Video Archive: Haus Meeting live at Mr. Movies
Perfect Duluth Day’s Scott Lunt was there to record the action on Dec. 12, 2007, when Haus Meeting performed its famous concert at the Plaza Shopping Center Mr. Movies.
The video stars Luke Holden, Bob Monahan, Rebecca Holden, Jeremy Ehlert and various Mr. Movies customers.
Brewhouse’s pub sauce and salad dressing going retail
Just Take Action, a company that owns and operates several restaurants in Duluth, recently began packaging its Fitger’s Brewhouse Chipotle Pub Sauce and Maple Salad Dressing for retail sale.
The effort, under the name Brewhouse Specialties, is part of a move to focus on developing and marketing products to consumers at home. (more…)
Northern Waters Restaurant will close Dec. 31
Just two years after opening, the Northern Waters Restaurant at Mount Royal Shopping Center will close. A news release from owners Eric and Lynn Goerdt indicates the business has been sold and a new restaurant will replace it in early 2018. (more…)
Because I’m Alive
Drone footage shot by Mike Kenyanya from July to October 2017. Music by Kavulea.
Mystery Photo #58: Steamer Perry G. Walker
Although the date Dec. 11 is recorded on this image, it’s not clear what year it was when the steamer Perry G. Walker arrived in Duluth covered in ice. It’s also not clear if this is a photo or an illustration … or an illustrated photo. (more…)
Hermantown coffee shop changes hands, rebrands
In a swift transition of ownership, the two-year-old Pelican Coffee closed Nov. 12 and the new Yellow Bike Coffee opened Nov. 13. There wasn’t a day without caffeination at 5094 Miller Trunk Highway in Hermantown. (more…)
PDD Quiz: Holiday Traditions
It’s that time of year again: the lights are twinkling, the tourists are flocking, and “Christmas City” plays on a seemingly endless loop. How well do you know your Twin Ports holiday traditions? Whip yourself up a Tom & Jerry and settle in for the quiz!
The next PDD Quiz, reviewing the events of 2017, will be published on Dec. 31. Please send question ideas to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Dec. 28. (more…)
Video Archive: Damn Yankees 1992 Concert Promo
Television advertisement for a concert at the Duluth Arena held 25 years ago today — Dec. 9, 1992 — featuring Damn Yankees, Slaughter and Jackyl.
Tommy Shaw, formerly of Damn Yankees, will return to Duluth on March 13 for a concert with Styx.
Locker Room Talk
I have never worked a fine-dining kitchen but was a short-order fry cook for many years and absolutely loved the work. It’s the closest I have ever been to becoming a star athlete: the physical challenge, mental focus, and team effort of the average brunch service was a rush no matter how many times I got through it. I would sit eagerly after the line was clean, watching the waitress tally her tickets so I could go home with my head full of fresh stats: 200 covers, 8 hours, no walk-outs, no comps = perfect game.
And I was good. I have no idea why. I walked into the diner of my future as a 21-year-old anthropology student and applied for a part-time job I (falsely) assumed would be as low-accountability as my former pizza kitchen work, where as the only woman in the back of the house I was treated with all the novelty I deserved and none of the (usual) hostility. Like a kitten in a nursing home, my male co-workers gave me just enough to play with in that kitchen so I didn’t run away, all the while relieved to have a distraction from their own tired dynamics. (more…)
Selective Focus: #lutefisk
It’s a Northland tradition. Show your heritage runs deep enough that lutefisk is no big deal, or as a young, hard-driving journalist, prove you’re brave enough to venture into the depths of a Lutheran church basement to try it for the first time.
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Boutique hotel opening in Lincoln Park
A small and stylish boutique hotel — the first of its kind in Duluth — is set to open this spring in the Lincoln Park craft district.
The husband and wife team of Andy Matson and Chelsy Whittington plan to open the three-suite hotel on the second floor of a historic building they recently purchased at 1923 W. Superior Street. The new accommodations will be called the Hotel Pikku, which means small or odd in Finnish.
Matson and Whittington said travelers who want to experience a trendy, centrally-located neighborhood away from typical Duluth tourist areas will stay at the Pikku Hotel. Clients or patrons of other Lincoln Park businesses are also potential lodgers. The cozy, completely renovated rooms with kitchenettes will rent for between $100 and $150 a night. (more…)
Uncle Harvey’s Pillar, 2007
Tony Rogers posted this photo to Perfect Duluth Day ten years ago today — Dec. 7, 2007. It features the infamous round column from the sand- and gravel-hopper ruins known as “Uncle Harvey’s Mausoleum.” (more…)
Minnesota Point
Year unknown, photographer unknown. Appears to have been shot in the late 1800s.
