As most seasonal eateries wind down for the winter, Endion Station Public House is planning some changes to embrace the off season.
The pub and cider house at 200 Lake Place Drive opened in the summer of 2014. It weathered that first winter in its Canal Park location but has closed for the winter each year since.
This winter, Endion Station will be open every day at 4 p.m. Closing time is to be determined, but will be later on weekends.
Video by Chris Bales.
As the summer winds to a close, we begin to reclaim that popular tourist destination: Canal Park. How well do you know the sculptures in Canal Park and Lake Place Park? Test your art smarts in this quiz (and look for more public art quizzes in the future)!
The next PDD quiz, reviewing August news, will be published on Aug. 27. E-mail question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Aug. 24.
Canal Park gained a unique drinking establishment today. The Slip, located in the historic Suites Hotel building at 325 S. Lake Avenue, opened at 5 p.m.
Named for the nearby Minnesota Slip, which is home to iconic William A. Irvin ore boat, the bar specializes in whiskey and features cocktails made with vodka and gin from the nearby Vikre Distillery. In addition to spirits, the Slip has six types of wine and three types of cider on tap as well as five beers from Hoops Brewing.
A year and a half of planning and hard work has come to fruition. Hoops Brewing is set to open on Tuesday, June 27.
Starting in June, Duluthians and tourists will once again be able to get their mini doughnut fix out of a retired fishing vessel in Canal Park.
The fate of Crabby Ol’ Bill’s snack shack remained in question after Steve and Susan Smith announced they would be closing it back in December after five years running the business. Last week, the Duluth City Council approved a lease for developer Brian Forcier of Titanium Partners to operate the seasonal food stand based within the Nels J, an iconic boat that sits adjacent to the boardwalk near the North Pier Lighthouse.
Dancer Logan Moniot of Lake Nebagamon is featured in this new music video shot by Jasper Meddock Productions. The song is “Die Trying” by Michl. In the video, Moniot dances along the lighthouse pier in Duluth as if it’s not even cold out.
Founded by Andy Borg and Mick Paulucci, Grandma’s Saloon opened at 522 S. Lake Ave. on Feb. 8, 1976. The undated postcard shown above depicts the restaurant’s early days, when it went by the name Grandma’s Saloon & Deli. The moniker eventually was changed to Grandma’s Saloon & Grill.
Hoops Brewing founder Dave Hoops and Head Brewer Melissa Rainville pose in front of recently installed equipment. Hoops Brewing plans to open in late May or June.
Seven stainless steel tanks and a catwalk preassembled with pipes and pumps were lifted off flatbed trucks and squeezed through the stone doorway of a former Canal Park restaurant on March 21.
The equipment, including four huge fermentors and two beer tanks, was hauled inside on heavy duty carts and laid on a new custom-built floor like tipped-over beer bottles. The massive move, which stopped traffic outside 325 S. Lake Ave., was a major step in plans by longtime Duluth brewmaster Dave Hoops to open Hoops Brewing, a beer hall that will match the largest in Minnesota.
Below is the complete text of a Duluth story from page six of The Observer out of Saline, Mich., from Thursday, June 14, 1934, reprinted from Collier’s magazine.
Back in the day it was sometimes tough work just to get a drink. Above is an undated stereoview reproduction from an 1875 McKenzie original. The reverse reads: “Duluth, Minn. in 1875. Mammoth Saloon, Jake Liedel, Prop. Lake Ave 2 blocks north of canal.”
With underwater pancake ice.
Business North is reporting, via Finance & Commerce, the Paulucci Building at 525 S. Lake Ave. in Canal Park was sold in November for $6 million.
The buyer: Star PB LLC
The seller: Etor Properties LLC
The story notes that “in a second related transaction, Star PB LLC paid $1 million to Buckeye Corp., another private investment entity, for a 16,000-square-foot retail and office building next door, at 501 Lake Ave. S.”
The Paulucci Building is named for the late Duluth businessman Jeno Paulucci. It was built in 1915 by Stone-Ordean-Wells, a wholesale grocery firm. The neighboring structure was built in 1909 as the Buckeye Building for National Biscuit.
Vikre Distillery is the most prominent business operating out of the two buildings.
Vikre Distillery took first place in a USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice award for best craft specialty spirits, beating out major players like St. George Spirits and Koval Distillery.
Joel and Emily Vikre founded the craft distillery in 2012 and started selling gin and aquavit to the public in 2014. With traditional distilling methods, Lake Superior water and the inventive use of local botanicals foraged in the Northwoods, Vikre is creating unparalleled products.
The season for enforcing paid parking in Canal Park has begun (see the DNT article here). Parking in Canal Park will get tight and expensive.
Lake Superior Magazine image
The photo at left is of pre-redevelopment Canal Park, not parking this weekend. But you get the idea.
If you are reading this and remember life in Duluth when this was the beach, I’d love to hear stories.
Meanwhile, parking…
I used to meet friends at Endion Station, which was the (I think) last cheap place to park in Canal Park until the meters were upgraded.
And for a while, I joined the Great Lakes Aquarium because the free parking given members of the Aquarium was cheaper than parking in Canal Park. Plus the Aquarium is awesome.
What is the last secret of the local for getting into Canal Park this summer with a car?
