Postcard from the ‘new Alworth Building’
This postcard was mailed 115 years ago today — March 10, 1910. It shows the “new Alworth Building” at 306 W. Superior St., which was indeed new; the postcard was mailed two months before construction of the building was completed. (more…)
Minnesota All Hockey Hair Team 2025: No Biz Like Flow Biz
Lettuce, camera, action! The bright lights once again were shining in St. Paul, and mullets were on the marquee. This year’s All Hockey Hair Team takes on a Hollywood theme as John King and Pulltab Sports offer up another montage of the best hair from the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament, handing out some Osc-Hairs for best supporting salads and best leading lettuce. (more…)
Bobcat Goldthwait Live in Duluth at Junk Food Film Festival
The second annual Junk Food Film Festival is fast approaching and badges are more than halfway sold out. The special guest this year is filmmaker and comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, who will be screening his cult classic Windy City Heat. Following the film, Bobcat will be sticking around for both a Q&A and pictures/autographs. (more…)
Christian Boarding School Texas Football
I still have bitter high school football recriminations. My 1980s Episcopal boarding school in Texas glorified football above other sports. I attended on a scholarship from family connections, not through any academic or athletic merit. And I learned the wrong lesson about authority from the sports program.
A recent obituary in the alumni newsletter helped spur me to write this, although I’ve been kicking it around for 40 years. Nothing personal against Coach P who I don’t have to name. For the purposes of this story he is the universal coach. This is not to disrespect his essential personhood or whatever. But I learned things I did not want to learn about society and all the rest of it — universal things I never forgot.
Coach P’s obituary said he was the decades-long athletics director, had coached thousands of games and taught thousands of history classes, too. He is fondly remembered by nearly everyone, including myself. He was a real Texas character. His knees were busted up and it crabbed his walk. I assumed it had happened on a football field in his younger days, a brutal hit or series of hits marking him, claiming him for the sport. You knew he was committed. He was gray and had the hairy ears of an old man if he let it go, something I noticed sitting behind him in chapel once or twice, and it made me swear to never get old or sentiments to that effect. He wasn’t really that old but he was weathered. He was not without warmth or humor, and he bonded with his players particularly. Like in the Lou Reed song, they “wanted to play football for the coach.” They liked how, when he was consternated at you, he would exclaim “Hellfire, son!” (more…)
The Rhizomes
I enjoyed the Rhizomes at Northern Waters Smokehaus last night. Every concert should start before 6 p.m.
Video Archive: Hang glider crash on St. Louis River
This video was uploaded to YouTube on March 7, 2010 — 15 years ago today. It shows someone identified as “Pat” piloting a hang glider towed by a snowmobile on the St. Louis River in the vicinity of Spirit Mountain. “Flight goes as planned and pilot releases from tow at 500 feet over ground,” the YouTube description explains. “A minute later his landing flare goes awry. Hilarity ensues.”
Ice Skating Trail on Gunflint Lake
Gunflint Lodge owner John Fredrikson plowed what is possibly the largest ice-skating trail in the United States on Gunflint Lake. This video was produced by Matthew Baxley for WTIP North Shore Community Radio.
Please note the video was shot more than a month ago and ice conditions can always change rapidly.
The Slice: Duluth Explorers Club
The Duluth Explorers Club is a monthly gathering that highlights experiences and perspectives of local adventurers.
In its series The Slice, PBS North 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.
Local student profiles local author Amy Jo Swing
NorthWords, the monthly publication of Lake Superior Writers, features a link to Joseph Bussey’s profile of local author Amy Jo Swing. (more…)
Fat Earth – “4th Line Kind of Guy”
There’s no better time for a hockey-themed song about a goon than the first week of March during the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament. It’s the first release from Fat Earth, a new band based in Duluth.
John A. Blatnik Bridge construction photos circa 1961
A few photos in the Cliff’s Barber Shop Collection show the John A. Blatnik Bridge under construction, probably in 1961, the year it was completed. (more…)
Duluth Deep Dive #2: Duluth’s Duluthiest Brands
Some of Duluth’s Duluthiest beanies. (Photo by Matthew James)
Perfect Duluth Day is indisputably Duluth’s Duluthiest website but what is Duluth’s Duluthiest brand? This post takes a look at some contenders for the brand that best conveys a sense of Duluthiness. (more…)
Duluth jockey Lloyd Geving a top prospect in 1925
Duluth’s Lloyd Geving, 18 years old in 1925, was one of the most promising jockeys of the winter season at Oriental Park Racetrack in Marianao, Havana, Cuba. (more…)
Big Into – “Gourd Millionaire”
Iron Range nerd-rockers Big Into have their moneyed interests primed and ready in their latest music video.
