at least one of them is likely to be demolished soon.
The image is estimated to be from the year 1928 because it features the Duluth Costume House at the center of the frame, and newspaper archives indicate the business moved to the other side of the street in March 1929. The business had been at its original location since 1923, but the vehicles in the image suggest 1928 or later. (more…)
Climate>Duluth: Kelley Skumautz
Climate>Duluth host Tone Lanzillo interviews Kelley Skumautz, executive director of Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate. The program was recorded in the Duluth Public Access Community Television studio.
PDD Quiz: Halloween Happenings 2025
Map out your spooky season festivities with this week’s quiz, which takes a look at local Halloween-y events!
A month-in-review quiz comes your way on Oct. 26. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Oct. 23. (more…)
Mittens
This mitten thing started when I sent The Maker a message asking about scraps. Pretty sure it was sometime in 2022, which I’m also pretty sure was last year. He and I didn’t really know each other. I had admired his work for a while. Maybe we had already sold some bicycle parts back and forth. But maybe that came after. I know and I don’t. Time gets weird as it piles up and evaporates, and I am a partially reliable narrator at best about these and a lot of other things.
My message asked if his work, which includes cutting up wool blankets to make remarkably nice anoraks and jackets for winter expeditions, ever leaves him with leftovers. I was hoping he could give me a piece of fabric just big enough for patching a couple buttonholes and a pocket corner on a plaid wool shirt I’d worn ungently since paying $7 for it at Savers. He sent back something like, “I’ve got a couple garbage bags full. You can have it all if you want it.” I said I did without knowing why. My only use for wool scraps was fixing those small spots on that one shirt, and Ms. LaCount (my wife) and I try hard to minimize our clutter. (more…)
How Julann Griffin invented Jeopardy! on a flight out of Duluth
A trip to Duluth led to the development of the television game show Jeopardy! A recent episode of the podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz recounts the music and sound effects of the show and includes the historic tidbit about the role Duluth played in its creation story.
The mention comes around the 2-minute mark of the episode titled “The Music of Jeopardy! From a Lullaby to $100,000,000,” which is embedded above. (more…)
PDD Shop Talk: We’re looking to hire an event calendar editor
The event submissions keep flowing into the PDD Calendar and our crew of four editors just isn’t enough to stay on top of it. We need to hire one more part-time helper.
But before we get into that, we lead with the standard reminder that Perfect Duluth Day is run by human beings and not machines. So if you appreciate it, drop a few bucks in the PayPal account. (more…)
Climate>Duluth: Polly and Peter Edmunds of Border Partners
Climate>Duluth host Tone Lanzillo interviews Polly and Peter Edmunds about their work with Border Partners. The program was recorded in the Duluth Public Access Community Television studio.
When Duluth was Country
Duluth was once a Midwestern center for country-western music. I’m going to share some fragments of it, and I want readers to help me with three things: 1. Are any PDDers alive who remember these things? 2. Are they still rolling and just not on my radar? These come from a book I bought at Gabriel’s back in the day. (more…)
Rare Moments from the Northwoods
Voyageurs Wolf Project trail cameras capture snippets of the fascinating daily happenings in Voyageurs National Park, about 100 miles north of Duluth. Though the project is focused on understanding the summer ecology of wolves in the park, the cameras record a variety of wildlife throughout the year. All of the footage in the clip above was captured in fall and winter 2024.
Alan Sparhawk – “No More Darkness”
Duluth’s Alan Sparhawk is one of 17 artists with new music on a compilation album set for release Dec. 5 on the Western Vinyl label. Passages: Artists in Solidarity with Immigrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers is a fundraiser for nonprofits that provide no-to-low cost legal services, food, shelter, access to health care and other essential services.
Duluth Deep Dive #9: The Third Largest City in Minnesota
The population of Duluth, Bloomington, and Rochester over time (Source: U.S. Census Data)
A recent YouTube video on Duluth restaurants described Duluth as the third-largest city in Minnesota — a statement that has been true at various points in the state’s history. Since Minnesota became the 32nd state in 1858, Minneapolis and St. Paul have consistently been its two largest cities. Third place, however, has been considerably less stable. This Duluth Deep Dive takes a closer look at the cities that have held the #3 spot, using aerial images to show how these cities have developed over time. (more…)
Ripped at the Pickwick in 2000
[Editor’s note: For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the archive of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. Twenty-five years ago the Sultan of Sot paid a visit to Duluth’s venerable Pickwick, and composed this article for the Oct. 4, 2000 edition of the Ripsaw newspaper. The Pickwick’s bar underwent significant renovations in 2010 and now features televisions.]
Call me romantic, but when my special lady friend said she was growing tired of seedy dives, I decided to treat her to a classy night at the Pickwick, where the two of us could get ripped in style.
It shouldn’t really be that difficult to make a bar a comfortable place to imbibe, yet it’s surprising how many truly annoying bars there are in this area. The Pickwick has it just right: extremely dim lighting, dark wood paneling, good furniture, no neon beer lights, no tacky antique signs, no TVs. And even though the room is decorated with taxidermy, it’s as tasteful and interesting as taxidermy can be. The only things lacking are a good sound system and a room full of couches and armchairs. But since the bar serves mainly as an area for diners to wait for tables on busy nights, it’s extremely unlikely that the Pickwick will be booking live music or ordering La-Z-Boys anytime soon. (more…)