Selective Focus: Hilltopper 6
Students at Marshall school have been launching a weather balloon equipped with a camera and data gathering equipment since 2013. This year a larger balloon went higher than ever, and collected more data and 360 videos. The extra boost came from assistance from Trail Genius, a company that maps and provides data to trail-based events and clubs. Marshall science teacher David Johnson fills us in on the project.
DJ: I met Jason at the Birkie where I carried his camera so that he could make a Trail Genius map about the Birkie Trail like he did for Hilltopper 6.
After hearing about our ballooning project, Jason offered up his camera and expertise to help us film the flight in 360 degree video. What he did for us is so much more than I ever could imagined, he has given so much of himself to this project. (more…)
Low – “Always Trying to Work it Out”
Low teams up with director Phil Harder again for this video from the new album “Double Negative.”
The video was shot at the Hillside Whole Foods Co-op.
(more…)
Grand Avenue Nordic Center trail opening soon
(Photo courtesy of Spirit Mountain)
Eric Chandler reports on his Shmotown blog that Duluth’s first cross-country trail system with snowmaking capability is expected to open in December. (more…)
Lizzie Naganab’s Glowing Grave
The “old” cemetery off Reservation Road northwest of Cloquet.
This book sparked a search into a Cloquet mystery from 87 years ago.
I’m not sure how I acquired the book, but there it sat, on the passenger seat of my car as I drove up Reservation Road northwest of Cloquet. There are some things you wish you could unsee — because a history buff like me wants all the facts. Alas, those facts can be elusive, especially so many years from an event. This was the case with a strange little entry in Six Feet Under: A Graveyard Guide to Minnesota.
I’m not into the morbid route to history that this little guide offers. That was my mother. She had dozens of books along the lines of “Wisconsin Death Trip,” “Hollywood Book of the Dead” or “Myths and Mysteries: Strange Stories of the Dead” on her shelves. Morbidly, she died earlier this year and perhaps that is how this book floated into my stacks. She redeemed herself in recent years by ditching the stories of others and digging into her own family history, a genealogy I greatly appreciate today. (more…)
Ingeborg von Agassiz – “O Giver of Dreams”
The video for the title track of Duluth musician Ingeborg von Agassiz‘ debut album features footage from the 1933 animated film The Mascot by Ladislas Starevich.
Josh Musikantow – “Duluth 99”
Chicago-born composer Joshua Musikantow references Duluth on three tracks of his 2006 new-classical album Etched in Twilight and Other Works. Above is “Duluth 99: In the Garden with Mary.” Below are “Duluth 99: Rope” and “Duluth 99: Haiku.”
Musikantow notes “Duluth 99” is “a duet for flute and percussion consisting of three movements, each inspired by a different personal experience in Duluth.” (more…)
Winery provides another reason to visit North Shore
Photo by Lissa Maki
With its rugged terrain and sometimes unforgiving climate, Lake Superior’s north shore seems like an unlikely place for a winery. But that didn’t deter wine connoisseurs Chuck and Kim Corliss from founding North Shore Winery near the base of Lutsen Mountains in 2015. (more…)
Jerree Small and Marc Gartman sing the Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down” at Sir Ben’s
Forgive the bar noise. Summer 2018
PDD Quiz: October 2018 in Review
Photo by Andrew Krueger
Test your knowledge of local headlines with our month-in-review quiz!
The next PDD quiz, on area bakeries, will be published on Nov. 11. Please email question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by Nov. 8. (more…)
Womaning
At first it’s impossible to understand — this thing happening to you. Imagine yourself at 12, or maybe 13 — or God help you, 19 — whenever puberty finally gored you with its long-awaited tusk. Maybe you’re the girl waiting for her breasts, standing with her shoulders back behind Tammy, the girl who got her boobs in fourth grade, praying it’s somehow contagious, and your proximity will tit you up before your Cup Noodles even fully soften. Maybe you’re the girl who thinks she’s pissed herself on the playground, only to look down and see her crotch a deep, angry red: you’ll have to be done with four-square now, because you’ll need to change into your gym clothes, or call your mom to come get you. Maybe you’re the girl who imagines the lips of other girls, who stands as close to Laurel as possible in lunch line, to smell her delicious hair, and you’re waiting to develop what all the movies and all the people say is inevitable: an exclusive taste for boys.
Maybe you held hands with Ben one time on the way home from swimming, and you were too young, and it made you feel dirty to do it, like you stole the money out of the collection bin at church, or got caught touching your privates in the unlocked bathroom by your father. You are on one side of this thing, but also on the other. You are neither and both.
It feels bad. (more…)
Halloween Banners
Time to go back one year and look through your pictures on your phone. We want to see your creepy, comical, kooky Halloween photos, we’ll add them to the banner rotation – those long skinny photos at the top of the page. Keep in mind, the proportions are extremely horizontal, so not every photo works when cropped. Click here for complete submission guidelines, but the basics are: 1135 pixels wide by 197 pixels high, e-mail them to banners@perfectduluthday.com
If you’re not able to crop and size them, send the full image and we’ll do our best to crop it into a banner. Happy Halloween, we’ll start rotating the Halloween Banners this weekend.