A peek at what Bent Paddle’s new taproom will look like
Bent Paddle Brewing Company plans to relocate its taproom to a larger, revitalized space in the former Enger & Olson Furniture store building at 1832 W. Michigan St. This new location is directly adjacent to its main production brewery and current taproom in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. (more…)
Ingeborg von Agassiz – “Oh, the Hillside”
Duluth’s Ingeborg von Agassiz (Emma Rustan) has written an ode to the Duluth Hillside, part of her upcoming debut album O Giver of Dreams, to be released later this winter. Perfect Duluth Day and the Homegrown Music Festival bring you this wintry holiday-time video for the song. It features some of Emma’s music students, and dancers Brianna Hall-Nelson and Amber Burns. (more…)
How tall trees feed themselves
A faculty member at the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Biology Department has conducted research on tall trees that has been published in Nature Plants and will be highlighted in the journal Nature. Assistant Professor Jessica Savage has been teaching at UMD for about a year and is the lead author of a paper detailing the process tall trees use to transport sugar or feed themselves.
The article, “Maintenance of Carbohydrate Transport in Tall Trees,” was published today on nature.com. An online subscription is required to fully nerd out and read the work, but a 277-word abstract is available for free. (more…)
Videos: This Week in Duluth Snowy Owl Rescues
Richard Hoeg spotted a snowy owl on Duluth Harbor ice this morning and at first didn’t think it was out of the ordinary. Returning a few hours later, he noticed the owl had only moved a few feet and didn’t flush when a pair of dogs were checking it out. So with the help of a fish net, wood and duct tape, he pulled the owl in and passed it along to Wildwoods Rehabilitation. Hoeg tells the full story on his 365 Days of Birds blog. (more…)
UWS Chancellor’s Ball protested over program cuts
Two dozen spirited students, faculty, alumni and community members braved the cold on the evening of Dec. 2 to protest in front of the UWS Yellowjacket Union. The protest was held outside of the glitzy Chancellor’s Ball fundraiser to show outrage at the devastating academic program cuts that were announced on the morning of Halloween.
Protesters wore costumes to symbolically reclaim the Halloween that was ruined by the announced cuts. They handed fundraiser attendees candy with the following message printed on them: “Thank you for supporting UWS students! Please ask Chancellor Wachter to reconsider the program suspensions at UWS. More choices for students, not fewer, is what make UWS great.”
The response from those attending the fundraiser was overwhelming supportive, demonstrating yet again how deeply opposed our community is to the gutting of our university. The action closed with a rousing chant of “We’ll Be Back, We’ll Be Back!” And rest assured we will be – again and again – until these draconian cuts are consigned to the dust bin of history!
New brewer takes the stern at Voyageur in Grand Marais
Voyageur Brewing Company recently hired Stuart Long to head up its 20-barrel operation on historic Highway 61 in Grand Marais. The new brewer hails from Southern California and intends to make a few changes at Voyageur, which he hopes will usher in a new era of growth for the company. (more…)
X-mas FAQ
The Christmas holiday is a joyous celebration commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed through gift giving, wreath hanging, carol singing, tree decorating, card exchanging, egg nog drinking, fruitcake chewing, chestnut roasting and other questionable behavior. Not everyone believes in Jesus Christ, or fruitcake for that matter, but all decent human beings are expected to be just a little nicer than usual in December and tolerate all the crackpots.
For those who are unsure how to comply with society’s expectations, I’ve put together a few quick answers to some frequently asked Christmas questions.
Should my family put together a holiday photo card or just do the general Hallmark greeting card thing?
No matter how crappy a photo card is, a majority of recipients will save it their entire lives. Hallmark cards are completely pointless and will be in the recycling bin on Dec. 26 by noon. (more…)
Moving Image Impressions – Headlong into the Void
An Impression of Kathy McTavish’s Video/Audio Mixed-media Installation Chance
Destroy the binaries. That was the phrase echoing in mind after considering Kathy McTavish’s new site-specific installation, Chance, at the Tweed Museum. McTavish is a cellist and media composer who works in the often underrepresented world of multichannel video and sound environments, or digital, code-driven works of art. She uses layered, interchanged information in order to “create cross-sensory, polyphonic landscapes,” combining digital elements of animated video patterns and sound in a kind of seismic virtual collage. (more…)
As Duluth’s image improves, economic cup half empty/full
Duluth is the only metropolitan statistical area in Minnesota to see its gross domestic product decline in 2015 and 2016. That’s the subject of a story by Greta Kaul, data reporter for MinnPost.
But the news isn’t nearly as dire as it might sound. (more…)
Selective Focus: Sugar on Top Sweet Shop
Kristina Amys makes elaborate, detailed cakes and baked goods. After stumbling into success with her decorating skills, she left her corporate job to build a business based on food and art.
KA: My main medium is sugar! Whether it’s buttercream, fondant, gum paste or chocolate, I make art out of food! How cool is that job right? I actually started decorating cakes in 2009 when I was planning a very special baby shower for a dear friend. I had my heart set on a very specific cake and after much debating decided to take a stab at it myself. It turns out I was pretty good at it and I uncovered a hidden talent that I didn’t even know I had. After that word of mouth spread like wild fire and people started asking me to make cakes for their special occasions. Never in a million years did I think I would be making cakes for a living!
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