History
R.I.P. John Munsell
University of Wisconsin-Superior professor John Munsell died on Tuesday. He taught at UWS from 1967 to 2001 and was one heck of a character.
Speaking of his characters, one of them in April 1997 was Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, shown above.
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The Kidnappers Foil: 1938 Duluth Footage
Starting in the 1930s, Melton Barker traveled across the United States filming The Kidnappers Foil for the next 40 years. No, he did not take this long to film one movie, instead he filmed the same movie in every town that he visited, perhaps hundreds of times. I’m not sure if this was part of a “home movie” business plan, or if he was ripping people off with promises of fame, but nonetheless, it’s now part of movie history.
In 1938, he stopped by Duluth to film, and though the main film is missing, there are two scenes featuring Duluthians. Maybe you have a famous grandparent and never knew it? (more…)
Rocket Bar Renovation
The ragged building at 208 E. First St. in Downtown Duluth is being gutted of debris in preparation for renovation. Bob Monahan and his father, Robert H. R. Monahan, plan to open an “artist friendly” cafe/lounge on the main floor later this year, with a recording studio in the basement level. They have already replaced the roof on the 127-year-old building, which they are in the process of acquiring from Jack Arnold through a contract-for-deed agreement.
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The 1962 UWS Football Squad
Today on PDD we present the 1962 gridders from the “Wisconsin State College Superior,” now known as the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Why? Well the fine folks at UWS’ Jim Dan Hill Library have digitized copies of the Gitchee Gumee, the college’s yearbook — from its inception in 1909 through 1972, when it ceased publication.
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A glimpse of Duluth in 1948
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulWWwAZfTJ4
Scenes of Duluth start at the 1:37 mark in this 1948 documentary on Finnish-American life in Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota. (Thanks to Dwight Swanson for the tip.)
Wikimapia
It’s kind of a weird name, it’s something that I discovered while doing “armchair” history research, and it’s become a hobby of sorts. Wikimapia is sort of like Wikipedia + Google maps, or as they put it; “a multilingual open-content collaborative map, where anyone can create place tags and share their knowledge.”
So basically if you sign up, (which it’s free), you can draw polygons around locations like a building, park, or historical places and then add the information about it, add photos, tags and what have you. Once it’s saved, others can view it, comment on it, or even update it as well if they have something new to add. You can add lots of other information too, like roads or railroads.
I know that there are some people here who dig history and know a lot of facts about our area, so I just thought it’d be cool to share and hope that maybe they will share their knowledge on the site as well, or at the very least, simply just looking around it.
Idle No More Jingle Dress Dance Event in Duluth, Radio Documentary
Here is something that I have been working on. A one-hour radio documentary collection of sounds and voices from the Jan. 11 Idle No More Jingle Dress Dance demonstration through the streets of Duluth. It airs at 11 a.m. today on 89.1 FM WGZS in Cloquet. In case you are like the other 100 million people who will be instead listening to and viewing the inauguration of President Obama at that time on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday I have posted it online for people to listen to anytime in the form of a YouTube video.
I am still unhappy with some of the mix, the narration and my writing, but I am happy with being able to share these voices talking about this remarkable, historic event.
I’m Glad Spring is Finally Here
I’ve got 61 degrees on the front porch. Any thoughts or memories from native Duluthians, what winter used to be like?
The old Zippys Pizza Express
I was asked recently via e-mail what the name was of the pizza joint at 1830 E. Eighth St. before it was Vintage Italian Pizza (as seen in the modern photo above).
Since I spent no time at all in that neighborhood in my youth, I looked it up. (more…)
Houses on Wisconsin Point?
I had forgotten about the fenced-off houses at the end of Wisconsin Point for a few years, until seeing them again a couple days ago. I always figured they were somehow affiliated with the lighthouse … does anyone have any other information/stories about them?
Casket Quarry | Duluth Crushed Stone Co.
According to the 1943 book Mineral Resources of Minnesota, edited by William H. Emmons and Frank F. Grout, “the Duluth Crushed Stone Company quarried gabbro at Duluth for road stone, railroad ballast, concrete aggregate, rubble for retaining walls, and riprap (large fragments for piers, breakwaters, etc.).” (more…)
Miller Hill Mall Nostalgia
I know we should all strive to shop as locally as possible for all of our holiday gifts but sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way. I was at the Miller Hill Mall yesterday and realized how much that place has changed in my lifetime. My biggest memory of the mall was the old movie theater and the McDonald’s right across the way. Not to mention going to Mr. Bulky’s to get candy to sneak in. What are your biggest Miller Hill Mall memories of stores that are no longer there?
