News and Current Affairs
Happy tick season to all
Ticks are most active from mid-May through mid-July.
- Walk in the center of trails.
- Conduct frequent strip searches.
- Tweeze ’em and torch ’em.
Beware the gadfly’s sting
Duluth News Tribune photo by Clint Austin
In your face, petty tyrants! The First Amendment rules!
Duluth News Tribune: Duluth School Board may opt against removing Johnston
Duluth Reader: Stop swatting the gadflies
Old Klearflax warehouse is a-comin’ down
As previously reported on PDD, Walker Display has moved its operations out of West Duluth, and its former location on Grand Avenue is being demolished to make way for a Kwik Trip convenience store. The demolition process has revealed the former exterior of the building’s west side — a reminder that it once served as a warehouse for Klearflax Linen Rugs Co. (more…)
Apparently the mayor was too focused on sharks
Photo by Ken Greshowak
Last we heard, someone was dressed in a bear suit in front of City Hall, trying to coax this poor critter down from the tree.
Missing Person: Helge Rohm
Update: The Duluth Police Department reports that Helge Rohm has been located and is safe.
The Duluth Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating 72-year-old Helge Rohm. He is a Duluth resident and was last seen in the area of Second Avenue East and Sixth Street on Saturday, April 19.
Rohm is a 6-ft.-tall, 190-lb. white male with blue eyes and white/grey hair. Anyone with information is asked to call 911 or the Violent Crimes Unit at 218-730-5050.
8-Bit Classic Collection brings back the oldies
Out with the old video-game shop, in with the older video-game shop. After a spur-of-the-moment decision to buy the Game Galaxy store at 28 W. First St., Jim Mattson changed the focus and the name, opening 8-Bit Classic Collection on Feb. 1, specializing in vintage video games. (more…)
Duluthians conquer Switzerland’s “Wall of Death”!
Congratulations to Rick Kollath and Dean Einerson who topped out this morning on the mythic North Face of the Eiger, one of the most sought-after plumbs in alpine climbing (even Clint Eastwood failed spectacularly here in The Eiger Sanction)! The Eiger has claimed more than its share in terms of sensational mountain tragedies, but you can’t keep a good team from the Great Plains down. This ascent is testimony to the physical and mental grit of these two paragons of Duluth climbing, not to mention the world-class local training facilities at Superior Kettlebell Gym and Casket Quarry. Well done, lads!
Homegrown Field Guide 2015
Cover art by Heidi Blunt.
The Red Door brightens Duluth’s East Hillside
Photos by Jamie Merideth
Hibbing native Sharon Kangas has been a Head Start teacher and cosmetologist. Now she’s an entrepreneur. In September 2013 she opened the Red Door, an ornate consignment shop in Duluth’s East Hillside neighborhood. (more…)
Jade Fountain purchased by owner of neighboring restaurant
Bill Kalligher has been owner of Gannucci’s Italian Market for four years. During that time the three-decades old West Duluth eatery expanded in both size and scope, and in October was featured on the cable television show Diners, Drive-in and Dives. Last week Kalligher expanded his holdings by acquiring one of the area’s oldest restaurants, Jade Fountain.
Located at 305 N. Central Ave., two doors down from Gannucci’s, Jade Fountain has been a staple in West Duluth since George Wong opened it in 1968. Wong sold it in 1997 to Sick Cheung Lee, who had just immigrated to the United States. Lee died in November and his widow Kwok Chun Mak was looking to sell. (more…)
Popular Minneapolis chef will open resort restaurant in Pengilly
Sarah Master has announced she will leave her position as executive chef at Minneapolis’ Café Barbette to open a restaurant and resort 75 miles outside of Duluth in the Iron Range city of Penguilly. Her partner in the venture is Dan Beckwith, who had been working as the financial controller of Bryant-Lake Company.
Mr. Roberts Resort is expected to open on June 1 at 28179 East Shore Drive. A news release announcing the plans refers to it as “a unique combination of a full-service restaurant, bar, cabins and RV sites, all situated in a bucolic setting on Swan Lake in Northern Minnesota.”
(more…)Easter Sunday Fire at Applewood Knoll Apartments
Photo by David Heinecke
A Facebook page has been established for “Donations for the victims of the Easter fire Duluth MN.” (more…)
Leaning Tower of Enger
Thanks to Eric Plumb for tipping us off on this breaking news. Fox 21 is confirming the story right now by sending someone to shoot footage of Enger Tower standing perfectly upright.
Play Pac-Man through the streets of Duluth
You can play Pac-Man through the streets of Duluth on Google Maps. Cruise up Lake Avenue chomping pellets and speed down Superior Street trying to avoid Pinky, Blinky, Inky and Clyde. Click here or the image above to chomp away.
This works on desktop computers only, not mobile devices.
PhTSD
So I’m on the way home two weeks ago and sitting at the traffic light in on Central and Grand thinking I’m having some strange wish sandwich, déjà vu flashback episode. I know the post-traumatic Pizza Hut syndrome can be resurgent, but I swear they took the sign down months ago. Am I crazy?
