Paul Lundgren
Go west, young man
Star Tribune: Duluth visitors, please look to your right, too
The focal point of Duluth Mayor Don Ness’ State of the City Address will be creating a secondary tourist destination along the St. Louis River.
“We have the largest freshwater estuary in the world in the St. Louis River,” Mayor Don Ness said. “You have all of these amazing natural amenities and outdoor recreation experiences in a fairly small concentrated area.”
The plan comes as hundreds of millions have been spent – with a similar sum still to come – to clean up the St. Louis River, saddled for decades with old industrial pollution. It is in concert with efforts to revitalize the long-neglected working-class part of town, where factory hands raised families in tight-knit communities near their jobs.
Duluth Mystery Photo: Mr. Green
Is Green the photographer’s name or the dude in the photo? Who is this dapper West Ender?
Yoshikas Sauna Revisited
On the Bumper to Bumper show on KFAN Radio, broadcast out of the Twin Cities and on the air in Duluth on KQDS AM 1490, host Dan Barreiro and his crew took on the subject of a new “cuddle business” opening near Sacramento, Calif. The subject turned to a “health club” called Yoshiko’s Sauna in Minneapolis that was in business during the 1990s. Later in the show they discovered an old post about Duluth’s Yoshikas Sauna on Perfect Duluth Day and … well … that’s the clip above.
Perfect Play or Musical of 2013: Duluth Playhouse Children’s Theatre’s Cats
It was a big year for Duluth theater in 2013, with eight productions receiving a significant number of votes for the honor of best play or musical. In the end, the Duluth Playhouse Children’s Theatre production of Cats emerged as the favorite.
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Whole Foods Co-op in West Duluth, a/k/a WFC – Denfeld
Here’s how the Whole Foods Co-op broke the news about its new store on Feb. 24:
The future location of Duluth’s second Whole Foods Co-op will be 4426 Grand Ave. It will be a 7,000-square-foot store.
Duluth reference in Best Man Down
The majority of the 2013 film Best Man Down is set in Lutsen, though none of it was shot north of Forest Lake. In this scene, Duluth is referenced briefly in the dialogue while the Northland’s NewsCenter’s Michelle Lee is on the television in the background.
Duluth Mystery Photo: Snowdrift Family
This image seems timely considering recent weather in Duluth, but it’s actually from 1935. It’s an “Illustrated Current News” poster, published by the Marlin Co. The website bonanza.com is selling it for twenty bucks under the headline “1935 news poster: Duluth Minnesota snowstorm; Farnam family ice home.”
The caption on the poster reads something like: “The family of Clinton Farnam was completely isolated during a recent snowstorm … (then it gets hard to read) … they had to dig a tunnel from the doorway to the roadway, which (blurry again) … Photo shows family with friends just after they had evacuated themselves.”
So, this week’s mystery is less of a mystery than usual, but can anyone fill in the blurry parts of the caption and tell us more about Clinton Farnam, his family, and the snowstorm of 1935?
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Snow Swimming
Shanesaw and Scuba Steve have a little fun during today’s snow day.
Video Archive: 1989 Denfeld Hockey
It’s been 25 years since Denfeld played in the 1989 Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament. Through the miracle of shaky old VHS tapes, we take a look back. Above is the gloriously cheesy video profiling the school, produced for between-period entertainment.
Below are local TV news highlights of Denfeld’s route to the tournament. (more…)
Best Play or Musical of 2013 (Final Ballot)
Of the 18 plays or musicals originally nominated for this poll, three have advanced to the final ballot — Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Cats and The Pillowman. Now it’s time to pick the winner.
[poll id=”64″]
This poll is now closed. The results were:
Cats (Duluth Playhouse Children’s Theatre) – 42.3 percent
The Pillowman (Renegade Theater Co.) – 33.3 percent
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Renegade Theater Co.) – 24.4 percent
Poll: Best Play or Musical of 2013
This poll is now closed. The three plays advancing to the final ballot are:
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson – Renegade Theater Co.
Cats – Duluth Playhouse Children’s Theatre
The Pillowman – Renegade Theater Co.
The other nominees were:
Almost, Maine – Duluth Playhouse
Burnt Part Boys – Renegade Theater Co.
