Navigating at Home
Katya Gordon of Two Harbors is in the new Minnesota Women’s Press.
The 2023 Half-Moon Pack of Wolf Pups
The 2023 Half-Moon wolf pack has seven pups and all appear to be in good shape.
The Voyageurs Wolf Project is focused on understanding the summer ecology of wolves in Voyageurs National Park, about 100 miles north of Duluth. Donations to its annual fundraiser help study how many of these pups survive to adulthood and pays for the equipment that captures footage like this. Donations can be made via crowdfund.umn.edu.
Miller Music Company: Photos from the Estate of Ben B. Miller
One century ago the Miller Brothers opened Miller Music Company at 8 W. First St. in Duluth’s Spina Building. According to the Kathryn A. Martin Library’s Archives & Special Collections at the University of Minnesota Duluth, “Abe Miller was a violinist and the manager of the Duluth Symphony for 37 years beginning in 1932. Ben was an assistant manager of Northern Drug prior to launching the music store in 1922.” (more…)
PDD Quiz: May 2023
As the Northland shifts into summer mode, see how many May 2023 headlines you remember with this week’s current events quiz!
Hartley Park will be the subject of the next PDD quiz, which comes your way on June 11. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by June 7. (more…)
Times I Was Secretly High: An Apology Letter
Well, it looks like it’s finally going to be legal to smoke weed for funsies in Minnesota, which is terrific news for all of the people languishing in jail for smoking or dealing weed for funsies in Minnesota. Law is the ultimate example of the abject arbitrariness of reality: we have an entire system of rules and consequences established around the specious assertion that smoking weed, and all practices associated with it are, well, objectively bad. And not just rules and consequences, an elaborate — and until very recently, shared — ethos that avers a deep and persistent truth: using marijuana is dangerous and wrong. What a hoot.
Being a human is such absurdity, most of the time — how does anyone keep a straight face? Like so many of you, I have struggled with some of the more frittersome or idiosyncratic morae introduced as inalienable verities: men do this, women are that, and you’re either one or the other; these are the ways we cover our bodies with cloth, but these ways are terrible and wrong; these animals are great to eat, but these ones are friends … Sometimes, the whole world seems like a very elaborate game of make believe we’re all playing together. Through the right lens, even the houses we live in, with two sinks in the bathrooms, secret refrigerators, walk-in closets — it’s all like some fantastical fever dream. (more…)
Advertisements from the Duluth Public Library Nostalgic Newsstand Sale: Frigidaire
The Duluth Public Library’s Nostalgic Newsstand Sale was a source of many things to write about. Here is another advert from my collection of now-recycled magazines. (more…)
Matchbooks from Duluth Hotels and Motels
Modern and fireproof, featuring the finest food and liquors, located at the center of everything and on the shore of beautiful Lake Superior, containing all possible comforts and conveniences, with lodging available for the whole family, they are the classic hotels and motels of Duluth.
This is the fourth in Perfect Duluth Day’s series of matchbook collection posts. As always, we remind everyone to please close the cover before striking. (more…)
Minnesota Historia: The Magic of Smelting
Explore Minnesota’s love affair with smelt, the shimmering silver fish that’s easy to catch and fun to eat. Now that Lake Superior’s smelt population is in decline, an annual parade in downtown Duluth keeps that love alive.
Minnesota Historia is a PBS North web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.
Mystery Photo: Perhaps a Duluth Fraternal Group from 1908
This image is from a postcard mailed 115 years ago today — May 23, 1908 — available for sale on ebay. It’s been touched up a bit here for easier viewing. The obvious mystery is what organization the people in the photo belong to.
The item is listed on eBay as “1908 RPPC Duluth Minnesota College Club Vintage Postcard MN Land Point Idaho ID.” The “college club” part of that is clearly speculative. Many of the men have sashes and badges that suggest perhaps they are part of a fraternal club like the Odd Fellows. (more…)
Advertisements from the Duluth Public Library Nostalgic Newsstand Sale: The Sportsman Magazine
Sportsman Magazine Ad
The Duluth Public Library’s Nostalgic Newsstand Sale was a source of many things to write about. (more…)
100 Giant Colossal Statues of Bob Dylan
The Committee for Giant Colossal Statues of Bob Dylan, Duluth’s premier Bob Dylan monuments organization, remains hard at work designing giant colossal statues of Bob Dylan.