6.5-million Bottles of Beer on the Wall: A tally of annual craft brew production in the Duluth area
The Arrowhead region of northeastern Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin boasts 15 craft breweries and brewpubs, producing nearly 20,000 barrels of convivial suds annually. For perspective, that’s about 600,000 gallons or 40,000 kegs or 5 million pints or 6.5 million 12-ounce bottles and cans. (more…)
Duluth ranks among “Best College Towns to Live in Forever”
College Ranker has sorted the nation’s college towns based on how “things like community, neighborhoods, schools” and other aspects create a place that is “attractive in retaining students who graduate from local colleges.” Duluth came in at #22. For some reason, UMD is the only one of the handful of colleges in the area that receives a mention in the text.
Coming to America
In which Karl Ove Knausgaard’s NYT series about travelling to the United States visits Duluth, Superior and more.
My Saga, Part 2: Karl Ove Knausgaard’s Passage Through America
King of Creams, Tycoons, Sala Thai
Courtland Powe, owner of the Duluth ice cream truck and cruisin’ kitchen called the King of Creams, has announced a restaurant of the same name will open in the Central Hillside at 502 E. Fourth St. this Saturday, March 14. The storefront had previously served as a Quiznos sandwich shop, and is better known as one of Duluth’s four former Jim’s Hamburgers locations. The new fast-casual restaurant will feature a menu that includes cheese-steak sandwiches, burgers, deep-fried pickles, malts and hand-scooped ice cream. Grand opening events will be held March 14 and 15, with all menu items at half price. Regular hours will be 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week.
Tycoons Alehouse is in PreservationNation’s online competition to determine America’s favorite historic watering hole. The Historic Bars Tournament has tapped 32 historic drinkeries to compete against one another in an NCAA Tournament-style, single-elimination format. Each week the blog will serve another round of pairings where readers will vote for their favorite inns and alehouses. When the matchups run dry on April 3, only one bar will claim the top shelf. Voting for each round will last one week and close every Friday morning at 7 a.m. Once each round is complete, the bracket will be updated with vote counts and winners.
The Duluth News Tribune reported on Monday that Sumlee Beede is moving her Sala Thai restaurant from Woodland Avenue to Downtown Duluth. “Beede is buying the two-story brick building at 114 W. First St. where she started in the restaurant business in 1999,” the story notes. “That year, she opened Thai Krathong, which developed a loyal following for its authentic Thai food. After she sold the business, it moved to Canal Park and closed in 2013.” The move would displace the Giant Panda restaurant, and could result in legal action to execute the eviction. According to the DNT, a court hearing on the matter is scheduled for next week. Sala Thai is Duluth’s only Thai restaurant. Beede plans to close the Woodland location on March 26 and open the downtown location in April.
Walker Display moving to Duluth Airpark
Walker Display, a locally owned art-display system manufacturer and distributor, is moving its operations from West Duluth to a warehouse at the Airpark in Duluth Heights. Its former location at 6520 Grand Avenue will be demolished in the coming months to make way for a new Kwik Trip convenience store. (more…)
Heating towns using cold water
Does anyone know about this or understand it? A town in Norway is using cold water to create heat for its municipal heating system.
BBC News: Heat pumps extract warmth from ice cold water
This is not the same as pumping ground water through a building.
Three not-really-so-new businesses
When small businesses move into old buildings, sometimes it takes a while to get noticed. In this post we highlight three, starting in the Central Hillside with Le Chien Pet Salon at 810 E. Ninth St. Owner Heather Axtell opened this pet-grooming shop one year ago, offering all-breed dog and cat grooming — everything from a bath or nail trim to an everyday groom. Axtell says she has over 20 years experience in the field, and this is her third pet salon in Duluth. She was an original partner in Bark Avenue, which opened in 1996, and she also opened Pooch Paradise in 2004, which she owned until 2010.
Duluth has multiple golf courses for public use, but when the brutal winters hit, those courses don’t have much to offer. Co-owners Jamie Booterbaugh and Aucksone Somphouvieng opened the Sweet Spot last fall in the friendly West End, an indoor facility offering virtual golfing year-round. When the snow and the temperature drop, the Sweet Spot and its two virtual golf simulators offer over 80 golf courses to those who want to keep their clubs in use over the winter months. The location is 2908 W. Third St., near Harrison Park.
Open since late summer of 2014, the Canal Park Flea Market offers a venue for the buying and selling of a wide array of items, from sports memorabilia and video games to action figures and rock T-shirts. Located at 329 Canal Park Drive, across from the Inn on Lake Superior, this market offers items unlikely to be found in any department store. And in times of cold weather the “free winter clothing” bin is there to serve.
Uncle Harvey’s Mausoleum sinking
Oh Snap. Uncle Harvey’s Mausoleum (a.k.a “The Cribs” a.k.a “Duluth Ice House”) seems to be melting away this winter. First the column went missing a few weeks ago and now the whole house seems to be doomed. Let’s hope Lake Superior Aquaman can fix this?
New Yorker story features Duluth pacifist who broke into the “Fort Knox of Uranium”
The March 9 issue of New Yorker includes a lengthy article titled “Break-in at Y-12,” which tells the story (with much digression) of Duluth’s Gregory Boertje-Obed and his role in the July 2012 break-in at the Y-12 nuclear weapons facility in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Boertje-Obed, along with fellow Catholic Worker Movement activists Megan Gillespie Rice and former Duluthian Michael Walli, cut fences to enter the facility and spray-painted messages, poured blood and ceremonially chipped away at the foundation of a building that houses one of the largest stores of bomb-grade uranium in the world.