Collected Stories – Duluth Playhouse at the Underground
Everything You’ve Done That Hurt Me – one-man performance by Jonathan Manchester
Frozen – Duluth Playhouse at the Underground
God of Carnage – Duluth Playhouse
Godspell – Duluth Playhouse
How the Grinch Shut Down Christmas, or, I Saw Rudolph Twerking Santa Claus – Rubber Chicken Theater
Last Summer at Bluefish Cove – UMD Theater
Merry Wives of Windsor – Wise Fool Shakespeare
Metamophoses – Duluth Playhouse
The Princess Bride (live read) – Rubber Chicken Theater
Seussical the Musical – St. Scholastica Theatre
Tuesdays With Morrie – Duluth Playhouse at the Play Ground
Lake Superior Ice Cover
Satellite imagery of the big lake from Jan. 4 to Feb. 16. Video by Paul Schonfeld. Music by Chilly Gonzalez. Sure to remind many of you of the hand jive.
Best Play or Musical of 2013 Nominations
Returning to our periodic infatuation with polls, the next item up on the PDD Awards list is determining Duluth’s Best Play or Musical from 2013.
Before we do that, we rely on you to supply the nominees in the comments. Ready. Set. Go.
For those in a summer mood …
“Duluth Sketches: Park Point After The Flood” video by Shawn Donovan.
Duluth Mystery Photo: Baby Marge
This photo is for sale on eBay under the heading “Vintage Snapshot Photo Babies Family on Rocks 1920s Duluth Minnesota #250.” The description reads: “Offered is a great vintage picture of a darling baby girl sitting on a pile of rocks with another child and a group of adults. Photo is from the 1920s. I bought these photos from a living estate, and baby’s name is Marge and lives in Duluth Minnesota. This picture was taken down by Lake Superior probably.”
There’s not much to go on here for pinpointing a location, but apparently we do have a baby name. So, who is this Marge?
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UMD Bulldogs Hockey 101
The 12th episode of this series about the National Collegiate Hockey Conference profiles the University of Minnesota Duluth and its hockey history, NHL success, the campus and the school itself.
Chad Salmela’s Access Gold Medal
We had the clip here from Access Hollywood of Duluth’s Chad Salmela accepting a Gold Medal for his announcing of the 30k Skiathon as a cross-country skiing analyst for NBC. As you can see if you click on it now, NBC has put the copyright kibosh on it. Hopefully that means NBC has the clip available somewhere.
Duluth Mystery Photo: Mr. Dillner?
I saved this photo graphic at some point in the past and titled the file “Dillner.” Call it sloppy archiving on my part, but I’m guessing that might be his last name and on the front of the photo is the photographer’s name, which looks like it’s maybe S. F. Dahlquist. The address is 19 E. Superior St., Duluth. So that’s what we’ve got to go on. (more…)
Martin Pattison
Historical sketch from the Dec. 31, 1913, Duluth News Tribune.
The three-time mayor of Superior was the original owner of the Fairlawn Mansion, which was completed in 1891. Read about rumors of paranormal activity in the mansion at unexplainedresearch.com.
Martin Pattison is also the namesake of Pattison State Park, which was established in 1920. Read about that on zenithcity.com.
Duluth Album Releases in 2014
Charlie Parr
Hollandale
Chaperone Records (Jan. 25)
Dave Simonett
Razor Pony
(Jan. 29)
Available on Bandcamp
Dirty Knobs
I Want to Live Inside the Sun
Xero Music (Jan. 29)
Available on Bandcamp
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Duluth Mystery Photo: 1938 Neighborhood Hockey Game
It happened in Duluth in 1938. That’s all we know. What rink? Who are these kids?
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Paul Robeson in Duluth
What is Paul Robeson’s connection to Duluth? For some reason I’ve never wondered about this before. Today someone asked me.
Paul Robeson was a singer, actor and football player who was involved in the Civil Rights Movement. You can read about him on Wikipedia and numerous other places on the Internet.
The Paul Robeson Ballroom is part of the Kozy Apartments complex, which has been shuttered since 2010 due to three arson fires. (Photo above by Daniel Kerkhoff.)
There is a one-man show, The Tallest Tree in the Forest, running at Arena Stage in Washington D.C. through Feb. 16, that mentions Robeson was in Duluth in 1947. (The show is probably based, at least in part, on the 1977 documentary film The Tallest Tree in Our Forest.)
That’s all we’ve got. Help fill in the blanks.
Five Perfect Duluth Years on WordPress
A minor anniversary for Perfect Duluth Day: Five years ago today we stayed up late on a Friday night and switched to the WordPress publishing platform. From September 2005 to January 2009 PDD used Moveable Type and looked like this:
