Postcard from Fairmount Park in 1948
This postcard of Duluth’s “municipal zoo,” now known as Lake Superior Zoo, was mailed 70 years ago today — Sept. 8, 1948. (more…)
So long, West Duluth Kmart
The Kmart store in my neighborhood closed last weekend. Now there’s a giant empty space in the Spirit Valley Mall in West Duluth, with a faded area above the doors where a sign once read: “Big Kmart.”
It took more than 30 years for the store to run itself out of business, and I’d probably need a degree in finance and a long look inside the books of parent company Sears Holdings Corporation to ever understand. How does a neighborhood’s only department store — a place that’s known for always having lines at the cash registers — go out of business?
The answer to that question might be that retail stores are struggling in general, and any store with massive overhead costs that provides a lousy shopping experience doesn’t stand a chance. And the West Duluth Kmart was a lousy shopping experience.
The lines at Kmart perhaps weren’t due to the high volume of traffic, but instead the understaffing at the store. Target or Wal-Mart might have a dozen checkouts open at once; Kmart seldom had more than two. (more…)
The Realistic Joneses
I left Panera for the Realistic Joneses at the Zeitgeist while, it seemed to me, a woman was in a tree. I’m not entirely sure about the tree part — I know she was in the woods, alongside the creek behind the parking lot separating the Panera from the Aldi complex, and I know that the police and EMTs were looking upward as one of the pines was shaking. I didn’t see her. I could only hear her voice, sadly crying that people believed that something was wrong with her. I felt a sadness that mirrored hers. There was no way for this story to end which didn’t fulfill her words. I wished there were a way for people to just turn their backs and let her leave, if that would be what she wanted. (more…)
Selective Focus: Nik Nerburn
Photographer and filmmaker Nik Nerburn has a show at Hemlocks Leatherworks and a show opening next Thursday at Duluth Art Institute. His photos are spontaneous glances that grab and pull you in, wondering about the rest of the story.
NN: I’m a documentary storyteller. I make movies and take pictures. Most of my work is about life in the upper Midwest, mostly rural areas, small towns, and places that are changing. I’m currently working on a photo essay about the shifting politics and culture of Duluth and the Iron Range, a documentary film called The Great American Think Off about a philosophy contest in New York Mills, Minnesota (population 1,119), and a photo book called The Grand Terrace Photo League, which is a documentary collaboration between myself and the residents of an apartment building in Worthington, Minn., which houses mostly recent immigrants who work at a nearby pork processing plant. I care about expanding the common life and finding ways to relate across great differences. (more…)
Duluth-area Theater Primer 2018-2019
As the leaves start to turn and the smell of fall starts to waft through the air, local theater companies are springing to life. It’s time for the Perfect Duluth Day theater primer. If it’s on the stage, it’s in our calendar. (more…)
Jim Richardson is Dead: Long Live Lake Superior Aquaman
Just kidding, I’m not really dead. But it has been a summer without an Aquaman. Some might call me Lake Superior Absentman. I’m sorry I went dark for a while. After several years of spending nearly every summer day at the water’s edge, this summer I barely touched it. There are many reasons why and the PDD community is the place to unpack them.
Mystery Photos #72 and #73: Duluth in 1926
Tim Winker of Saginaw found two 1926 Duluth photos while going through his family’s collection. “Any guess as to where on the hillside these might have been taken?” he asks. (more…)
Video Archive: Illgen Falls Huckamania
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41ex3_9vzHY
Andy McMurray uploaded this video to YouTube ten years ago today — Sept. 5, 2008. It shows a group of Duluth kayakers plunging down Illgen Falls at the Baptism River, about 60 miles northeast of Duluth. The video also details the work a video crew went through to set up shots — rigging highlines, pulleys and ropes.
The video was described on Perfect Duluth Day in 2008 as “tightrope walking meets kayak boating.”
Alex Frecon – “I’m From Minnesota (The Minnesota Anthem)”
This new video from Minneapolis hip-hop artist Alex Frecon features a few scenes shot in Duluth.
BusinessNorth owners purchase Lake Superior Magazine
Left to right above: New Lake Superior Magazine owners Beth Bily and Ron Brochu, former owners Cindy Hayden and Paul Hayden
Two longtime, Duluth-based media organizations with a combined 66 years in existence are now under the same ownership following the Aug. 31 sale of Lake Superior Magazine and its associated books and merchandising operations to the publishers of BusinessNorth and Scenic Range News Forum. The entities announced the sale in a news release today. (more…)
The 4ontheFloor – “Radio Edit [Explicit]”
Minneapolis band the 4ontheFloor, featuring occasional Duluthian Gabriel Douglas, has a new music video out, a new album on the way and a Kickstarter campaign nearly wrapped up. (more…)
Alice Cooper – “Remarkably Insincere”
Alice Cooper drops a reference to Duluth on this song from his 1982 album Zipper Catches Skin. (more…)
Mystery Photo #71: Duluth Eagles Club Summer Home
There doesn’t appear to be much information on the internet about the Duluth Eagles Club in general, much less the summer home shown on this old postcard. When were the Duluth Eagles formed? When did the club disband? Where is Grand View Beach / Aeire Lake? And where was the club’s main lodge in Duluth? (more…)
Congdon Pumphouse highlights historic home tour
A 19th Century Duluth pump house was converted into living space by Elisabeth Congdon in 1937. The property will be open during the Duluth Preservation Alliance Historic Property Tour Sept. 16.
