Paul Lundgren
Selective Focus: Homegrown 2025
https://www.instagram.com/p/DJNpsOzBK4b/
Via Instagram, a smattering of images from the Homegrown Music Festival. (more…)
Rawkers shutout Rollers in 2025 Homegrown kickball
First-year Rollers coach Kaylee Matuszak did all she could to inspire her team, but her players rarely made it beyond second base in a 4-0 loss to Leon Rohrbaugh’s Rawkers in the Homegrown Kickball Classic. At least, that’s what happened if you believe the liberal media.
“Team Saturday Night takes it,” Matuszak wrote on Facebook shortly after the game. “If you hear we lost 4-0, that’s fake news and you cannot prove it and also I won’t speak to you without an attorney.” (more…)
Upset Duluth: Famous Kaylee Edition
The latest addition to Perfect Duluth Day’s ongoing “Upset Duluth” series features a true innovator in the field. Kaylee Matuszak flashes her frown in not one, but two photos in the Duluth News Tribune story “Lake Superior Maritime Visitor Center to face peak season with skeleton crew.”
Upset Duluth, of course, highlights Duluth News Tribune photos of people who are upset. Usually the photo subjects appear with arms folded or gesturing with their hands in some way, but Matuszak deploys two new techniques: arms behind the back and staring forlornly into the distance. It’s simply exceptional work. Further props to DNT photographer Wyatt Buckner for capturing the displeasure.
Homegrown Music Festival 2025 Primer
The 27th annual Homegrown Music Festival is underway. As usual, Perfect Duluth Day presents a rundown of updates, sidebar details and notes of peripheral or unsanctioned interest. (more…)
Footloose monkey afield in Fairmount Park in 1941
Carl Kuchenbecker was apparently responsible for nine primates disappearing into the woods near Kingsbury Creek during his many years as proprietor of The Same Old Place in West Duluth. The story of a “ringtailed monkey” named Bobby landed on the front page of the Duluth Herald on Oct. 18, 1941. (more…)
Postcard from the Same Old Place in West Duluth
This postcard image, touched up a bit from an eBay listing, shows The Same Old Place tourist information center and cabins at Fairmount Park in West Duluth. (more…)
Our Home in West Duluth
This photo is dated April 19, 1910 — 115 years ago today. It shows a house with two adults standing against a wooden fence and a child sitting on the fence. The image is from a postcard with writing indicating the house was in West Duluth. (more…)
The Many Conveniences of the St. Louis County Jail in 1925
The April 15, 1925 issue of the Duluth Herald featured several photos of the then-new St. Louis County Jail, part of the Duluth Civic Center. The paper called it “a model in jail construction” and compared it to a “first-class hotel.” (more…)
Postcard from Mining on the Range
This undated postcard shows an unidentified mine on Minnesota’s Iron Range, obviously not in Duluth despite what the caption on the front indicates. The card was published by the Souvenir Postcard Company of New York and Berlin.
Postcard from Along the Rocky Shores of Isle Royale
This undated postcard, published by E. C. Kropp Company, shows a rocky shore at Isle Royale, about 150 miles northeast of Duluth. The fourth-largest lake island in the world was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a National Park on April 3, 1940 — 85 years ago today. (more…)
Bootleggers, bring out your kerchiefs!
One hundred years ago, the cellar of what was then the new St. Louis County Jail in Duluth, and now is the Leijona apartment building, was jammed with hundreds of confiscated moonshine stills. It was the time of Prohibition. The March 30, 1925 Duluth Herald reported that storing all the stills was becoming a problem. (more…)
Postcard from the Hotel Duluth in 1965
This postcard of the Hotel Duluth, now known as Greysolon Plaza, was mailed March 27, 1965 — 60 years ago today. (more…)
Postcard from the Voyageur Lakewalk Inn
Voyageur Lakewalk Inn was a Downtown Duluth lodging staple for about 60 years. It was demolished in 2022, along with the Hacienda del Sol and First Oriental Grocery buildings, to make way for the 15-story Lakeview 333 apartment building. (more…)
Chester Park Pharmacy and Garage open for business in 1925
One hundred years ago today — March 14, 1925 — Chester Park Pharmacy opened at 1328 E. Fourth St. Chester Park Garage was already open next door in the new building. The previous day’s Duluth Herald reported that preparations had been underway for months for the pharmacy at 1328 E. Fourth St., noting that the “last yard of linoleum” had just been laid on the floor. (more…)
Postcard from the ‘new Alworth Building’
This postcard was mailed 115 years ago today — March 10, 1910. It shows the “new Alworth Building” at 306 W. Superior St., which was indeed new; the postcard was mailed two months before construction of the building was completed. (more…)
John A. Blatnik Bridge construction photos circa 1961
A few photos in the Cliff’s Barber Shop Collection show the John A. Blatnik Bridge under construction, probably in 1961, the year it was completed. (more…)
Duluth jockey Lloyd Geving a top prospect in 1925
Duluth’s Lloyd Geving, 18 years old in 1925, was one of the most promising jockeys of the winter season at Oriental Park Racetrack in Marianao, Havana, Cuba. (more…)
Duluth Album Releases in 2025
Here’s the rundown of new works from the Duluth music scene in 2025. (more…)
Ida Tarbell spoke in Superior in 1925
Author and investigative journalist Ida Tarbell spoke at the Normal School in Superior 100 years ago today — Feb. 23, 1925. The Normal School is now known as the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Tarbell became famous for her series of articles in McClure’s magazine from 1902 to 1904 that later resulted in her book The History of the Standard Oil Company. Her revealing of the company’s strong-arm tactics led to the dissolution of its monopoly. She also wrote a number of biographies, including several works on Abraham Lincoln, which was the subject of her lecture in Superior. (more…)
Postcard from the Barney B. Barstow
There isn’t a lot of information online about the Barney B. Barstow of Duluth, featured in this undated postcard published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography. But there are a few tidbits that suggest the vessel gets its name from a Superior attorney who, according to the June 1969 issue of Maritime Reporter Magazine, was one of eight directors at Fraser Shipyards, serving as secretary. (more…)
Greetings from Duluth, Minnesota
This undated postcard, published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography circa the 1960s, shows the Duluth Harbor from Observation Hill.
The caption on the back reads:
Duluth, Minn.
Vessels from all the world’s ports arrive here after transiting the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes.
Skyline Parkway connection to Jay Cooke Park planned in 1925
The caption for this graphic from the Feb. 11, 1925 Duluth Herald reads: “Map showing extent of Duluth’s heritage at Jay Cooke park; road which has been completed so far in the district connection with the Duluth park system, and the 1.6 miles of road which it is hoped to complete this year if the state legislature appropriates $40,000 for that purpose. Completion of the road will give Duluthians a direct route to the park.”
Before Highway 210 connected Jay Cooke State Park to Highway 23, Duluthians had to travel a long, “dusty and sometimes tiresome road,” to get to the “picturesque and pleasing stopping place,” according to an article in the Feb. 11, 1925 issue of the Duluth Herald. (more…)
Duluth Book Releases in 2025
Presenting Perfect Duluth Day’s annual rundown of books by Duluth-area writers and/or about Duluth-area topics that are new to bookstores and e-commerce sites. It’s early in the year, so this list will grow as 2025 continues. (more…)
Postcard from the Riverview Motel circa 1955
This postcard shows the Riverview Motel in West Duluth, which was replaced in the early 2000s by Westgate Townhomes. (more…)
Postcard from Skyline Parkway Overlooking DM&IR Ore Docks
This undated postcard shows the DM&IR ore docks, which mark the border between Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, then known as the West End, and West Duluth.