Duluth Album Releases in 2025
Here’s the rundown of new works from the Duluth music scene in 2025. (more…)
JamesG – “Follicle”
In a volatile world, JamesG persists in uncertainty. His latest video was shot in the Anoka-Ramsey Community College Performing Arts Center.
Giant Ski 2025 Highlights
The drama. The pageantry. The American Birkebeiner Giant Ski Race on Main Street in Hayward.
The 2025 race featured 30 teams, including the champion — Tree Schoolers.
PDD Quiz: February 2025
A lot has gone down in this short month; how much of it do you remember? Check your recall with this week’s PDD current events quiz!
St. Patrick’s Day will be the theme of the next PDD quiz, which comes your way on March 16. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at alisonlinnaemoffat @ gmail.com by March 13. (more…)
Ida Tarbell spoke in Superior in 1925
Author and investigative journalist Ida Tarbell spoke at the Normal School in Superior 100 years ago today — Feb. 23, 1925. The Normal School is now known as the University of Wisconsin-Superior. Tarbell became famous for her series of articles in McClure’s magazine from 1902 to 1904 that later resulted in her book The History of the Standard Oil Company. Her revealing of the company’s strong-arm tactics led to the dissolution of its monopoly. She also wrote a number of biographies, including several works on Abraham Lincoln, which was the subject of her lecture in Superior. (more…)
Last Call at the Pilot House
Duluth Herald late-edition special report
Thursday, Jan. 28, 1915
By Joe Crisp, Senior Shipping Reporter
A famed local maritime drinking establishment has shut its doors. This is the ship’s pilot house on the tip of Timber Point in the harbor. For 16 years it has operated as the Pilot House bar. Initially serving a clientele made up exclusively of members of the Great Lakes Life Saving Service, soon it caught on with sailors and dock workers. Older Duluthians recall its origin, as the pilot house of the doomed Marchande which stuck out of the water in the shipping lanes for weeks in 1899. She had sunk by the stern as her cargo shifted, but her nose bobbed up. Using a floating crane, the Life Savers salvaged the pilot house and installed it on Timber Point. There they collectively owned and operated it as a business, until last night.
Because today, as the war in Europe heats up, the 45-year-old Life Saving Service has been officially subsumed into the Revenue Cutter Service. The resulting compound organization forms the newest branch of the armed forces, the United States Coast Guard. The Pilot House is a casualty of new regulations and a wave of retirements. Some old-timer Life Savers don’t wish to adapt, nor to compete against much younger men in basic training, to re-qualify for what will be different jobs. Many jobs are being eliminated. All three of Duluth’s Life Saving stations — at Park Point, Lester River, and Stony Point — have been officially replaced by the single new Coast Guard station in the harbor. The oars and battered wooden surfboats of the Life-Savers have given way to a steel steam-powered Coast Guard cutter, and a modern Life-Saving station complete with radio equipment and a machine shop. Among the sweeping changes are rules prohibiting Coast Guard personnel profiting from salvage. And since all the booze served at the Pilot House was salvaged from local shipwrecks, this effectively puts the bar out of business. Last night was last call. (more…)
Postcard from the Barney B. Barstow
There isn’t a lot of information online about the Barney B. Barstow of Duluth, featured in this undated postcard published by Gallagher’s Studio of Photography. But there are a few tidbits that suggest the vessel gets its name from a Superior attorney who, according to the June 1969 issue of Maritime Reporter Magazine, was one of eight directors at Fraser Shipyards, serving as secretary. (more…)
Birkie Giant Ski 2025: The Stage is Set
The stage is set for the “giantest show on snow.” The American Birkebeiner Giant Ski Race on Main Street in Hayward happens tonight.
R.I.P. Lumpy G
AKA Chris Marshall. (more…)
Gaelynn Lea celebrated at Console Room
Photo from Console Room.
Duluthian Gaelynn Lea was recently celebrated as a Guest at Console Room, the Minnesota Doctor Who convention. The music performed was sublime, the programming inflected by music in ways that the convention rarely experiences. All weekend long, I felt her impact on the convention, just as, in Duluth, I regularly feel the impact on our community. (more…)
PDD Quiz: Valentine’s Day on the Wild Side
Take a walk on the wild side with this week’s quiz, which recaps local Valentine’s Day celebrations that had some kind of critter connection.
A month-in-review quiz comes your way on Feb. 23. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at alisonlinnaemoffat @ gmail.com by Feb 20. (more…)