Duluth has dozens of spectacular waterfront properties with amazing Lake Superior views but only one home has a front porch featuring metal wave deflectors and living room windows equipped with hurricane shutters. (more…)
Postcard from the Steamer Thomas F. Cole
This postcard depicts the Thomas F. Cole in the Duluth shipping channel on her maiden trip to Duluth. The message on the back of the card appears to be dated Sept. 1, 1908. (more…)
1,186 Days
It’s been three years since I drank alcohol. More, actually: in fact, for the past three years, two months, 29 days (counting today — I’m feeling optimistic) I have abstained from alcohol. For 1,186 days, I have not had a single drink. Not a single beer, shot of tequila — not one lone glass of wine.
Which is sort of amazing, because during the 20 years before that I drank my face off.
Typically, I drank between three and five beers a night. By the last year I was drinking, most weekend nights, I drank five. I’m not the Incredible Hulk over here, either. I’ve always been a tallish, thinnish lady, and I never had miraculous, superhuman tolerance, like Raiders of the Lost Ark’s Marion in that bar in Nepal. Five beers made me drunk. Which was the whole idea. I was a heavy drinker.
In spite of my volume of alcohol consumption, I’m not an alcoholic. Some of you might be thinking, “So, you just quit drinking for nothingAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH???” And I get that. I’ll give you a moment to shriek into the throw pillows of nearby Barcaloungers for a moment while you assimilate that terrible and inexplicable chunk of information. (more…)
Thirsty Pagan Brewing moving to Soo Line Depot
The Superior Telegram reports Thirsty Pagan Brewing will move to the Soo Line Depot at 1615 Winter St. in January.
“The move marks a step into the brick-and-mortar phase — owning a building instead of leasing,” the story notes. “The depot also offers more private seating options for meetings, events and parties, although the total number of seats will remain roughly the same. … Groups already meet regularly at Thirsty Pagan, but the current configuration isn’t ideal for privacy. At about 7,500 square feet, the depot will provide more space to spread into.”
Selective Focus: Zoey Cohen Leege
Next Thursday at Red Herring Lounge, Zoey Cohen Leege has an opening reception for her paintings related to Lake Superior. She has a background in art and art history, but only over the past year has begun painting regularly.
ZCL: My paintings are acrylic on masonite. I like having a smooth surface to paint on; canvas feels too rough. Also, masonite is affordable. Each painting is based on a photo I took of Lake Superior over the last year, combined with something I find interesting, beautiful or just strange. I have an undergraduate degree in art history, so elements from ancient art and architecture are a common theme. I also love antiques, archeology and am fascinated by secret societies. (more…)
Funding agreement in place for St. Louis River cleanup
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Steel Corp. announced an agreement yesterday to undertake a $75 million cleanup and restoration project at the former Duluth Works site on the St. Louis River at Spirit Lake in Duluth. This is part of a larger effort to restore the St. Louis River Area of Concern through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. (more…)
Craft cider coming soon to Duluth
Duluth will soon have its first, and second, hard cideries. Duluth Cider is planning for a mid-to-late September opening date, while Wild State Cider expects to open before the year’s end. (more…)
Postcard from West Superior Street in 1908
This postcard depicts a scene looking east from the 500 block of West Superior Street, where the Radisson Hotel and Duluth Public Library stand today. It was mailed 110 years ago — Aug. 29, 1908. (more…)
Duluth planning for passenger cruise ship stops
The Duluth City Council and Duluth Economic Development Authority have approved funding to help establish a temporary customs facility to allow Great Lakes cruise ship passengers to disembark in Duluth.
As Minnesota Public Radio reports, “Duluth is not expecting massive oceangoing cruise ships the size of small cities to drop anchor in its harbor,” but instead is looking for smaller adventure cruises “that can accommodate up to about 200 passengers, plus another 100-plus crewmembers.”
MPR: Duluth as a cruise stop? With City Council vote, it’s one step closer
Exploring Cave of the Waves at Crystal Bay
YouTube user “MNduro USA” took his scuba gear to Crystal Bay, about 50 miles northeast of Duluth, to explore the Cave of the Waves and check out some old dock cribs.