Month: May 2025
To Tell the Truth: Mayor Johnson and Mr. Magoo
Duluth Mayor George D. Johnson appeared on the CBS-TV show To Tell the Truth in an episode that aired May 31, 1965 — 60 years ago today. Mayor Johnson was the second of three characters/contestants introduced on the show. The concept of To Tell the Truth is that each character is accompanied by two imposters, and the three of them answer questions from a panel of celebrities who then try to guess which of the three is the authentic person. (more…)
Ian Alexy – “There is a Light”
Ian Alexy has a new two-track digital release featuring the songs “There is a Light” and “Shivers Up the Spine ’24.” (more…)
New loan program designed to save historic Duluth buildings
Demolition of the former Pastoret Terrace on First Street and Second Avenue East has led to a new city fund supporting historic downtown Duluth building preservation.
Historic downtown Duluth buildings are now eligible for city-funded improvement loans after a legal battle over a fire-damaged-but-treasured 19th century townhouse demolition established the assistance program.
The city of Duluth recently added a $1.4 million Historic Fund to its long-running economic development initiative known as the 1200 Fund. To launch the new project, the city plans to make $400,000 in low-interest, partially forgivable loans to historic building owners for property work in 2025. The application process opened May 5. (more…)
The Buckthorn Crusader of Lakeview Park
The eastern stretches of Lakeview Park with an abundant mature buckthorn jungle.
After an hour or two of relentlessly battling buckthorn, you may sit to rest and close your eyes for a moment. If you do this, you’re likely to see pokey spear-like shapes in your closed-eye vision.
In my eight-year quest to de-buckthorn a particular unknown Duluth park, I have come to know this particular plant quite well. And in my obsessive need to destroy it, I believe it has come to know me. I even joined a city-organized and backed volunteer group dedicated to destroying every last seed and stem of non-native explosive-growth monster plants. (more…)
Celebrating frontline workers in housing and food insecurity through art at UMD
Too often, the frontline workers in housing and food insecurity go unnoticed in our region. Some of my students (and students of Adam Pine) interviewed some of these unsung heroes. Then, local artists Nelle Rhicard and Maryam Khaleghi Yazdi turned their insights into art — transformed, really, their insights into art. (more…)
Alan Sparhawk – “Get Still”
Alan Sparhawk‘s second solo album, With Trampled by Turtles, releases Friday. The video for “Get Still” was directed by Ingrid Weise and edited by Alexa Viscius.
Selective Focus: Run, Smelt, Run! Parade 2025
https://www.instagram.com/p/DKF-8sipZaA/
Select Instagram images from Magic Smelt Puppet Troupe‘s annual smelt-themed second-line parade. (more…)
Disturbing lack of ‘ope’ etiquette roils Duluth community
https://babylonbee.com/news/midwesterner-arrested-for-squeezing-past-someone-without-saying-ope/
Duluth has once again popped up as a dateline in The Babylon Bee, a satirical news website. The story reports that “Dave Netters was arrested for squeezing past someone at a grocery store without saying the obligatory ‘Ope!'” The story concludes by noting “Netters had pleaded not guilty on account of being from Missouri.”
Postcard from the Moonlight Over Lake Superior
This postcard, unmailed and undated, shows Downtown Duluth at night, circa perhaps the 1930s.
PDD Quiz: May 2025
Get your brain in gear with this week’s PDD quiz, which reviews May 2025 headlines and happenings!
The next PDD quiz, in honor of Father’s Day, will be published on June 15. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at alisonlinnaemoffat@gmail.com by June 7. (more…)
Here’s the latest lynx footage from Voyageurs National Park
[This post originally contained an embedded video that is no longer available at its source.]
The Voyageurs Wolf Project has more than 350 trail cameras set up within in Voyageurs National Park, about 100 miles north of Duluth. Though the project is focused on understanding the summer ecology of wolves in the park, the cameras record all kinds of wildlife throughout the year. Lynx sightings are somewhat rare, and footage this good is truly rare.
To support the Voyageurs Wolf Project’s spring fundraising project, visit crowdfund.umn.edu.
Big Into – “Behind the Veil” (Remix by MidiEvil)
Beat master MidiEvil lends his prowess to Big Into as they battle the Worst Company L.L.C.
