Paul Lundgren

Leap Day 2012 Snowmageddon Photos

At left is Rich Narum’s shot of Superior Street; at right the view from Anna Montgomery’s side door. Has anyone had the guts to wreck a camera and try shooting outside instead of through glass? Not me!

Anyway, add your best attempts in the comments.

Major Concerts at the DECC: 1966 to 2010

DECC-Don-Esse-art

This feature is an ongoing attempt to list all the major concerts at the DECC Arena and Symphony Hall from 1966 to 2010, which of course includes the era when they were known as the Duluth Arena and Duluth Auditorium. (more…)

This week: Mustaches, poetry and hockey, hockey and more hockey

March Madness is nearly upon us, as the East Greyhounds, Marshall Hilltoppers and Hermantown Hawks boys hockey teams all battle this week for trips to the state tournament. Marshall plays Hibbing-Chisholm on Wednesday, East plays Andover on Thursday, and Hermantown plays Rogers on Friday.

In college women’s hockey, the UMD Bulldogs are in the WCHA Final Face-off at Amsoil Arena. They face the Wisconsin Badgers on Friday for the chance to play in the WCHA National Championship Game on Saturday.

In a weirder athletic endeavor, the Mustache March Run happens on Saturday. If you don’t know what that means, well, it’s really no more complicated than a bunch of people with mustaches (real and artificial) running on the Lakewalk. There will also be an after-race party at Pizza Luce featuring the Black-eyed Snakes.

Also Saturday, the Spirit Lake Poetry Series brings Todd Boss and Matt Rasmussen to Somers Lounge at the College of St. Scholastica. Rescheduled for March 24.

There are over 400 events in the PDD Calendar, and we fully expect you to take part in at least 350 of them, so study up.

What’s the matter with Duluth girls?

This clip didn’t make it to my inbox until after Valentine’s Day, but hey, it’s 100 years old anyway, so what’s a few more days? It’s from the Feb. 4, 1912, Duluth News Tribune. A more readable version of the text appears below.
(more…)

Duluth’s Old Street Signs

OldSigns

Mundane fact of the day: Before Duluth’s street signs were white on green they were black on white. For a while after the switch the old signs were piled up at the spot where Upper and Lower Michigan Street meet. I spent a few minutes browsing them on Jan. 30, 1999, but didn’t take any home as a souvenir.

A Nerd Nite Boss’ Guide to Duluth

Beloved Duluth nerd Crystal Pelkey has an article in the debut issue of Nerd Nite magazine profiling the nerdiness of Duluth. The nationwide magazine is published out of Brooklyn, NY. (more…)

Lights out at the ‘Big L’

I just noticed the Spirit Bottle Shoppe at 5801 Grand Ave. in West Duluth is closed and the building is for sale. I will miss the big red light and friendly service.

(Tiny photo circa 2004 by Barrett Chase.)

Images from Diorama-rama 5

Well, somebody had to.

Where in Duluth?

Tiny Art Show – Online Version

In honor of “The Tiny Art Show” at Prøve Gallery, I thought I’d throw things open to people who are either too lazy to submit their tiny art to a show, or are pretty sure it’s not good enough to be in a show.

PDD’s comments now have an easy image-upload tool, so go ahead and share a weird photo or other piece of art or pseudo art.

Minnesota Republicans love Santorum

Considering the definition of “santorum,” there are a lot of opportunities for headline writers tonight. Your suggestions are welcome in the comments.

R.I.P. Jim’s Hamburgers

Jims-Hamburgers-West-End

The paper over the windows at this classic restaurant on the ground floor of the Seaway Hotel, 2005 W. Superior St. in Duluth’s friendly West End, reveals it is out of business. (Jim’s Hamburgers was included in the “Breakfast in Duluth” post just 10 months ago.)

This was the last of four Jim’s Hamburger locations in Duluth. Jim Overlie was the founder, opening the first one in 1937. I think the West End location opened in the 1940s. Overlie sold in 1985 to Dick and Mary Christensen. Dick died in 2000 and Mary died in 2006. Their son Denny took over ownership.

Other Jim’s Hamburger locations were at:
502 E. Fourth St. (closed in 2005)
414 W. Superior (closed in 1995)
502 E. First St. (closed in 1982)

Christmas & New Year’s 2012

Entries into the guest books at lodges tend to be kind of boring, but I like how this group made a comic out of their stay at Heston’s Lodge on Gunflint Lake a month ago. Flipping through the stack of archives reveals this group has been making the trip for at least a dozen years, and they always leave a comic behind.

Where in … ?

PDD user account registration problem fixed

Anyone trying to create a user account for Perfect Duluth Day from Saturday night to this morning, probably saw this:

The problem is fixed, and creating an account should work now. We apologize to those who were frustrated by this.

Duluth Album Releases in 2000

Dial back the sound system one quarter of a century. The year 2000 was of particular significance to the Duluth music scene. It’s possibly the first time more than a dozen local albums were released in a single year. The emergence of a few local music labels is partially the reason, but in general the reduction in the cost to put out compact discs, growth in the number of bands and easier access to recording technology all contributed to the spike in output, which has only accelerated since.

Compiled here is an incomplete list of Duluth-related music releases from 2000. If you spot something that’s missing, feel free to comment here or send an email to paul @ perfectduluthday.com. (more…)

Duluth Albums from the 1900s

Perfect Duluth Day’s attempt to chronical the works of local musicians begins with this list of 20th century recordings. (more…)

Trampled by Turtles — Making of Stars and Satellites Part 1 – “Alone”

Drunken Photos from the 1990s

Trick12March1994

I’m not sure if “Drunken Photos from the 1990s” is meant to be a series or not, but I happened to come across two images in my attic that fit the category and raised some questions I thought the Internet could answer. (more…)

SOPA/PIPA Info

Welcome back to your regularly scheduled Perfect Duluth Day programming. For roughly 24 hours, PDD was blacked out to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Protect IP Act in the U.S. Senate, co-sponsored by senators Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar.

Now that the silence is over, rant and rave all you want in the comments.

Here are some news links:

Fox 21: “Websites Black-Out in Protest of Possible Internet Censorship
MPR: Delegation responds to Internet piracy bills
AP: Wikipedia editors question site’s SOPA blackout

What Canal Park Brewing Company will look like

Canal Park Brewing Co. is expected to open this summer. Construction is underway and Wagner Zaun Architecture’s designs look like this. (more…)

So, how windy was it last night in Duluth?

I parked my vehicle on Third Street, opened the door, and the wind ripped it right off. (more…)

Paul Broman and Danecdote – “Let’s Make Babies”

[This post originally contained an embedded audio file from Soundcloud that is no longer available at its source.]

New song from a pair of Duluthians.

Isn’t today just the perfect Duluth day?

Ain’t they all, Mr. Mayor?

PDD Background Color Change

As most of you have probably noticed, Perfect Duluth Day has changed its background colors. The changeover started several days ago, and there have been some issues with the old colors popping up in a few spots …

… but we think we’ve taken care of all of those issues now. Please let us know if you see the old colors popping up anywhere.

Also, let us know if you love or hate the change. If you love the change it will make us feel good. If you hate the change we will get all defensive and accuse you of having poor taste.