West Duluth
R.I.P. Merritt Park Recreation Center Building
This week the field house at Merritt Park joined the growing list of historic West Duluth buildings demolished in recent years. The 2,016-square foot building was constructed in 1939. (more…)
The Slice: Tom Napoli’s Tortoise and Hare Mural
Artist Tom Napoli recreates Duluth on the side of the Tortoise and Hare Footwear store in West Duluth.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
West Duluth bar scene adding Boreal House
Katie Fast, left, and Julie LaTourelle stand outside 330 N. 57th Ave. W. The two women purchased the former home of RJ’s Coffee Den and plan to open a new bar in West Duluth. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
Two women plan to open a new bar later this fall in a West Duluth neighborhood that boasts some of the oldest drinking establishments in the city.
Katie Fast and Julie LaTourelle, operating as K & J Industries LLC, recently purchased the former RJ’s Coffee Den at 330 N. 57th Ave. W. The century-old building is being remodeled and is expected to reopen as the Boreal House in late November. (more…)
West Theater struggles through restoration, opens June 21
Work on the West Theater marquee continued on June 19, two days ahead of a grand opening event.
The West Theater looked nothing like its movie palace glory days when Duluth Reader publisher Bob Boone bought the building in 2016. (more…)
Postcards from Duluth Motel
According to this postcard, Duluth Motel sat in some mysterious forest, perhaps offering the only toilet available for miles and miles. In reality, “Northwest’s Most Luxurious Motel” was near Denfeld High School and surrounded by West Duluth homes and businesses. A lush, undeveloped hillside was indeed in the distance, though not very similar looking to the illustration on the postcard. (more…)
Kmart gone, Spirit Valley hopes to rebound like Lincoln Park
The Spirit Valley business district sits just east of I-35 and includes a variety of businesses along Grand and Central avenues including the Super One grocery store in the foreground. (Photo by Cory Fechner, Liftoff Aerials)
The Spirit Valley business district in West Duluth took a serious hit in 2018 when Kmart closed but business leaders and city officials believe the area is ripe for a makeover that could match successful redevelopment work in Lincoln Park. (more…)
Barmuda Triangle of West Duluth
Sure, you’ve heard stories of mysterious and unusual disappearances in West Duluth. What exactly happened to old so-and-so last night? Well, there’s a good chance your friend slipped into the Barmuda Triangle. (more…)
West Theater renovation adds second theater property
Duluth Reader publisher and West Theater owner Robert Boone has purchased 321 N. Central Ave., next to his West Theater renovation project. The building, constructed in 1913, is the former Alhambra Theater and most recently housed Interior Tomato, a hydroponic gardening store.
An alternative weekly newspaper publisher currently renovating a West Duluth movie theater has purchased a second historic but mostly forgotten theater adjacent to his current project. (more…)
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…)
Ice Cream Delicacy in West Duluth by Denfeld
I tasted T-Icy Roll Ice Cream yesterday at 4602 Grand Ave., next to an old favorite, Zhong Hua. (more…)
Cancer battle pushes sale of iconic West Duluth store
Joel Russell stands outside Central Sales, a surplus store his family has owned for more than 30 years.
An iconic and ruggedly unique surplus store in the heart of West Duluth has been put up for sale as its longtime owner prepares to fight a serious health issue. (more…)
Van Vick Paper Box Company of Duluth
The cribbage board above might not have been made in Duluth, but the box it came in was manufactured at 4902 Oneota St. in West Duluth. (more…)
Irving Park renovation work starts next week
Construction is ready to begin at Irving Park in West Duluth. A news release from the city’s Parks and Recreation division specifies May 7 as the date KTM Paving, Inc. will launch the first phase of a $1.1-million revitalization plan. (more…)
Duluth Show Case Company
The Duluth Show Case Company, doing business as Duluth Store Equipment or simply Duluth Equipment, was a maker of display cabinets using the “Duluth Method” or “Duluth Unit System of Sectional Store Furniture.” Read the ad copy to determine what that might mean. (more…)
Kingsbury Bay and Grassy Point Habitat Restoration Project
There’s good news for people who like to geek out with lengthy environmental assessment worksheets and pages upon pages of support documents. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is accepting public comments through April 18 on the EAW for the Kingsbury Bay and Grassy Point Habitat Restoration Project in West Duluth.
The graphic above is an interesting nugget from the documents. It shows aerial views of the Kingsbury Bay area, where Kingsbury Creek enters the St. Louis River estuary near Indian Point Campground. The 1948 version shows a wide open beach; the modern view shows a marshy swamp filled with invasive narrow-leaved cattails. (more…)
Mystery Photo: Diamonds are Forever … Except in Duluth!