Video Archive: Trinity Lutheran Church circa 1943
This roughly 80-year-old film features scenes at Trinity Lutheran Church, 1108 E. Eighth St. in Duluth’s East Hillside neighborhood. Also in the film are a nearby market, the Kenwood Community Club and a building under construction. (more…)
Advertisements from the Duluth Public Library Nostalgic Newsstand Sale: To the Orient on Canadian Pacific
One of the cooler things about the adverts from the Duluth Public Library Nostalgic Newsstand Sale are the ads for travel on the train. Before planes, before interstates, the train was ubiquitous for travel. I love this ad for “To the Orient on Canadian Pacific.” (more…)
Selective Focus: Surfy, Smelty, Swirly PDDs
Select photos from Instagram spanning mid-April to mid-May 2023, all hashtagged with the name of a certain website. #perfectduluthday (more…)
UMD Bulldog Hockey: Amsoil Arena Fly-through
Take a tour of Amsoil Arena, home of UMD Bulldogs hockey, via drone footage by Ethan Schultz of ShotxSchultz.
Minnesota Historia: Mr. Magoo the Mongoose
In 1962, a mongoose at the Duluth Zoo was sentenced to death by the federal government, but he’s not the only animal in Minnesota who finds himself at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Minnesota Historia is a PBS North web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.
Foundation seeks projects encouraging citizen involvement
It feels to me like there are organizations in Duluth well-poised for a project supported by the Herb Block Foundation. After all, we are home to the Civility Project. If there is an organization interested, I’m interested in helping — after all, it’s sponsored by a famous cartoonist. (more…)
Dinner at Daniel Greysolon Sieur du Luth’s House
A couple of weeks ago I posted an explanation of how to get to Saint-Germain-Laval, France, the hometown of Daniel Greysolon Sieur du Luth, the person after whom the city of Duluth is named. I was not entirely sure if my own trip there would happen. It did, and that post has now been updated with more accurate information and a few explanatory photos for anyone in the future who might be interested in visiting. (more…)
PDD Shop Talk: The Art of Clickbait
Three of Duluth’s best sledding hills are at Bayfront Park, Wheeler Field and Keene Creek Dog Park. One of the city’s best beaches is at the base of Ely’s Peak. OMC Smokehouse is a popular spot in Canal Park. (more…)
Advertisements from the Duluth Public Library Nostalgic Newsstand Sale: Pierce-Arrow
The Duluth Public Library’s Nostalgic Newsstand Sale was clever and pleasurable for a number of reasons. (more…)
Duluth 2023 Primary Election Primer
The filing period for Duluth city and school board offices runs from May 16-30. Below is a rundown of candidates who filed before the deadline. (more…)
Placemats as Time Capsule of Duluth Poetry
As part of the Duluth Poet Laureate collection being built at the University of Minnesota Duluth Kathryn A. Martin Library Archives & Special Collections, Sheila Packa donated some poetry placemats that were collected for use at an Empty Bowl event. (more…)
One Less Guest – “The Fruit”
The jazz/rock outfit One Less Guest has a new album on the way and a new music video. The song “The Fruit” appears on Viewfinder, scheduled for release June 9. The video was shot and edited by Patrick Parkhill and Jay Reiss.
The band formed in Duluth in 2018 and moved to Anaheim, Calif., in 2021, but returns home every summer for a show. This year’s gig at at Earth Rider Brewery is July 22.
Art Opening in the Deeps of the Rathskeller
The Rathskeller was home to art and imagination as Kat Ford’s art was on display. (more…)
Snoopy thinks Woodstock’s mom could be in Duluth
This weekend’s syndicated Classic Peanuts comic includes a mention of Duluth. The strip was chosen for Mother’s Day weekend because Snoopy speculates on the location of Woodstock’s mother, who “could be in Anchorage, or in the Caribbean or Duluth for all you know.” (more…)