Jerry Polinsky tries his luck in Atlantic City

Related to Minnesota Woolen Mills posts on Perfect Duluth Day is this December 1978 Corporate Report article.

Jerry Polinsky Tries His Luck in Atlantic City
Considered ‘insolvent’ in Duluth, the former Minnesota Woolens executive is laying heavy bets along the Boardwalk …
By Charles I. Mundale

In early summer 1977, a new hotel corporation was formed in Atlantic City, N.J.

In late summer 1977, an old retailing company bellied up in Duluth, Minn. (more…)

Outside Duluth

PDD local hero Brian Barber designed the cover of my new book. I think he did a good job. It makes me look like I know what I’m doing. You can buy a copy of Outside Duluth online via most major book retailers at my webpage.

Best Twin Ports Dining Deal Rooms

Can the PDD faithful help me find some private dining “deal room” options in the Twin Ports?

I’m tapped out on my short list of places to broker deals with customers and vendors. I often need to have a quiet area for two to six people to conduct business over a working lunch.

Some deals are very casual and low key, some not as much. Some are software demos and require a screen and projector — these are not very high-brow affairs, so …

Serve me up some critiques on food, atmosphere, memorable experience and privacy please.

Fashion Wagon – Minnesota Woolen

A vintage flannel caught my eye this afternoon while taking a break from work and strolling into the Wise Buys thrift store in Bellingham, Wash. I was shocked to see “Duluth, Minnesota” on the tag. Does anyone know where this was located? I have never heard of it before.  

A quick Google search shows the trademark was registered around 1960 and expired in 1987.

My arms are still itching from trying the shirt on.

A Case of Kid Cussedness from 1901

A Letter to the Editor at the Duluth News-Tribune on November 11, 1901:

I would respectively [sic] call the attention of the chief of police to an example of “Hoodlumism” on a street car in your city as I have never witnessed anywhere.

Surely the “kids” are under the surveillance of the police authorities, if the bums cannot be controlled.

Business relative to a burned building called me to Duluth Heights. When I returned to the city, just getting dark, half a dozen passengers came on the car; while passing a store, seven “kids” climbed aboard, and clear down to the incline gave such a specimen of cussedness that would never be tolerated on the Bowery.

Wrestling, scrapping, kicking and yelling, annoying all the passengers, even to insulting two women passengers by throwing one another’s dirty cans into the faces of the women!
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You sure got that right, Chris Monroe

Seven Great Minnesota Fall Color Drives

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Bob Berg wrote a great article in Lake Superior Magazine about “7 Great Fall Drives” to check out the changing colors. Let’s add to the list. What are some of your favorite Minnesota fall color drives in Duluth and along the South and North shores of Lake Superior? You can see the current fall color reports here.

I’ll start with the Temperance River road. The over-hanging canopy acts as a colorful tunnel as you make your way from Highway 61 north. You migth as well hit the Trestle Inn for a beer while your up in that area.

Perfect Duluth Soda?

So, I make Fizzy Waters a regular stop while I am in Canal Park, but it’s not the only place I get tasty sodas. (more…)

Duluth Playhouse Centennial Season

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7G8i6dVbxs

The Duluth Playhouse is celebrating its 100th season in 2013-’14.

East & West Duluth (September Holga)

Video by Eric Fryc.

Closing Graffiti Graveyard?

The Minnesota Dept. of Transportation is posting no trespassing signs up at the entrance of graffiti graveyard.

The Nonchalant Jaunt and other 2003 stuff

2003Nonchalant 2003paulwalk 2003NonchalantGroup

The Perfect Duluth Day Archives for September 2003 feature a number of posts about the Nonchalant Jaunt, an event in which seven hearty PDDers walked the length of Duluth, from the Wabegon Supper Club in the Superior Township to the Lakeview Castle in the Duluth Township.
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Where in Duluth?

This is probably a gimmie this time of year, but it was so gorgeous I wanted to share it.

A “Noteworthy” call for poetry submissions

The Duluth Poet Laureate Committee is seeking submissions of poetry for a collaborative project entitled Noteworthy. Twelve area composers/songwriters will each select a poem to serve as the inspiration for an original piece of music. There will be a performance of the readings and the music in May 2014.
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This week: north shore artists, south shore apples

  

Here’s a sampling of what you have to look forward to this week on the PDD Calendar.

