Summer of ’65: Du Lhut’s Statue on Way Here
Fifty years ago — Aug. 4, 1965 — the DNT reports a bronze statue of Daniel de Gresolon, the Sieur Duluth, is on a ship at Leghorn, Italy, and due to arrive in Duluth in about three weeks. It will be installed in the courtyard at the University of Minnesota Duluth. (more…)
Duluth National Citizen Survey Results 2015
According to the results of Duluth’s annual National Citizen Survey, conducted by the National Research Center, 76 percent of Duluth residents believe the city’s overall reputation has improved in the past ten years.
From the news release:
“This decade of successes is really only the beginning stages of a renaissance in Duluth,” says Mayor Don Ness. “Our sustained sense of confidence in Duluth is the key to turning our recent wave of accomplishments into long-term stability and vibrancy.”
Based on this year’s NCS and the compelling story of the recent surge in Duluth development and redevelopment, Duluth received the honor of the Voice of the People Award for Transformation in Built Environment by the NRC. The award is only given to cities that best use the survey responses to help drive community improvement. Duluth residents reported the most notable improvement in satisfaction with built environment compared with all other participating jurisdictions — another indicator of the national significance of Duluth’s story.
Low – “What Part of Me”
Ones and Sixes, the new album by Duluth band Low, is scheduled for worldwide release on Sept. 11.
Land of 10,000 Stories covers Duluth ad cycle
Local tween entrepreneur on KARE-11 in the Twin Cities, in “12-year-old entrepreneur is pedaling profits.”
(Auto-starting embedded video after the jump.) (more…)
Fat bikes at mouth of Lester
Saturday night we were enjoying a picnic dinner on the gravel bar on Lake Superior at the mouth of the Lester River, when along come three guys on fat bikes. They rode on the gravel bars and through the water. They entertained and we cheered.
Summer of ’65: Brunette Awarded Seaway Laurels
Fifty years ago — Aug. 3, 1965 — the DNT reports on the ongoing Portorama Festival, with the crowning of Miss Seaway VI LaVonne Rae Englund. The “19-year-old hazel-eyed brunette” won the pageant held at Denfeld High School. Runners up were Laurel Josephine Cahill and Joyce Diane Hietalati. (more…)
This Week: blues, boomboxes, baseball, brews and more

Here’s a bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:
A cheery celebration of the music of misery lands at Bayfront Festival Park for the 27th time: the three-day Bayfront Blues Festival takes place, this weekend.
Also happening: John Cusack hoists his boombox of love, Brandi Carlile hits the Big Top, the National Night Out is city-wide on Tuesday, Spirit Valley Days are afoot in West Duluth on Wednesday through Sunday, there’s a talk about baseball at Karpeles Manuscript Museum to go with their current exhibit and Eastland: A New Musical sets sail at Teatro Zuccone.
Beers and the symphony orchestra meld together at Great Lakes Aquarium, the Two Harbors Kayak Festival is happening up northways, the Superior Downtown Summerfest is taking over Tower Avenue, the St. Louis River Alliance is holding their annual canoe and kayak tour and you don’t have to be an animal to run like one at the Lake Superior Zoo.
Summer of ’65: Trailer at Dredging Project Hit by Bomb
Fifty years ago — Aug. 2, 1965 — the DNT reports of a bomb explosion at a house trailer used by Ryan Construction of Janesville, Wis., on a dredging project at Rice’s Point. No one was injured. (more…)
Summer of ’65: Superior Gambling Raid
Fifty years ago — Aug. 1, 1965 — the DNT reports of a gambling raid in Superior that was “one of the largest mass gambling arrests in Superior that detectives could recall.” Another article, at the mid-right of the page, will raise eyebrows for its racially offensive headline, though such a thing was sadly common at the time. It is a story out of Americus, Ga., by the way, and not Duluth. (more…)
Summer of ’65: Introduction
A while back, Harbor City International School Mathematics Teacher Jenny Ahern passed along to me a bound edition of Duluth News Tribune’s from August of 1965. Somehow the book made its way to the school, and the school didn’t have a practical use for it. Since we are now 50 years removed from the ol’ “Summer of ’65,” I’ll be posting some clips each day for the next month. Prepare for nostalgia.
Lost iPhone in Downtown Duluth
I lost an iPhone on First Street Wednesday evening, July 29, following the Superior Siren / Devil’s Flying Machine show at the Red Herring. It has a gray “encase” case.
If found, please email me at grindcadence at gmail dot com. A $50 reward awaits. Thank you.
Selective Focus: Anniversaries

