Mystery Photo: Duluth Home Builders

Who are they? Where are they? When was this? The only clues come from a few scribbles on the back of the photo. (more…)

HistoryMystery PhotosWest Duluth

Former St. Louis County Jail renamed Leijona

The Duluth News Tribune reports that remodeling of the former St. Louis County Jail is near completion. It is expected to open in January as a 33-unit apartment building named Leijona, the Finnish word for lion.

News and Current AffairsDuluth Civic Center
Glensheen

PDD Quiz: Halloween Happenings 2022

Get your spooky on with this week’s quiz about upcoming Halloween events! For more seasonal hijinks, check out the Halloween filter on the PDD calendar.

The next PDD quiz will review this month’s headlines; it will be published on Oct. 30. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by Oct. 26. (more…)

EventsHalloweenPDD Quiz

Know Your Candidates: 2022 County Sheriff Race

As promised following the initial coverage of the St. Louis County Sheriff race in the primary election, the embedded PDF below contains in-depth interviews with the two remaining candidates, Jason Lukovsky and Gordon Ramsay, about issues that are important to LEAN Duluth. The Law Enforcement Accountability Network is a volunteer-run data-analysis group and public communications resource for organizers working for police accountability. (more…)

News and Current AffairsPoliticsElection InformationLEAN Duluth
Pizza Luce: The Boss

Video: Fall Colors at Enger Park

Videographer Adam Jagunich captures the fall colors around Enger Tower in Duluth via his Yuneec Typhoon H Plus hexacopter.

OutdoorsVideosAdam JagunichDrone VideosEnger ParkFall Colors

Dick Anthony: Basement Popcorn Entrepreneur of Duluth

Dick Anthony of Duluth made popcorn in his basement circa 1952 for distribution to local stores, where it was sold in dispensers. The video clip is from the television series “Industry on Parade,” which was created by the National Association of Manufacturers and ran from 1950 to 1960. (more…)

HistoryVideosManufacturing
Weis Eye Center

Climate>Duluth: Kat Soares of Deep Adaptation Forum

Climate>Duluth host Tone Lanzillo interviews Kat Soares of Deep Adaptation Forum, which offers free events and online platforms for people who are seeking and building supportive communities to face the reality of the climate crisis.

PoliticsVideosClimate>DuluthDuluth Public Access Community TelevisionWeather and Climate

Big, fat black bear montage / wolves eating blueberries

The folks at the Voyageurs Wolf Project keep rolling out the hits with their trail camera videos. Above, clips of the chubbiest bears in Voyageurs National Park this summer. Below, rare footage of wolves eating blueberries — and perhaps the first footage of a mom and her pup foraging for blueberries together.

OutdoorsVideosBearsBlueberriesVoyageurs National ParkWolves
Glensheen
Vision Pro: Clear Vision

‘The bridge between Duluth and Superior’

“The bridge between Duluth and Superior” appears at just after the 1-minute mark in the circa-1957 short film Al-Can Trailer Trek, which promotes trailer traveling. After the quick bridge shot, zoom, it’s straight to International Falls.

This bridge is the Duluth/Superior Interstate Bridge, which was replaced when the Blatnik Bridge opened in 1961. Parts of the Interstate Bridge still exist as a fishing pier on Rice’s Point. (more…)

HistoryVideosDuluth/Superior Interstate BridgeReferences to Duluth in Film/TV or Other Media

Admiral Fallow and El Niño IPA

Ten years ago today — Oct. 11, 2012 — the Scottish alternative rock band Admiral Fallow performed on KEXP-FM in Seattle, Wash. What does that have to do with Duluth? Well, note the familiar-looking shirt worn by singer-songwriter Louis Abbott. (more…)

MusicFitger's BrewhouseReferences to Duluth in Film/TV or Other Media
YAF /Grandma\'s Whipper Snapper Race
PDDXXIII

Northeastern Minnesota Book Award Winners for 2022

Ojibwe homesteads, shipwrecks and working class haunts provide just some of the backdrops for works honored by this year’s Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards. (more…)

News and Current AffairsBooksLake Superior WritersLiteratureNortheast Minnesota Book Awards

Shippee – “Jolene”

Duluth’s Blake Shippee, known for his work as front man of the bands Boxcar and Glen’s Neighbor, has a solo album set for release Oct. 12. His new music video is for a song about anxiety. It’s directed by Richard Medek of Bones & Wire. Familiar scenes in the video include the West Theater and Pizza Lucé.

MusicVideosBlake Shippee
Glensheen

Spooked in Duluth

Oopsy Annie tells spooky tales from her recent visit to Duluth — featuring ghostly tales from Fitger’s, Old Central and Glensheen. (more…)

VideosHalloween

The Slice: Who cleans the statues?

Penny Perry talks about cleaning the Determined Mariner statue in Canal Park.

In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.