Crossing Borders is a tour of North Shore artist’s studios that runs through Sunday. Print off a map and go visit local artists in their studios. You can also wander the South Shore by heading over to the 52nd annual Bayfield Apple Festival Friday through Sunday.

Lyric Opera of the North (LOON) presents two “bite-sized” operas at the Underground. The Face on the Barroom Floor and Bon Appetit! run Thursday through Saturday.

Chefs compete. You win. At the Lake Superior Fish Classic 10 chefs from Wisconsin and Minnesota are cooking up fish in a judged competition at the Depot on Friday.

Bradtober Fest on Saturday celebrates running, music, beer… it’s like a fest with attention deficit disorder. And if you wander downstairs from the Bradtober Fest Afterparty at Tycoons, you can have a bawdy time in the Rathskeller with Duluth’s only burlesque troupe, the Duluth Dolls.

So what are you doing this week? Can we tag along? Any upcoming events that you want to promote? Let us know.

Three reminders of Duluth along the Delmar Loop in Missouri

Playing at the Tivoli Theatre: In a World…, based on Duluth native Don LaFontaine.
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Shoddy construction

Before I begin my condemnation of BlueStone Lofts and the Park Point Marina Inn, I just want to preface my position with this. I don’t mean to vilify anyone personally. I do not begrudge anyone for trying his level best to make an honest living. I just feel there has to be a voice of reason where there is none and that happens to be me on this occasion.

I’m far from perfect and I’m not a know-it-all. I simply hate this throw-away practice of our modern, disposable society. And for some reason, I still want the very best for Duluth even though I haven’t lived there for decades.

There are some good people there doing great things. In architecture and house building, it’s David Salmela and the Bruckelmyers. Builders’ Commonwealth is up with the best, too.

It is the armchair urban planner, the aesthete, the eco-warrior, the idealist and the public advocate that is writing this. That said, here is my tirade.
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Duluth School District Ballot Questions

Lake Superior Aquaman Highlight Reel

Summer 2013 at various Lake Superior beaches and Lester River swimming holes.

Here’s a link to all the original videos if you missed any.

Traps, again

Via Wildwoods Founders:

Yesterday evening, friends called about a red squirrel caught in a leghold trap set on the edge of a city park. We don’t know how long the squirrel had been trapped there. See the brown discoloration on the fur by his mouth? He’d been trying to chew his way out of the trap.
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Bonding Bill

Someone please read this:
…and please explain to me why this is a good idea:
Spirit Mountain wants $3.4 million in state money for a new water-pumping system to use St. Louis River water instead of treated Duluth city water to make snow. (more…)

Best Duluth Restaurant Poll

In a previous poll, PDD readers made it clear there are four restaurants in the Duluth area worthy of consideration for the distinction of “Best Restaurant.” They are: Duluth Grill, Lake Avenue Restaurant and Bar, New Scenic Café and Zeitgeist Arts Café. So now it’s time to pick a winner.

[poll id=”45″]

This poll is now closed. The results were:

New Scenic Café — 30.7 percent
Zeitgeist Arts Café — 28.7 percent
Duluth Grill — 25.7 percent
Lake Avenue Restaurant — 14.9 percent

Nerd Nite

An account from Tim Broman:

NERD NITE: Had a fine dining experience friends, followed by Nerd Nite. (more…)

Rachel Maddow talks EPA MED in Duluth

For those of you who don’t know, we have a branch of the EPA in Duluth called the Mid Continent Ecology Division. Last night, Rachel Maddow used an example of some of the work that is done at MED to demonstrate what could happen during the government shutdown at the EPA. She also uses it as a lead in to an interview with the EPA administrator. And finally, she uses it to demonstrate how old EPA training videos look.

Minnesota North Shore Fall Colors Report 2013

The leaves are starting to fall and colors are starting to change in Duluth and along the North Shore. Let us know where you are in the Northland and if you are seeing any great fall colors yet.

Four main groups of biochemicals are responsible for the various yellows, oranges, reds and browns that we see in the fall — chlorophyll, carotenoids, anthocyanins and tannins. Each has its own color and chemistry. Varying amounts of these chemicals will give subtle variations in color from one leaf to the next or even from tree to tree.