I’d heard of Olli Kinkonnen but in following the link I learned of a work of historical fiction about him by a local author that looks pretty good -- Suomalaiset: People of the Marsh. A condensed version of the story can be found in a ballad that ...

Here’s a photo from Howorth’s studio in Duluth around 1892. The subjects are Casper and Caroline Kampe Weber and their children William and Grace.
 

Hilda Tykson must have been visiting relatives in Sweden, because she lived in Duluth and I see her on a ship’s manifest arriving back home on the Campania in October 1914 with $27 in her pocket. She moved to Duluth in 1902, and worked variously a...

Amazed that this went to Sweden and somehow found its way back here.

Here’s a photo of the area circa the 1960s from the Archives & Special Collections at UMD’s Kathryn A. Martin Library, that shows the Holiday Inn.

Beautifully written portrait. Thank you for sharing.

Great essay. I thoroughly enjoyed that.

Jocelyn, thank you for sharing this amazing story, and for your wonderful research and writing. Joseph is worth remembering. His story can stand as a testament to the experiences of so many people.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The quality of the scan in the PDF link is pretty impressive. Some good stuff in there.
 

I have two very common ones that aren’t local enough to include on the list but are perfect examples of this type of thing. When I was kid the Minnesota Twins were commonly referred to as the “Twinkies.” And Kmart was “Came Apart.”

While I walked by the construction site on June first 2024, I found that the old Plymouth dealership sign (1) and the Voyageur Lakewalk Inn sign (2) were still standing.

Not a band, but there’s a drawing of a guy with a guitar.

Big Science

T-57

Part 2

Not a band, but, you know -- rocknroll.

Jaw Knee Vee

Another Tim Kaiser

From Tim Kaiser.

I enjoyed both the music and the location. I didn’t realize the phone booths and the big board are still around and in great shape. That’s a real historic preservation win. The photo below is from 1953 via the Northeast Minnesota Historical Collec...

Home Despot being a national chain maybe disqualifies it from the list (although I put Shopper Shitty on there and there were five of those in Minnesota, so it was a minor chain).

The Clap Room is a perfect fit and is now on the list.

Jason Cork m...

I remember references to The Tap Room as The “Clap” Room.

We call Home Depot “Home Despot”

Or is that needlepoint?

College dorm rooms’ decorations weren’t vastly different back in my day. Sure, the furniture gave way to mass production and the proportions shrank but flags, banners continued. Oh and we didn’t pass the time knitting. Maybe we should have!

Fascinating! Great research. Thank you.

Ahh, yes. Satan’s Residence. That’s a classic. It’s added to the list now. Thanks!

Saint Ann’s Residences = Satan’s Residences

Superior Porchfest 2024 Summer Series:

June 27 -- North End
6 PM -- 8 PM at 1011 Weeks w/ Breanne Marie and the Front Porch Sinners
6 PM -- 8 PM at 1102 Clough w/ Gina Lee
6 PM -- 8 PM at Pheonix Villa 1100 Weeks w/ Sidestreet Detour
Chalk artist...

June 21 is “Make Music Day” aka “Make Music Superior.” This is an ever-changing lineup. So see the most current line up at makemusicday.org/superior.

I just remembered that people used to refer to the Duluth band Crazy Betty as “Lazy Sweaty.”

There must be more local band-brand parodies, but they aren’t immediately jumping to the front of my mind, other than that Father Hennepin is sometimes r...

I kind of wanted it to be a fancy term like “dysphemistic wordplay,” but that doesn’t really seem to describe it as well as “brand parody,” so for now I’m going with brand parody.

ChatGPT tells me it’s called ‘dysphemistic wordplay,’ so yeah, I think we need a better term.

There is a word, or at least a phrase: Brand Parody or Trademark parody (and I would consider a community’s name its “brand”). “Trademark parodies are a form of humorous or satirical commentary that uses a well-known trademark in a playful or crit...

“Parody” seems accurate, and yet not quite right. There should be a word for this specific type of parody. Maybe it’s up to us to invent that word.