Donut lovers have hope in Duluth’s Lakeside
Cases were loaded with pastry and shelves decorated with cookie jars at Johnson’s Lakeside Bakery in this 2015 photo.
Eastside donut and cookie lovers will lose a longtime sweet supplier this spring but a potential plan is in the works to install another bakery at the same address which has fed the neighborhood for more than six decades. (more…)
Bad Student
‘Cause I survived the ’80s one time already
And I don’t recall it all that fondly
— Craig Finn
The bemulleted boy in that senior portrait over there came very close to not graduating with his Rochester John Marshall high school class of 1989 mates. One semester more and the rage that had fueled his self-destructive approach to school since 1983 would have elicited an anticlimactic letter explaining why he couldn’t walk in the ceremony and what he’d have to do if he wanted a diploma.
His K-6 career had suggested potential. Then a few months into seventh grade his interest in caring or trying seemed to evaporate. He embodied adolescent apathy. He also transcended it in ways that made very little sense to himself or anyone else. One example: he so bitterly resented being placed into advanced science and English classes (for reasons he could articulate no further than, “I just want to be in the normal classes”), that he intentionally got crummy grades on assignments until people who made such decisions had no choice but to bust him down to non-advanced sections.
At least that’s how I think I remember it. I know he was pissed — furious — about school in general, and still pretty far away from having vocabulary or perspective required to process what he was feeling or why. I know he self-sabotaged, sometimes so willingly it seemed wanton, and sometimes while watching it happen and wishing he knew how to stop it. In those situations, the latter often presented as the former. I also know it’s possible he got kicked out of those advanced sections because he just wasn’t equipped to stay in them. It’s not taking shots at him to say he might just not have been smart enough in ways the classes required students to be. (more…)
Then and Now: Grand Avenue at Knowlton Creek
The image above shows Grand Avenue at Knowlton Creek, looking from Duluth’s Norton Park neighborhood toward the Riverside neighborhood. It’s dated Feb. 16, 1918. At the time, Grand Avenue was named Third Street. What does it look like today? (more…)
Selective Focus: Carli Vergamini
Carli Vergamini takes old jackets and other items and re-purposes them into a wild variety of accessories. A quote on her website reads “the best fashions are fringey & up-cycling is cool.” In this week’s Selective Focus, we get an introduction to what she’s doing. It’s worth a deeper dive into her blog, where she frequently makes updates about what she’s working on, and she highlights other businesses that she admires in a series she calls “Biz Crush.”
CV: My main medium of choice is leather. Specifically, re-purposed from vintage leather jackets. It happened as a mistake — I was fresh out of college and didn’t know what I was doing with my life. All I knew is that I wanted to make stuff, but I didn’t know where to buy the materials I needed to make the stuff I wanted to make. So I did what I typically do and got resourceful. I bought the first leather coat I could find at Goodwill, took it home and cut that baby up to smithereens. (more…)
Guide to Duluth-related Blogs in 2018
As far as blogs go, obviously Perfect Duluth Day isn’t the only show in town. And it must be noted the line where a blog crosses over from one person’s musings into becoming an online magazine is a fuzzy one. In spite of the inherent problems associated with labeling anything, below is PDD’s updated list of Duluth-area community blogs — an every-couple-of-year salute/guide to the individuals and small groups who crank out content like it’s 2007 instead of (or in addition to) just Facebooking, Instagramming and whateverelseing. (more…)
Duluth Trivia Deck Sampler #7
More from the deck found at Savers …
1. In what year did the U.S. Commerce Dept, designate the Port of Duluth a Foreign Trade Zone?
2. In what year was the $8.5 million Duluth International Airport passenger terminal and industrial park complex completed?
3. In what year was Northland Country Club built?
4. In what year was Wade Stadium dedicated?
5. Who was Sid Peterson?
6. Who were the 1961 Minnesota State High School basketball champions?
7. Who was Bruce Bennett?
8. Who was “Heat Wave” Richard Berler?
9. What was the White City on Park Point? (more…)
Superior Siren – “Lost”
The final track of the self-titled Superior Siren album released last month.
Production and Cinematography: Killy Kay
Model: Laura Sellner of Superior Siren
Video Archive: The Hart Foundation and Honky Tonk Man cut a special Duluth Valentine’s Day wrestling promo in 1988
Trade in your candy hearts for some “Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart and the Hart Foundation. The World Wrestling Federation was in Duluth 30 years ago today — Feb. 14, 1988 — for its fifth card at the Duluth Arena. (The WWF is now the WWE, and the Duluth Arena is now the DECC Arena. Times change.) (more…)
Trampled by Turtles new album and tour: Life is Good on the Open Road
Duluth’s own Trampled by Turtles recently announced a new song, new album and new tour. The new album, Life is Good on the Open Road, will drop May 4 and be available on CD/LP at the TBT online store, Amazon and Itunes. Above is the first release Kelly’s Bar. The tour also kicks off May 4 at the Palace Theater in St. Paul.
(more…)
Tearin’ it up at Spirit Mountain
Riders: Eddie Fauth, Dylan Tillemans, Wyatt Hotchkin and Scooter Stanko.
Lake Superior Sea Smoke Ice Fishing
Video by Tim Mlodozyniec.
