Kojak Street?
Group campaigns to get Duluth street named after ‘Kojak’ star Savalas
A push is underway from a group to get a street named after late “Kojak” star Telly Savalas, Minnesota Brown reports.
“Telly Savalas lived in Duluth Mn. Telly Savalas paid taxes in Duluth Mn. Telly Savalas made advertisements for Duluth Mn. Telly Savalas needs a street named after him,” says the Citizens for Telly Savalas Blvd. Facebook page.
Streets for celebs that have nominal ties to the area? meh. We need a R. Rosvall street.
Nominal?
Telly Savalas has done far more for Duluth than Bob Dylan, and Dylan has “Bob Dylan Way.” Dylan’s ties are far less than nominal, he left and never looked back.
Telly, on the other hand, during the peak of his fame, made ads to try to bring more people to Duluth.
I think it is the least we can do.
Oh… I was certainly including Bobby in there. I like plenty of Dylan, but am pretty ambivalent about embracing him as a Duluth icon.
If we have a Savalas Street why not a Bob Denver Drive and Alan Hale Hill, they did commercials for Duluth as well. The Al Franken Answer-man Alley?
Nah, let’s start naming streets after local awesome people.
I will never understand people who complain that Dylan “left and never looked back.” Is that honestly what we want from artists? Someone who, when politicians and businessmen come to them with hat in hand and a big phony grin, looking to capitalize on their achievements, say, “Sounds great to me”?
Edgeways: Bob, Alan, and Al didn’t live here, Telly had a house on the point.
Savalas married Duluth native Julie Hovland. Their daughter is a jazz singer in Los Angeles. She comes back to Duluth every Christmas, and this year will sing with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra.
The Harbor Holiday Special on Dec. 6 at DECC Symphony Hall features the Three Altos and Ariana Savalas.
Let us not forget the cinematic classic Horror Express. That alone puts Telly on the list for me.
Wait, wait, wait! What??? Kojak lived on PArk Point? Gilligan and the Skipper have some connections to Duluth?
Can you fill us in, or at least those of us who are new to the area (I have only been here 21 years).
My Dad was a huge Kojak fan in the ’70s. Imagine his delight when Telly Savalas plopped down next to him at the coffee counter in the Walgreens restaurant at the mall and proceeded to gripe about having to kill some time while the wife did her shopping at the Maurices store across the way. He scribbled his autograph on a napkin and added “who loves ya Howard?” I’m told he also used to frequent Mr. Pete’s in downtown.
Gilligan and Skipper appeared in a Tourism ad for Duluth. The lore has been discussed on PDD previously, but most of the links are now dead. Telly, Gilligan and Al “Duluth Answer Man” Franken are up on Visit Duluth’s Youtube page now.
I think we should name a street after JJLee.
Barrett,
No, I don’t want them to sell out. But I do want them to stop by and play a show more than once in a blue moon. Before this recent announcement and the 1999 show, when was the last time he played in the area?
Willie Nelson has played more shows in Duluth than Dylan has.
It would be nice to see Dylan and others of his level play Duluth more often. But I dispute the idea that he (or any celebrity really) is somehow obligated to “do something for” the town where he was born.
Duluth’s efforts to woo Dylan have historically been embarrassing. Back when these Savalas ads were airing, Duluth changed Harbor Drive to Dylan Drive, and when that didn’t prove enough of an incentive to get Dylan back here shilling for Duluth, they changed the name back. I don’t know anything of course, but I suspect Duluth might have had a better shot at getting Dylan to play here if they just treated him like any other star of his caliber and enticed him with money instead of trying to tie him into a tourist campaign and hope to get him to dance like one of the D-list boat-show stars of long-cancelled TV shows.
“The town I was born in holds no memories
but for the honkin’ foghorns
the rainy mist
the rocky cliffs
I have carried no feelings
up past the Lake Superior hills.”
– 11 Outlined Epitaphs
—
“thought i’d shaken the wonder
and the phantoms of my youth
rainy days on the great lakes
walkin’ the hills of old Duluth.”
– Something There Is About You
—
Have you heard about this Bob Dylan Drive idea in Duluth?
“Yeah, I’ve heard about it.”
What do you think?
Pause. “I really don’t know what to think. I would think there’d be a lot of other people in Duluth they could name streets for.” He laughed a little. “I think everybody who was born there should have a street named for them.”
“I don’t remember much about Duluth, really, except, uh, the foghorns.” He plucked at one of the hanging sheets, glanced into an empty adjacent room. “That’s about it.”
– DNT, 1986
—
In fact he went on for me so long about the virtues of Duluth, Minnesota, hoping that I would get it in the article because he said he always tells people how much he likes Duluth and it always gets cut. So I made sure I kept just a little bit in there about how special he finds the city of Duluth. He’s really gearing his energy back towards Minnesota and he wants to spend more and more time up there.
– Douglas Brinkley, 2009:
—
All these people that you mention
Yes, I know them, they’re quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces
And give them all another name
Right now I cannot read too well
Don’t send me no more letters, no
Not unless you mail them
From desolation row
I’m sure this would make a whole new post’s worth of arguments, but do any former Duluthians really owe anything back to us?
Just because you grew up here, doesn’t mean that you are somehow indebted to the town, and are forced through obligation to make a special effort to it.
If you think about it, Bob Dylan probably didn’t have the happiest upbringing. Some of the shittiest years of his life probably happened right in northern Minnesota. Maybe he has a good reason to not want to remember it.
I lived on Park Point from late 1967 until the mid 1970s and remember seeing Telly Savalas from time to time. We had a brief conversation regarding the nice weather. Seemed like a nice guy.
I never said anybody owes us anything.
The context of this conversation is important.
The original poster said that Telly Savalas might deserve a street named after him, Edgeways objected, stating Telly had only “nominal ties” to the Northland. To which I replied that if Dylan has a street named after him that Savalas deserves the same, as Telly has done more for Duluth than Dylan has.
My comments were only in support of Savalas, not an attack on Dylan.
Sorry, Dorkus. I wasn’t lashing out at you but just the subject in general. It comes up so often, and really it pushes my buttons. I also apologize for taking this post too seriously, which is something I usually don’t do.
I totally understand.
I could have worded my response a bit better as well.
My post had nothing to do with Savalas, but rather the persistant “Why doesn’t Dylan like Duluth?” comments heard about town.
So I guess you could say I threadjacked the threadjack?
Stop threadjacking.
It is not something you should do in public.