A Show Stopper for Debbie in Duluth
Duluth is mentioned on the Hulu comedy mystery series Only Murders in the Building. In season 3, episode 3 — titled “Grab Your Hankies” — actress Linda Emond plays the role of Donna DeMeo, an investor in a Broadway musical who believes strongly in the importance of show-stopping songs that will draw in people like “Debbie from Duluth.”
Longtime PDD readers will recall that Steve Martin, co-creator of Only Murders in the Building, posted a clever Duluth tweet in 2012 after playing a concert at Bayfront Park.
The Junk Food Film Festival – April 2024 at Zinema
Hey all, this is my festival; I run it with my partner Marin. We used to host a film series called Midnight Movies at 7 at the Zinema and this will very much be in the same vein. We’ll be giving away prizes, have special guests, and eat a ton of junk food.
Please make sure to follow us on Facebook; we’ll be revealing the lineup in the months ahead as we get ready.
Mystery Photo: McDowell Sisters
This old cabinet card photo, for sale on eBay, was shot in Duluth. Several details are provided, but some mysteries persist. (more…)
Selective Focus: Brittany Plachecki
Applying their studies in art history, excitement for horror and queer theory, Brittany Plachecki creates colorful character designs. One of their most recent projects was co-founding Pride Walks Superior, a collaborative initiative to get LGBTQIA2S+ youth involved in an affirming, creative, and kid-friendly-setting. Pride Walks also helped introduce young artists to the process of doing gallery shows, documenting their work, and selling it. Brittany’s pieces are perfect for getting into the spirit of fall and spooky season. View photos of their art and a recent interview about their work below: (more…)
Beyondbless – “Born Deaf”
The latest from Superior-based rapper David Kittelson, aka Beyondbliss, is the title track from his recently released album Born Deaf. The video uses artificial intelligence to take a trip through a human ear and experience sound for the first time as Kittelson raps about what he went through as a child born deaf.
Gunnar Birkerts and Intuitive Synthesis: The Place of the Duluth Public Library in the History of Modern Architecture
Duluth Public Library in the November 1980 issue of Architectural Record.
Last month, an article appeared in the Duluth News Tribune about the decision to demolish the Duluth Public Library and replace it with something smaller in a shared building. The reasons provided for demolition instead of restoration mostly involve challenges to reprogramming and subdivision created by structural pillars, expensive building systems like insulation in serious need of replacement, and other issues related to years of deferred maintenance. (more…)
The History of Cloquet, Pierre the Pantsless Voyageur and Duluth’s Missing Vermeer
Excerpts from Scions of Cloquet by Jean-Michel Cloquet (1946, out of print)
“In 1820, when he was 17 years old, the Frenchman Pierre Cloquet boarded a packet ship in Le Havre and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. He was trying to escape his father, like many of us try to do, perhaps all of us. He just wanted a little peace and quiet. By a certain measure, he found it in the territory eventually known as Minnesota. Pierre (or Grandpère Cloquet as my brother and I refer to him) became a legendary voyageur and fur trader 20 miles southwest of Duluth, trapping, hunting, and occasionally bear-wrestling. Over two decades of working for the American Fur Company, he built his own trading post where metal tools shipped in and beaver pelts shipped out. He gradually adopted native dress, and he married into a Black-Ojibwe family out of Michigan, sought-after guides and translators. And, right around the collapse of the beaver pelt industry in 1843, he inadvertently founded the town of Cloquet. (more…)
Breanne and Anya Tepler – “It’s Time to Go to Bentleyville”
It’s not quite time to go to Bentleyville yet, but members of the Tepler family have a new music video ready for when Duluth’s annual holiday light display opens Nov. 18. (more…)
Rachael Kilgour – “Ontario”
“Ontario” is the third single from Duluth native Rachael Kilgour‘s new album, My Father Loved Me.
Postcards from Bill’s Mount Silver Motel and Cabins
The postcard above, and the one below, were both published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography circa the 1950s. And both were made to promote Bill’s Mount Silver Motel and Cabins on Silver Cliff Bay, northeast of Two Harbors. The location now features private residences. (more…)
Hayward record and book store will move to Duluth
The former Riverside Flooring building at 1814 W. Superior St. in Lincoln Park will be home to a new record and book store. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
A Superior native and long-time music collector who haunted some legendary, long-lost Twin Ports area record stores plans to open his own shop in Duluth’s Lincoln Park Craft District.
Todd Hanson, owner of Hole in the Wall Books and Records in Hayward, has announced plans to open a new store in the former Riverside Flooring building at 1814 W. Superior St. this fall. The store will be called River City Records and Books. (more…)
Poet Laureate Collection unveiled at UMD
The Twin Ports area has long been a literary center for Minnesota. Now, the history of the literary community in Duluth is open and available to researchers and readers alike in the Archives and Special Collections of the Kathryn A. Martin Library at the University of Minnesota Duluth. The Poet Laureate Program is the heart of a collection of materials available to the public. (more…)
Northeastern Minnesota Book Award Winners for 2023
An old fire tower in the north woods, a busy Duluth harbor on the day tall ships arrive, and an 1894 murder on Minnesota Point are just some of the settings for books honored in this year’s Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards. (more…)
Twain’s coldest winter revisited
Dave Wilton at wordorigins.org delves into a famous-though-probably-inaccurate Mark Twain quote in his latest article. “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco,” has of course also been spun as “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in Duluth.” Wilton covers it all in detail, as did Tony Dierckins some years ago on zenithcity.com. Lake Superior Magazine also covered the subject in 2003. (more…)
Sherlockiana at the Book Sale: Barry Day and Val Andrews
There was an entire bookcase of books about Sherlock Holmes at Friends of the Library Book Sale at the Superior Public Library. I took home two full shelves. (more…)
Duluth and the Harbor from Highway 11 in 1923
Photo by William L. Barker, Jr. for the U.S. Forest Service.