Johnson’s Bakery will close Lakeside location
Johnson’s Bakery announced Saturday on Facebook it will close its Lakeside location. Operations will continue at the original Johnson’s Bakery in Duluth’s West End.
“It is with regret that we must close our retail location in Lakeside,” the Facebook post stated. “We have GREATLY appreciated our loyal customers; our Lakeside employees have LOVED working with you. Many of you have been so kind to those employees as they have made different life transitions.”
An exact closing date has not been determined, but the Facebook post indicates it will be “no later than the end of April.” (more…)
PDD Quiz: Love (or Like), Duluth Style
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, this month’s quiz is feeling the love. Or maybe “love” is too strong a word; maybe “like” is more apt. At any rate, you’ll see plenty of love (and like) for Duluth in this quiz!
The next PDD quiz, reviewing this month’s local headlines, will be published on Feb. 25. E-mail question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by Feb. 22.
Video: Denfeld tops Cloquet in basketball with desperation heave
Denfeld junior Joe Cvancara hits a game-winning three pointer at the buzzer last night as the Hunters defeat the Cloquet Lumberjacks 71-68.
Unreceptive
It’s been about 12 years since I’ve had cable television. My only exposure to it these days is when I’m on vacation and lodging somewhere it’s offered. My wife will search the channels for some kind of garbage to watch, then she’ll fall asleep and I’ll flip the channels, eventually stopping on network television unless one of those ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries is on.
When I was a kid I loved cable television, basically for three reasons — old sitcom reruns, professional wrestling and music videos. I still kind of like those things, but certainly not enough to pay for them. I never liked them enough to pay for them.
I had access to cable television for most of the era spanning roughly 1980 to 2006. I use the word “access” because throughout that period, one thing remained constant: I never paid a cent for it. Don’t get me wrong, I never stole cable (other than trying to watch scrambled HBO). I was just fortunate enough to live with people who were willing to pay to watch television. First it was my brother, then my dad, then various roommates and finally my wife. When Netflix hooked her it was the end of cable in our house. (more…)
Selective Focus: Mary Reichert
This week, Mary Reichert talks about how she stumbled into the art of felting and textiles. She’s become passionate about the craft, and has even gone to live in Central Asia to learn more about the history and techniques.
MR: I work with wool, making felt. How this came to be feels like an incredible mystery and also the most natural thing to happen. When I speak about felt-making I light up; I feel connected with the world. I have been most at home in my life working with a group of people making large community rugs. I did not grow up making things, surrounded by animals or wool, or ever imagine myself involved with fiber. (more…)
Martha’s Daughter restaurant opening Feb. 14
Photo by Wolfskull Creative
Martha’s Daughter, the Duluth restaurant replacing the Original Coney Island could open as early as next week. The eagerly anticipated chef-owned eatery has one final health inspection to pass on Friday. If all goes smoothly, the restaurant will open on one of the busiest dining nights of the year, Valentine’s Day. (more…)
Some Historical Notes on the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge
This video is part of a DVD Kenneth Newhams of Duluth Shipping News produced in 2005 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Aerial Lift Bridge. It features archival video courtesy of Don Hermanson at Keweenaw Video Productions.
Gaelynn Lea & Alan Sparhawk – Live at Square Lake Festival 2017
Longing for hot summer-concert days? Well, PDD posted a Black-eyed Snakes concert video here from last summer … and it mysteriously disappeared from YouTube the next day. So here’s a replacement — Gaelynn Lea and Alan Sparhawk from the same concert, the Square Lake Film & Music Festival in Stillwater last August. (more…)
Starfire-sitting
I saw an article in Slate today about the economic imperative for bands to tour and the need for childcare on the road. I was disappointed that Duluth’s own Scott “Starfire” Lunt was not consulted, let alone mentioned. His duty as nanny on Low’s 2003 tour will serve as more good fodder for an “official, unofficial history of Duluth” on PACT-TV. What Mrs. Doubtfire is to in-home child care, rawk-legend Starfire is to tour-bus child care.
Slate: “The 21st-Century Family Band“
Theater of All Sorts in the Twin Ports
Sure, all the theater illuminati were at the opening of the NorShor for Mamma Mia. But across the street and down the road, on Friday and on Saturday, other kinds of theater and performance were opening up at Teatro Zuccone and the Underground, and I want to give them a nod. (more…)
Old Photos of Jay Cooke Statue in Duluth
Jay Sonnenburg shares this old photo from his family collection. It shows Duluth’s statue of Jay Cooke across Superior Street from the Kitchi Gammi Club, date unknown. The statue was moved a short distance in the 1980s when I-35 was extended through the area. (more…)
Lake Superior Ice Stacking 2018
It’s almost an annual tradition. When the conditions are just right, small waves push sheets of Lake Superior surface ice to the shore, causing them to break into plates that stack and crackle in a way that’s both visually and aurally fascinating. Dawn LaPointe and Gary Fiedler of Radiant Spirit Gallery recently captured the phenomena in this video. (more…)
North Country Girl in the Saturday Evening Post
Gay Haubner’s memoir about growing up in Duluth during the 1960s has been running as a weekly serial in The Saturday Evening Post since May 24, 2017. It’s at 36 chapters and counting, indexed on the page linked below.
Circle of Hope Boot Camp
I went to the Circle of Hope Boot Camp at Clyde Iron Works on Saturday Morning. (more…)