Kip Praslowicz, “Crowd. 4th of July Parade. Superior, WI”
This was a tough theme, and it’s gratifying to see how each of you broadened it: Richard’s 50th Anniversary of the Wright gas station in Cloquet and the 25th Beargrease, Kip’s shots from the 4th of July, or Kyle celebrating a month of Jane’s being cancer free. I went conventional, with my folks’ belated anniversary honeymoon. We mark time in many ways. (more…)
Hooks Dauss of the Duluth White Sox
George August “Hooks” Dauss pitched in the Major Leagues for the Detroit Tigers for 15 seasons following his stint with the Duluth White Sox. There are numerous images of him on the Internet in a Tigers uniform, but Duluth images are seemingly nonexistent. The baseball card above is a bit of a deception, because the “D” on the cap is for “Detroit.” The card is a “Corona Centennial reprint,” although the word “reprint” implies there was an original card like this 100 years ago, which wouldn’t seem to be the case. Anyway, as shown below, the image on the card is of Dauss as a Tiger. (more…)
Mesaba, Missabe or Mesabi? What’s correct?
This is a perfect question for all you PDDers. Is Mesaba spelled Mesaba, Missabe or Mesabi? Was the street named after the area of Northern Minnesota? The two are spelled different. What was the building named after? It has a third spelling. I’ve lived here 25 years and am still trying to figure this out. Help!
Video Archive: Saucetown
Video by Barrett Chase from a rainy evening cruise to Twin Ports Brewing Company (now Thirsty Pagan Brewing) circa 2005.
This Week: trains, plays and automobiles

Here’s a bit of what you’ll find on this week’s PDD Calendar:
The Chamber Golf Classic is teeing off bright and early on Monday morning, the Duluth Huskies are in the final games of their regular season, there’s dancing on the Lakewalk, the Great Lakes Aquarium is celebrating its sweet fifteen, the Kidney Walk is taking place and puppets will talk dirty at the Underground.
Kids can play musical instruments at the Library, it’s a board-game avalanche at Studio 15, the Howling Moon festival goes pop-country (yee-hawoooo!), Movies in the Park is showing the Pixar film Cars, Thomas the Tank Engine is rolling into town, the 29th Brewhouse Triathlon is being held at Island Lake Park and the Scenic Train on the St. Louis River is chugging right along.
Sunflower Drone Flyover
Shot somewhere on a road less traveled in West Central Minnesota.
Postcards from the Arrowhead Bridge
The Arrowhead Bridge connected West Duluth to Superior’s Billing’s Park neighborhood across the St. Louis River for 57 years. Built by the Arrowhead Bridge Co., it opened on March 15, 1927. The company charged a toll to cross the bridge until 1963, when Minnesota and Wisconsin state officials paid $200,000 to make it a toll-free public bridge.
The Arrowhead Bridge was dismantled in 1985 after the opening of the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge.
Lost: Orange Cat in East Hillside
Lost July 21:
Orange/”champagne” Tabby
Female, adult, 10 lbs. (pudgy)
Spayed, micro-chipped
Very timid and skittish around strangers and in unfamiliar places
Sweet, friendly, vocal
She wandered away Tuesday night or Wednesday morning and we haven’t seen her since. It is unlike her to go far from home. She would have been seen near Fourth Street and Eighth Avenue East or in the alley behind.
If seen or found please call 952-807-3882. She is very loved and greatly missed.


