This photograph from the National Archive is dated Oct. 1, 1923 — 100 years ago today. The caption reads: “Duluth and the harbor on Lake Superior from Highway #11.”
Ripped at Jimmy’s Saloon in 2003
[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 years ago the Sultan of Sot paid a visit to Jimmy’s Saloon, which still operates at 1812 Iowa Ave. in Superior’s Billings Park Business District. Although patios at drinking establishments have become commonplace in recent years, they were somewhat rare when this article was published in the Oct. 1, 2003 issue of the Ripsaw newspaper.]
I’m a sucker for good conversation. So, by all means, tell me how bad your husband is in bed. The more details the better. Tell me about the spit bubbles that foam up on the edges of his mouth as he nears climax. No, seriously. I like that stuff.
Sports and rock ’n’ roll are good too. Just please do me the favor of saving the politics for your Chamber of Commerce meetings and lame-ass Wicca bonfires.
Tonight at Jimmy’s Saloon in Superior’s Billings Park business district, the conversation is just right, so far. Sure, I could probably hear the same talk of music, sports and fucking at any other bar in town, but it’s better at Jimmy’s because the drinks are cheap and there’s a nice courtyard. (more…)
Climate>Duluth: David Blockstein
Climate>Duluth host Tone Lanzillo interviews David Blockstein, professor in the graduate programs in sustainability at Bard College.
Minnesota in the ’70s: Sigurd Olson, Reserve Mining Case, etc.
This 2013 Twin Cities Public Television documentary provides a few snippets related to the state’s northeast corner, including Duluth. The show was produced with the Minnesota Historical Society Press and inspired by the book Minnesota in the ’70s by Dave Kenney and Thomas Saylor. (more…)
Selective Focus: Fall Colors 2023
Chlorophyll, schmlorophyll; turn up the carotenoids and anthocyanin. The annual biochemical process is underway. Progression of fall and peak leaf colors can be tracked with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Fall Color Finder.
Featured here is Perfect Duluth Day’s annual collection of select images from Instagram showcasing nature’s palette. (more…)
Duluth Mail Bag: Tourism Taxes, Bike Lanes and Bonding
As a two-time Duluth city councilor, now in my final year of service, one of my goals is to make city government more accessible, or at least help citizens become more informed. I figure there are many Duluthians who would like some simple answers to some simple questions. I learned in school that if there is something you don’t understand it’s likely there are many others who feel the same way. Hence the idea of the Duluth Mailbag column.
I won’t divulge who is asking the questions, but I’ll answer them in this format about once a month. Feel free to put a question in the comments for next month’s “Duluth Mailbag” or tweet me via @Hobbs_Duluth or email me at hobbsforduluth @ gmail.com.
Also, if you want to have a longer conversation, you can sign up for a 45-minute cup of coffee through my 100 Cups of Coffee project.
Apologies for the delay in this column, I’ve been chasing Springsteen across the country and watching the Twins clinch the AL Central. OK, here we go! (more…)
Climate>Duluth: Lisa Fitzpatrick of Duluth Climate Mobilization
Climate>Duluth host Tone Lanzillo interviews local climate activist Lisa Fitzpatrick of Duluth Climate Mobilization.
Recorded at Duluth Public Access Community Television’s studio in City Hall.
Duluth Arrow Chevrolet
The Arrow Chevrolet West was on the corner of Grand Avenue and 59th Avenue West — the modern-day location of City Center West. (Photo via University of Minnesota Duluth Archives and Special Collections)
I am looking for folks with information about either Duluth location of Arrow Chevrolet — West Duluth or Downtown.
Chevy dealers across the country were sponsors of the Soap Box Derby and I am hoping to get a few folks to respond with their memories of the Arrow Chevrolet clinics and parts distribution. Did you race the Soap Box Derby? What memories of the Chevy dealers do you have?
40 Below: The Toughest Race in the World
Duluthian Marius Anderson’s film 40 Below will be the featured film on Friday, Oct. 6 at the 2023 Duluth Superior Film Fest. The film follows entrants in the Arrowhead 135 race in International Falls during the depths of Minnesota winter. It’s one of many Minnesota-made films screened at the fest; the full schedule is on the Duluth Superior Film Fest website.
Below are more Minnesota-made movie trailers. (more…)
Video Tour of Mariner Business Center in 2021
Brandon Novy produces videos of “dead, dying, or interesting malls (and anything related) in and around Minnesota” for the YouTube channel Yodeling Loon Retail. In 2021 he visited Mariner Business Center in Superior — formerly Mariner Mall — for his first video of a mall outside Minnesota.