Selective Focus: Last glimpse of Fall
The leaves are almost all gone, here are a few final peeks for the year. (more…)
Historic Duluth hotel reborn for modern downtown living
Zenith City Revival LLC owner Mitchell Holmes, left, and designer Kori Kneeland stand in the kitchen of a condominium model at Building No. 12 in downtown Duluth. Zenith City Revival LLC spent more than two years renovating the historic hotel property and is now marketing space inside the building.
Developers have completed major renovation work on a 19th Century Duluth hotel and will market the condominium space to buyers interested in modern downtown living.
Zenith City Revival LLC announced last week a model condominium and more than two floors of unfinished residential space is now open for showing in the rechristened Building No. 12. The historic four-story property at 12 N. Lake Ave. was constructed in 1890 and most recently known as the Gardner Hotel. (more…)
Scuba Diving at West Pit in Gilbert
YouTube user “MNduro USA” took his scuba gear to Gilbert, about 60 miles north of Duluth, to explore the flooded mine pit known as Lake Ore-be-gone.
Where in Duluth? #182
Perfect Duluth Day’s ultra-thrilling photo-trivia sensation “Where in Duluth?” continues. At what fun place was this photo taken?
Postcard from UMD’s Social Science Building
This 1960s-era postcard shows off the Social Science Building on the University of Minnesota Duluth campus. Today the building is known as Cina Hall and serves as home to numerous liberal arts programs. It was renamed in 1985 in honor of UMD Regent Fred A. Cina, and underwent a $4.1 million renovation in 2016. (more…)
Jim Snidero – “Duluth at Noon”
Saxophone virtuoso Jim Snidero for some reason titled an instrumental piece “Duluth at Noon.” Whether the tune sounds like a midday stroll on the Lakewalk is up for interpretation.
Perhaps coincidentally, the song is on Snidero’s 2015 album Main Street, which is the same title as Sinclair Lewis’ famous satiric novel from 1920. Lewis had visited Duluth while in the early stages of crafting Main Street, and moved to Duluth 23 years after it was published.
Teach Me Equals: A Clear Cut Oner
The experimental “post-classical” band Teach Me Equals was in Duluth in 2014 for a performance at Red Herring Lounge. The next day the duo teamed up with Manny Villanueva and Brandon St. Germaine of the Duluth-based creative video outfit Clear Cut to record three songs performed live for a series of “Oners.”
Part 1: “Lullaby for Piano”
Part 2: “As the Crow Flies”
Part 3: “Dictionary of Imaginary Places”
Duluth, Minn. – Always Cool
This postcard was mailed 110 years ago today — Oct. 22, 1908 — to Ms. A. J. Niles of Viroqua, Wis. (more…)
Mystery Photo #76: 400 block of West Superior Street
The above photo, submitted by Jay Sonnenburg, shows businesses on the 400 block of West Superior Street. At right is the WEBC Radio studio. At left are the Fargusson Building, Manhattan Building and Spalding Hotel. (more…)
A Duluth to be Proud Of
“I remember the young people on the trip who said, ‘How come we’re not learning this in school? How come we didn’t know that this had happened?’ …it’s an American story.” –Carl Crawford – Human Rights Officer, Duluth to Montgomery Reflections.
We Duluthians are a proud people. We’re proud of our cityscape and the landscape around us. We’re proud of our ability to withstand the cold, even as we complain about it. We’re proud of our ability to move forward, as Mayor Emily Larson expressed in her open letter to the Rolling Stones this past summer. We Duluthians pride ourselves in the fact that we don’t hide from issues but rather actively engage with them. It was this Duluth pride that prompted a new, local podcast from the NAACP. (more…)
Ripped at Midget Wrestling in 2008
[Editor’s note: The NorShor Theatre operated as a strip club from 2006 to 2010, and all manner of amoral activity took place there. 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. In 2008 he paid a visit to the NorShor to take in the rasslin’ matches.]
Lovers of the fine arts, like me, know it doesn’t get any better than strippers and midget wrestling. If you can see them both in the same building, and there’s a guy with a backpack who is graciously offering to share his hallucinogenic mushrooms with you, it’s time to chant U-S-A! U-S-A!
Yes, tonight the stars of the Micro Wrestling Federation are bringing their “MidgetPalooza 2009 World Tour” to the NorShor Experience strip club. Of course, it’s still 2008 on my calendar, but it’s probably not a mistake that the year 2009 appears on my ticket in three places. I like to think the MWF is like an auto manufacturer and releases the next year’s line of midgets early, so fans feel like they’re on the cutting edge of wrestling innovation. (more…)
Perfect Duluth Restaurant: Lake Avenue Restaurant and Bar
Though it’s been lauded in Twin Cities publications for years, surprisingly Lake Avenue Restaurant and Bar hasn’t won any local accolades for its cuisine. Until now.
In Perfect Duluth Day’s poll to name the Perfect Duluth Restaurant, Lake Avenue emerged as the clear winner with 48.3 percent of the vote among the top three.
Co-owner Derek Snyder says he was “super surprised and flattered” his restaurant won the poll.
“A lot of Duluthians still don’t know about us,” he said. (more…)