Adas Israel Congregation synagogue destroyed by fire
The Duluth Fire Department responded at 2:23 a.m. to a report of a structure fire at Adas Israel Congregation, a Jewish synagogue at 302 E. Third St. (more…)
Peter, Paul & Mary – “Love City (Postcards to Duluth)”
The famed folk trio of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Noel Paul Stookey and contralto Mary Travers parenthetically referenced Duluth with the 1968 single “Love City.” (more…)
Mystery Photos: Howorth Photography
These two cabinet cards presumably feature two different women, although they look a touch similar. The mystery isn’t just who they are, but also what the deal was with Howorth. (more…)
Selective Focus: Duluth Then & Now
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2Cw8uAnENv/
Even if you’re not a history nerd, you’ve got to admire the effort put into finding and recreating these photos and the point of view. The images are from John McLoughlin’s @duluth_then_and_now account on Instagram. (more…)
Video: Pinkbike in Duluth and Lebanon Hills
The cycling website Pinkbike recently visited Duluth (first half of the video) and Lebanon Falls (about 170 miles south of Duluth; second half of video).
There is no Poop Fairy PSA
You may have seen signs and literature around town encouraging pet owners to pick up after their pooches. Here’s a PSA for the campaign. Sponsored by Duluth Park and Recreation Department, along with the Regional Stormwater Protection Team.
With Jenna Kelly and Jody Kujawa, video by Danger Bird Productions
Seven historic Duluth photos, digitally restored
View of Duluth on the Shore of Lake Superior (1870)
The Minnesota Reflections database contains a large number of high-quality historic photographs of Duluth. Most of these are scans of old prints in excellent condition. Some of the photos in the collection, however, come from torn, faded, scratched, taped or otherwise damaged prints. Many of these damaged prints belong to the collection of photographs taken by Paul B. Gaylord, a photographer from Ohio who moved to Duluth in 1869 and published some of the earliest images of the area. (more…)
Summer Surf on Stoney Point
This video by Erik Wilkie documents a Sept. 3 surf outing at Stoney Point on Lake Superior, just south of Knife River.
The Slice: Stickball at Grand Portage
Monthly Grovel: September 2019 Edition
In the past year — from September 2018 through August 2019 — the PDD Calendar published 7,917 Duluth-area events. Each one was edited by a human being before the “publish” button was pushed.
It’s a tremendous amount of work to keep up with all the submissions from the more than 1,000 organizations that have sent us info about their concerts, plays, bake sales and bunco tournaments. That’s why once a month we set our dignity aside and remind readers how much we appreciate their financial support. (more…)
Postcards from Duluth’s West End … not West Duluth
A recent post on Perfect Duluth Day featured a “Postcard from the West End of Duluth” that was properly captioned by the postcard company. The postcard shown above, however, shows a similar scene and is captioned as “West Duluth, Minn.” (more…)
Missing Person: Jacob Lavoie
The Duluth Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating 21-year-old Jacob Michael Lavoie. He was last seen at Grandma’s Sports Garden in Canal Park on Saturday, Aug. 31, at around midnight, and early on the morning of Sept. 1.
Lavoie is a white male, 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighing approximately 150 pounds, with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. He might be wearing a black Nike baseball hat, red/salmon long-sleeve shirt and jeans. Anyone who has information about Lavoie’s whereabouts is encouraged to contact the Duluth Police Department Juvenile Services Unit at 218-730-5560, or call 911. (more…)
Duluth Seaway Portorama
The Duluth Public Library’s Vintage Duluth blog recently published a retrospective on the Duluth Seaway Portarama, an annual summer festival sponsored by the Duluth Jaycees from 1959 to 1969. The modern day relevancy, as the post notes, is that in February the Minnesota House of Representatives repealed sections 333.50, 333.51 and 333.52 of Statute 19-1642, “eliminating crime of unauthorized use of the name and mark “portorama.” (more…)
Iwen wins prize
The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports that UW-Superior professor Jayson Iwen has won a $5,000 poetry prize. (more…)
Postcard from the West End of Duluth
This postcard was mailed Sept. 2, 1939, to Donna Buhler of Toledo, Ohio. Her parents had just arrived in Duluth. (more…)
Denfeld High School Football Team of 1944
Here’s a peek at what the Denfeld Hunters gridiron crew looked like 75 years ago, in the fall of 1944. That’s legendary coach Walt Hunting up top and center. (more…)
Lake Superior Aquaman’s Duluth
I first launched this sort-of virtual tour of the area in January 2018. I just updated it with more than 30 new features, including more than 130 new photos, several video links, links to news articles, the paths of my various “skate patrols” and “flamingo patrols,” The People’s Free Skate, a greater spread through the region, and all my latest activities. Enjoy.
Mind your Business
On my way to see Burning, the Korean movie adaptation of a Haruki Murakami short story, playing at Zeitgeist Zinema in January, I heard a woman yell “Somebody help me!” from the bus stop. I couldn’t see her well; she had made herself small, the way a rabbit might make itself small for fear of a predator who has entered the garden, too.
A man was looming over her while she cowered against the wall of the Greysolon Plaza. From behind, I couldn’t see much of him, either. He wore a jacket that looked not-quite warm enough; his agitated movements were likely keeping him warm. I felt my city instincts kick in.
I’ve lived in a city all my life: Milwaukee until I was 22, St. Paul until I was 32. Duluth is the smallest community I have ever lived in, and most days, it barely feels like a city. In the quarters of a city where poor people live, anytime someone calls “help,” I think, we check it out. We need each other.
Someone called for help. I needed to check it out. I started to cross the street, putting on my most booming voice.
“What’s going on over there?” (more…)
Superior Entry Lighthouse on Wisconsin Point sold
The century-old Superior Entry Lighthouse on Wisconsin Point sold for $159,000 to Steven Broudy of San Francisco, Calif. The new owner will have to maintain it. (more…)
Selective Focus: Quinn Montgomery
This week, we feature the youngest Selective Focus artist so far, Quinn Montgomery. She has been drawing caricatures of celebrities. Many are from shows that she most likely can’t watch for quite awhile. We get some background info from her dad, Derek Montgomery (previously featured in Selective Focus). For now, you can keep up with Quinn’s art career via her dad’s Instagram Feed. Be sure to check the second picture in each Instagram post to see the reference material with the finished drawing.
DM: I started documenting our daughter Quinn’s drawings as just a way to remember some of the things she was doing at her age, which is four years old. I found her style of drawing–large head with The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Jack Skellington-length arms and legs–as really humorous and fun. She’s always been very perceptive and expressive and the drawings are just an extension of that. I work from home and Quinn would bring me drawings every day of stuff she saw around the house or outside to cheer me up because apparently I needed that? I don’t know, but I always appreciated seeing her take on the world out here in Lakeside.
(more…)
Then and Now: Blue Crab Bar / OMC Smokehouse
The above photo was shot on Aug. 29, 2009 at the Blue Crab Bar, 1909 W. Superior St. Today it is the location of OMC Smokehouse. The photo below, shot Aug. 29, 2019, attempts to replicate the scene. (more…)