Aerial Video: St. Louis River in Spring at Sunset
Adam Jagunich takes his Yuneec Typhoon H Plus on it’s maiden flight over the St. Louis River as the sun sets in western Duluth.
Homegrown Music Festival Field Guide 2021 out this weekend
The 23rd annual Homegrown Music Festival is less than a month away. A 60-page Field Guide is off the presses and will be available at local bars, restaurants and other businesses over the course of the next few days. (more…)
The Floating Island of Fremont, Duluth’s Breakaway Township
As documented in the book Duluth: An Illustrated History: “The opening of the Duluth canal proved to have a beneficial effect which its promoters had not anticipated. Currents flowing through the channel carried away a considerable amount of rotting timber and mucky islets which had infested the harbor. In fact, one of Duluth’s original townsites — Fremont — was thus swept out into Lake Superior and lost forever.”
The Zenith City Press website confirms the account: new currents swept several floating bogs in the harbor out to sea. The largest of these islands was 1,200 feet long and 400 feet wide — larger than the largest lake vessel — and it contained the township of Fremont. It began where Rice’s Point is today, and on May 10, 1873, it passed through the canal to the open sea.
I must correct the error, often propagated, that Fremont broke up that night in rough water. The truth is, Fremont is still out there, population 299, comprised of 20 families that each own a business. I know because I have been to Fremont. I have hiked its marshes and shopped its cute, bustling downtown. I have fished off its docks. I have traded stories, dreams, and fears with Fremonters around beach campfires.
Many people have. Lake Superior is dotted with cities that Fremont has visited. I highly recommend, next time Fremont is visible on the horizon, try to get there. The Fremont music scene is a delight. And of course anyone who loves lake culture and the outdoors probably already knows about it. (more…)
Sam Ali’s “artistic interpretation” of UMD hockey highlights
So as some of you know, we're not allowed to show highlights of games on ESPN. So with the UMD-UMass game only in the second intermission, I had to improvise with the "highlights": pic.twitter.com/BnXnNwaAU9
— Sam Ali (@SamAliSports) April 9, 2021
The UMD Bulldogs hockey season came to an end last night with a 3-2 loss in overtime to the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Before it was over, Sam Ali had to report on the game without using ESPN footage. He figured it out.
Selective Focus: Look at the Birdy
Instagram
90 likes, 9 comments - richhoeg on March 12, 2021: "Found this Great Gray Owl hunting in NE Minnesota three mornings ago. Watched it for over 60 minutes till the wind blew too strong and it gave up the hunt.
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#greatgrayowl
#onlyowls
#wildlifephotography
#owls
#owlsofminnesota".
instagram.com
Recent photos of local birds via Instagram. (more…)
Video: Levi LaVallee’s Duluth Snowmobile Stunts
Snowmobile stunt rider and Minnesota native Levi LaVallee was in Duluth during the first week of March filming this stunt video. Watch him defy gravity at Spirit Mountain, Lake Avenue, Rice’s Point and more. (more…)
Postcard from the Passenger Steamer South American
This undated postcard, published by Zenith Interstate News Company, shows the Steamer South American on Lake Superior. It was built for the Chicago, Duluth & Georgian Bay Transit Company and launched as an overnight passenger ship on Feb. 21, 1914. A fire in 1924 required the upper works of the vessel to be rebuilt, resulting in the addition of a second smokestack, which is shown on the postcard. (more…)
Syd & the Boys – “Sweet Jane”
Duluth band Syd & the Boys, featuring Sydney Hansen, have a new music video shot on the fishing dock on Rice Point that was once part of the Duluth-Superior Interstate Bridge. The video was edited by Grent Ellis Cañete, who plays guitar in the band. Other band members are drummer Ian Hopp and bassist Calvin Lund.
The song is a cover of the 1970 Velvet Underground classic “Sweet Jane,” styled after the 1988 Cowboy Junkies version.
Video: Duluth State of the City Address 2021
Via WDIO-TV, Duluth Mayor Emily Larson outlines priorities for Duluth with her State of the City address.
Duluth’s longest mayoral term started in 1921
On April 5, 1921 — one hundred years ago today — Samuel Frisby Snively was elected mayor of Duluth. He held the office for four terms spanning 16 years. Duluth has had two three-term mayors who served for 12 years, John Fedo and Gary Doty. (more…)
Minnesota All Hockey Hair Team 2021: Go with the Flow
Masks, a global pandemic and no cameras on the ice for intros. Hockey hair video maker John King did the only thing he could do this year — go with the flow.
Hairmentown gets a brief mention at the 2:30 mark for it’s junior varsity hockey hair, with King noting JV should stand for “juicy vinaigrette” when referencing the salad of the Hawks.
Amtrak wants to return passenger service to Duluth with funding from Biden’s infrastructure proposal
Amtrak’s North Star parked at the Duluth Depot, July 19, 1981. (Photographer unknown)
It’s been 36 years since Amtrak ended its 10-year run of passenger service from the Twin Cities to Duluth. This past week the company, which provides medium and long-distance service in the contiguous United States and nine Canadian cities, announced a vision for up to 30 new routes, including a return to Duluth … if Congress passes President Joe Biden’s $2-trillion infrastructure proposal. (more…)
Ripped at Le Grand Supper Club in 2001
[Editor’s note: For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the archive of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. Twenty years ago he took a ride to Grand Lake Township for a night of imbibing at La Grand Supper Club. The establishment closed in 2010 and was replaced in 2016 by the Cast Iron Bar and Grill. Goodbuzz documented his experience for the March 21, 2001 issue of the Ripsaw newspaper.]