This old photo seems to show striking workers at the Diamond Tool and Horseshoe Company in West Duluth. Or are the workers protesting the closing of the plant? What year was the photo taken? Who is the guy in the foreground crossing the street? There are plenty of questions to be answered in this Perfect Duluth Day Mystery Photo. (more…)
Movies could soon return to West Duluth
This graphic from Meyer Group Architecture shows the vision for restoring the West Theater. Image via Robert Boone.
Movies could be returning to West Duluth for the first time in 40 years. Restoration of the former West Theater at 319 Central Ave. is poised to commence according to building owner Robert Boone. (more…)
R.I.P. West Duluth Video Vision, Mariner Mall Younkers
Two longtime Twin Ports stores will soon close. Fox 21 reports the West Duluth Video Vision store will close this week. The Duluth News Tribune reports Younkers in Superior’s Mariner Mall will close within 12 weeks. (more…)
Irving Fairmount Brownfields Revitalization Plan
The Duluth City Council adopted the Irving Fairmount Brownfields Revitalization Plan on Dec. 11. Irving and Fairmount are sub-neighborhoods of West Duluth.
The video above shows clips from a gathering on Oct. 18 at Loll Designs headquarters marking the completion of the plan.
The planning effort focused on redevelopment of post-industrial sites, infrastructure improvements, creating better connections to the Spirit Valley commercial area and increasing walkability.
Dorothy Arnold Photo Gallery
In tribute to actress Dorothy Arnold — born Dorothy Arnoldine Olson on Nov. 21, 1917 — a gallery or glamorous promotional and press photos. Click any image to see it full size instead of as a thumbnail. (more…)
We Just Left Her There to Die Alone
When I was a little idiot West Duluth kid in the early 1980s there were many constructive things for juvenile brats to do. Fighting or just generally acting tough was probably the number one pastime, followed by hanging out on the railroad tracks and throwing taconite pellets at each other. When that got boring there were always guns and wrist rockets to load with those pellets.
We also enjoyed riding our bikes to the market, stealing things and breaking them, listening to satanic heavy-metal music and verbally assaulting each other with complete insensitivity. You know, normal kid stuff.
There were also a few wholesome American activities weaved into the fabric of our youth. My friends and I liked to play sports and various chasing games like “Capture the Flag” and “Tin-can Alley.”
All of it really just falls into the category of fighting, though. Strength, speed, agility or physical force-of-will would generally determine the victor in any contest, and if it didn’t there would be an argument about it so the tougher kid could still come out on top. Since the element of strategy was always loosely involved, however, the winner could claim both physical and intellectual dominance. It was a pretty good way to establish and constantly reinforce a pecking order among the boys, but more than that it was an excellent way for the boys to prove how much better they were than the girls. Or so it seemed. (more…)
Selective Focus: Makers Mercantile
A new shop has opened in West Duluth’s Spirit Valley area selling locally made goods. Makers Mercantile will host its Grand Opening on Saturday, Sept. 30, from 3 to 7 p.m. Owners Sara and Scott Clifton talk about opening and what they see for the future of the shop.
M.M.: Scott and I moved up to Duluth for college, and it didn’t take long for us to feel right at home. We love the people, the businesses, and everything the beautiful North Shore has to offer. We are creators and dreamers. Through observations and many discussions around the dinner table, our crafting ideas moved beyond creating products ourselves into creating a platform for local makers. We love the creativity and craftsmanship in our region, but started noticing that locally made goods were more difficult to find than expected, unless you went to a craft show or knew a specific maker to buy from. This observation spurred on an idea — to combine the values of handcrafted and local. We spent the last few years mulling over this idea, and decided this past winter to start pursuing it. Makers Mercantile just opened, and it is all about local, handmade goods.
DuluthiLeaks: Historic Bridge Report for DM&IR Ore Dock No. 5
How historically significant is West Duluth’s old ore dock and its viaduct and bridges? The Minnesota Department of Transportation retained the consultant team of LHB, Mead & Hunt and 106 Group to produce a multi-purpose study in 2014 that was part of a more comprehensive process involving numerous agencies looking at 140 historic bridges. Part of the goal of the “Local Historic Bridge Report” for the “DM&IR Ore Dock No. 5 Approach” was to gather historical information should the property owner — Canadian National Railway — wish to request a nomination be prepared for the National Register of Historic Places.
For the third edition of DuluthiLeaks — Perfect Duluth Day’s feature in which public documents are released as if they contain secret information leaked from an anonymous whistle blower — we peak into a study of four steel-beam bridges that are part of the mile-long approach to DM&IR Ore Dock No. 5. (more…)