VideosCanal ParkThe SliceWDSE-TV - PBS North
Glensheen
Vision Pro: Clear Vision

The Institute for the Study of Light and Water reviews endless summer 2022

Records of Spring: Spotty

Lightbeams solid enough to climb pierce the windows of the Institute for the Study of Light and Water, rousing my eye like a hibernating bear. Dawn presents a temporal crisis. Borges said no one staying up all night welcomes the dawn. So the arrival of spring at the Institute. Records of spring are spotty. The brook babbled after a long vow of silence. The snow was gone which meant April had definitely passed. Cautious leaves popped out. Then the Institute blinked and endless summer began.

(more…)

RandomLake Superior Aquaman

Walt Dizzo on ‘The Local’ spinning Duluth oldies

Longtime KUWS radio host Walt Dizzo crossed the bridge to appear on WDSE “The North” for the Sept. 28 episode of “The Local.” Joining the show’s host, Malachy Koons, Dizzo dove into rare finds from his personal collection to share on the show, which generally features more modern local music. Three tracks were from the present millennium, but most of them were golden oldies. The episode is archived online an can be listened to at thenorth1033.org. (more…)

MusicKUWS RadioWDSE "The North"
Glensheen
Pizza Luce: The Boss

Postcard from Skyline of Business District from Harbor

This postcard from the mid-20th century shows Duluth’s business district as seen from the harbor. (more…)

HistoryDuluth Harbor and WaterfrontKreiman's Lyceum News & BookstorePostcards

Low Concerts on the Internet Archive

There are an array of Low concerts available on the Internet archive. Joy joy joy while also vaguely restful.

The master list of recordings is at archive.org/details/lowmusic. (more…)

HistoryMusicLow
PDDXXIII

General Eisenhower’s visit to Duluth in 1952

Seventy years ago today — Oct. 4, 1952 — Gen. Dwight David Eisenhower campaigned at the Duluth Civic Center. He won the election a month later, becoming the 34th President of the United States. (more…)

HistoryDuluth Civic Center

Duluth 2022 General Election Sample Ballot

The Minnesota State General Election will be held on Nov. 8. Above is the front side of the ballot for Duluthians on the western side of the city. Those on the eastern side will see candidates for Minnesota State Representative for District 8B instead of 8A. Duluthians living in the center of the city will also see the St. Louis County Commissioner race for District 1 on their ballots. A few Duluthians on the western edge of the city will also vote on the Minnesota House of Representatives District 3B. And the backside of everyone’s ballot has numerous judicial races. (more…)

News and Current AffairsPoliticsElection Information
Pizza Luce: The Boss

Warrior Brewing opens tap room

The Duluth News Tribune reports Warrior Brewing Company opened a tap room at its Lincoln Park neighborhood brewery on Sept. 24. The brewery began producing off-sale beer for distribution in cans and bottles in 2021.

News and Current AffairsBeer and BreweriesLincoln Park Craft DistrictWarrior Brewing Company

Youth for Socialist Action of Duluth on the Internet Archive

The Youth 4 Socialist Action Membership Handbook is available on the Internet Archive. It’s part of a collection of several documents.

I’d bet there are readers of Perfect Duluth Day who know something of this organization. Maybe tell me what it was all about below?

HistoryQueries
YAF /Grandma\'s Whipper Snapper Race

Index of the Duluth Superhero Community (the Richardsonverse)

800 entries, 250 illustrations, 50 footnotes

Co-written with Allen Richardson. Illustrations by the Richardson brothers using craiyon.com, stablediffusionweb.com, and DALL-E 2

Contents
1. Preface: I Destroyed the Universe
2. Introduction: Superhero Exegesis
3. Index of the Duluth Superhero Community
4. Footnotes

Preface: I Destroyed the Universe

From the Journal of the Morphogenetic Field Technician: I am trapped far beneath the UMD campus in the Novelty Sphere as the global catastrophe intensifies. My team’s experiments in this underground lab are directly responsible for the apocalypse overtaking the planet. The quakes grow steadily. Portions of the lab visible through the Sphere’s cyclopean porthole have caved in. Soon the roof will collapse releasing tons of basaltic bedrock. If the Sphere’s integrity holds, I will have limited air. One thing I have an unlimited supply of: claustrophobia. It is as if I am in an untethered bathysphere sinking into the mounting pressures of the deep. The Sphere’s instrumentation confirms my worst suspicions: this is no mere global extinction. We destabilized probability itself, and the vertical line on the catastrophe graph indicates structural failure of the universal constants. Like a landslide, the cosmos races toward physical destruction. Gravity will be the first to fail, centered on the Sphere. The well of the Earth is popping like an old spring.

(more…)

RandomGeekyLake Superior AquamanSaturday Essay

Trampled by Turtles – “A Lifetime to Find”

The new Trampled by Turtles album Alpenglow is scheduled for release Oct. 28. The album’s producer, Jeff Tweedy wrote the song “A Lifetime to Find,” which he recorded with his band Wilco for the album Cruel Country. (more…)

MusicVideosTrampled by Turtles
PDDXXIII

Selective Focus: Fall Colors 2022

The annual biochemical process is underway in Duluth and surrounding areas. Progression of fall and peak leaf colors can be tracked with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Fall Color Finder.

Featured here are select images from Instagram showcasing nature’s palette. (more…)

PhotosFall ColorsInstagramSelective Focus