Asking for two pieces of advice
Two questions:
First: I am working with a journalism student on a news article and in it, the student mentions that a person used to work at a sporting goods store named CZ Wilson. Does that ring any bells?
Second: My daughter is an artist and has created watercolor paintings on seasonal cards (this is not an ad, don’t worry). Now, she would like to take those cards and have them printed on nice stock paper or whatever I really mean to say. Are there good local printers who do that work that people would recommend?
Thank you.
Duluth and Helsinki forever — and maybe Stockholm too
I attended a screening of Helsinki Forever, a 2008 montage of video clips taken by Finnish documentary and feature film makers over the past 100 years. It opens with this scene from the 1920s. (more…)
Duluth’s 1937 West End Baseball Team
Brian Bécotte of Edgartown, Mass., shared this 1937 photo with PDD on Facebook. His father, John Bécotte is standing, second from the left.
If anyone knows additional names of players on the team or anything about the team in general, well, that’s what blog comments are for.
Van Halen at Duluth Arena, 1978 and ’79
A while back we started a master list of concerts at the DECC (formerly Duluth Arena) to help people sort out their fuzzy memories of rocking out back in the day. Since the list is kind of a slap together of info submitted to PDD in comments, it contains some incomplete and inaccurate information. (We would like it to be complete and accurate, but that would require a level of diligence we are unwilling to accept.)
We received a note over the weekend from PDD user “duluthyouth” pointing out that “Eddie Money opened for Van Halen in 1979, not who you had listed.”
A search through newspaper microfilm found no review of the 1979 concert, but the advertisement above (from the Duluth News Tribune) indicates “special guests” and specifically notes the band Screams is on the bill. (more…)
Duluth RecyclaBell
For the sake of Duluth music history, and inspired by a reunion show, we take a look back at the RecyclaBell and the mid-1990s Duluth music scene. (more…)
Merv Griffin “Christmas City” B-Side
Some people may not know that in addition to the Merv Griffin Duluth-themed classic “Christmas City,” which was written for the Christmas City of the North Parade, there is also a B-side to the 45 RPM single that was released back in 1962. It’s called “The Song of the Christmas City.”
Also a song written with Duluth in mind (and worked into the song lyrics), this one is more of a slow jam compared to Christmas City’s more upbeat jingle-bell jive. The song features addition vocals by one Maureen Reynolds who I couldn’t find any information on. Apparently she’s off the grid.
You can download good vinyl rips of both tunes to add to your own Christmas playlist right here. Enjoy!
50 years of being “nice-icle”
Merv Griffin recorded this precious little ditty in 1962. Happy Christmas City of the North Parade everyone!
Location of the old ski jump in Fond du Lac
I know there was a ski jump in the Fond du Lac neighborhood, close to Mission Creek. I’ve been on the trails on that steep hillside and have found a small concrete pad in the woods, pretty close to Mission Creek. Would the ski jump have been near this small pad? Also, on top of the big hill I have found some overgrown, wide trails that almost look like they could’ve been some type of maintenance/service trails for the ski jump. Is this related to the old ski jump?
History on the Hill: LakeVoice reporters explore Duluth’s untold stories
Student journalists at LakeVoice News have recently published their first collection of stories for the fall 2012 issue of LakeVoice News. The collection is called History on the Hill and it explores the untold stories about Duluth’s historic places.
The students went around the city, observing people, exploring neighborhoods and learning about the fascinating history of Duluth’s third places.
Historic memorabilia found at Northland Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial
Video Archive: Louis Jenkins reading in 1976
These clips are from the short film From the Museroom: A Sampler of Minnesota Poets, shot in 1976 during a Poetry Collective benefit at the Firehouse in Minneapolis, Minn. Above: “Violence on Television.” Below: “Dream of Wealth.” (more…)
Select Images from Denfeld’s 1921 Oracle
The images in this post are all from various collages in the 1921 yearbook, so unfortunately they were about one-inch-high and don’t look very sharp when blown up. In gallery form, however, they are adequate enough. (more…)
Remembering the Duluth Bicycle Tree
An old “Where in Duluth?” post reminded me of the “Bicycle Tree” near the College of St. Scholastica. Eight years ago, or longer, a collection of bikes started growing on a tree … or whatever happened. I actually never saw it, I only heard about it. Fortunately, Tony Rogers has a whole gallery of photos from 2004.
Duluth Gig Posters: 1976 to 2012
This little collection has more than 500 images, but is always growing. You can help add to the collection by sending jpegs to paul @ perfectduluthday.com or just uploading them to the comments.
Click on any of the thumbnails to see the full image and begin a slideshow. If you are on a phone, tap to view individual posters.
2012