So, Sean the locksmith shows up at my door and tells me that he’s “in the mood to drive.” How fortunate: I’m in the mood to drink. I suggest we head up the Old Miller Trunk Highway to Le Grand Supper Club and see what kind of mischief we can find.
Le Grand is a nice, big place, and tonight it’s all but empty except for a group of disgruntled pool players and about six or seven inebriated regulars at the bar. If I did my drinking on the weekends like any normal person, I might be able to see this place packed as a cover band such as Sh-boom attempts to rock the house. But weekends are made for pleasure drinking; I’m here for business drinking. (more…)
Mystery Photos: Mr. and Mrs. Peter Anderson
Someone was kind enough to write the names of these love birds on their photos and keep them together. But who are Mr. and Mrs. Peter Anderson? (more…)
Trampled by Turtles – “Annihilate” at First Avenue
This clip of Trampled by Turtles is from the Trampled by Thursdays concert series shot at First Avenue and streamed on Thursdays during the month of February. The shows were directed and edited by Charlie Berg. The song “Annihilate” is from the band’s 2018 album Life is Good on the Open Road.
Lanue – “Something Sacred”
The third Lanue video was edited by the artist herself, Sarah Krueger. The track is from the album released in February, available on Bandcamp, Apple Music and Spotify.
Postcard from Miller’s Cafeteria
Miller’s Cafeteria in Duluth’s Medical Arts Building, 320 W. Superior St., has a convoluted origin story that was explored in the comments to a Perfect Duluth Day Mystery Photo in 2014 and in the Duluth News Tribune “Relics” column “An old place mat holds memories of downtown cafe,” in 2019. From those works we learned the cafe became the Captain’s Table in 1959 and closed in 1972. (more…)
The Slice: The Art of Carl Gawboy
A retrospective of artist Carl Gawboy was on display during the pandemic at the Tweed Museum of Art on the University of Minnesota Duluth campus. This video offers a glimpse of the works. Gawboy is a member of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
PDD Video Lab: Bluebird Day on the Black Bear Highway
In this edition of the Perfect Duluth Day Video Lab we combine trail camera footage from the Voyageurs Wolf Project, which was previously posted on PDD, with the title track to Duluth band Woodblind‘s 2020 album Bluebird Day.
The original video features a vast array of critters. This trail cam happened to be a spot considered a “black bear highway,” and the happy bears seemed to need some music to dance to.
Commercial Cafe opens under new management in 1921
This advertisement in the March 29, 1921 Duluth Herald promotes the reopening of the Commercial Cafe at 10 N. 20th Ave. W. in what is now Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. The location is probably where DLH Clothing is operating a retail store today, although all businesses in that building use the address 12 N. 20th Ave. W.
Heely Tricks with JamesG: February 2021
This montage of wheeled-sneaker stunts from former Duluthian James Geisler, also known as the hip-hop artist JamesG, marks the completion of a full year of his monthly videos.
PDD Quiz: March 2021 in Review
Test your trivia smarts with this month’s current affairs quiz!
The next PDD quiz will be another installment in a series exploring Duluth parks; it will be published on April 11. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by March 11. (more…)
Highlight Video: NCAA Men’s Hockey Regional – UMD vs. UND
The University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs and the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks redefined what it means to pull an all-nighter in college. Last night’s regional hockey tournament final at Sheels Arena in Fargo was the longest game in NCAA playoff history.
Freshman forward Luke Mylymok scored at 2:13 of the fifth overtime to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 victory and a berth in the NCAA Frozen Four in Pittsburgh.
A Lament for Liquor Lyle’s
I asked my friend to describe the strangely named bar that he said was our destination for the night. He paused, frowned, and sought out the right analogy.
“Well,” he said, “It’s as if a 1950s diner met a hunting shack.”
So began my first visit to Liquor Lyle’s, an establishment just south of Hennepin Avenue’s corner with Franklin Avenue in the Wedge neighborhood of Minneapolis. A year later I moved into an apartment next door, and for my two years in the Twin Cities, Lyle’s became the hub of my social life, the one place that could summon a crowd with a simple text: “Lyle’s?”
It hosted grad-school study sessions and end-of-semester blowouts and many a nightcap after a long night on the town. A handful of young alumni turned it into a Georgetown bar when the Hoyas made the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in 2015. Whenever one of us left the city, Lyle’s was the home to the last party, and after I went on my way, no return to Minneapolis was complete without at least one night in that dark, lovable hole. In town for a professional conference in Minneapolis some years ago, I dragged a group to the bar and blended a few of my worlds. After another day of state hockey, we would decamp there to relax, maybe lure in a few friends who weren’t into hockey to catch up with them, too. My last bar experience before the COVID-19 outbreak took me to Lyle’s after the last night of the 2020 tourney. At least I know I was one of the last people to enjoy it. (more…)
One Year on a Game Trail in Northern Minnesota
The latest video from the Voyageurs Wolf Project shows all of the wildlife using a game trail in Voyageurs National Park from June 2019 to August 2020. It’s a 15-minute distillation of more than 5.5 hours of footage recorded on a single camera, featuring an extraordinary variety of critters.