Duluth 2025 Primary Election Primer
The filing period for candidates vying for Duluth City Council and Independent School District #709 School Board runs from May 20 June 3. The primary election is Aug. 12; the general election is Nov. 4. (more…)
Hotel Duluth / Greysolon Plaza Centennial
The Hotel Duluth opened 100 years ago this month. Business operations began on May 8, 1925, and a formal grand opening was held May 22-23. (more…)
More Cross City Trail detours expected in Lincoln Park
This portion of the Cross City Trail in Lincoln Park follows Michigan Street near Interstate 35. It reopened in 2024 after the original trail there was demolished in 2021 during the Twin Ports Interchange project, which redesigned what was known at the time as the I-35 “Can of Worms.” (Photo by Paul Lundgren)
Temporary detours for a section of the Cross City Trail in Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood are expected later this year when the West Superior Street Reconstruction Project begins. (more…)
Houseboat in the Harbor
It’s a sure sign of spring when Art and Beth Kidd’s solar-powered houseboat, the HMS Pontoon, finds its mooring in the Grand Marais Harbor. This is the 16th year of their short-but-significant pilgrimage.
The video, produced by Chuck Olsen, was shot in May 2024 and May 2025 for WTIP North Shore Community Radio.
Shippee – “You & Me”
The latest music video from Duluth’s Blake Shippee is a tribute to his partner Shanna on her birthday.
Kill the Spider
When I stepped into the shower, I didn’t see the spider. Once the water was running, I looked down and there it was at my feet, floating near the drain.
They don’t struggle when they’re fully soaked. Instead, they ball up and wait for the tide to take them to a surface they can latch on to.
There will be no escape for this spider, however, because I won’t let it happen. This spider is in my shower, and that kind of disrespect demands an execution.
There are plenty of spider sanctuaries — the utility room, the garage, the shed, the attic — where I’ll look the other way. I don’t enjoy killing them, and would rather not, so I let them be when they know their place.
Although spiders are creepy, they have some positive attributes. Most notably, they eat a lot of insects. It’s probably not intelligent for me to kill something that’s doing so much killing on my behalf. (more…)
Postcards from the Androy Hotel
Superior’s Androy Hotel opened 100 years ago today — May 15, 1925. It was advertised as the largest and only fireproof hotel in Superior. (more…)
View of Downtown Duluth from Observation Hill in 1965
This photo is dated 1965; photographer unknown.
Alan Sparhawk – “Not Broken”
The video for the second release from Alan Sparhawk‘s second solo album, With Trampled by Turtles, was directed by edited by Alexa Viscius and features vocals by Hollis Sparhawk. The album releases May 30 on Sub Pop Records.
Hockin Brace & Paleen opened larger furniture store in 1925
One hundred years ago today — May 11, 1925 — the Hockin Brace & Paleen furniture store opened in the new building on the corner of Lake Avenue and West First Street in Duluth. The location is best known today as the Usan building, home of the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce since 2002. (more…)
PDD Quiz: For the Birds
Take flight with this ornithology-adjacent quiz that tests your knowledge of bird-related trivia.
The next PDD quiz, slated for May 25, will recap the month’s headlines. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at alisonlinnaemoffat@gmail.com by May 22. (more…)
Ripped at Eagles Aerie 80 in 2005
[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 Eagles Aerie 80 at 1710 N. 12th St. in Superior, and composed this article for the May 2005 edition of the Ripsaw newspaper.]
So, what is the Fraternal Order of the Eagles? Well, according to the group’s motto, “Eagles are people helping people.” How do they help people? Well, who cares? They help me by selling 34-ounce mugs of beer for $2.50 during “late-night happy hour” from 10 p.m. to midnight. Thank you, Eagles Aerie 80. “People helping people,” indeed.
The Eagles are also big on disaster relief. For example, all this cheap beer is causing a 9+ magnitude gutquake in my stomach, but, this being a Saturday, I can count on a wholesome breakfast to be served tomorrow, right here, hopefully in time to prevent a reverse tsunami.
Right now, however, I’m so fucktarded drunk that, despite being surrounded by philanthropists, I’m seriously thinking about stealing an old guy’s jacket. It’s a Rusty Nail jacket, advertising my favorite South Superior bar, and I think it will look good on me. (more…)
Annie Humphrey – “500 Years”
Twenty-five years ago today — May 9, 2000 — Annie Humphrey-Jimenez released her debut album, The Heron Smiled.
At the 1:54 mark she sings:
Louisiana to Duluth
it is buried in the white man’s truth