On the eve of Doug's memorial event, I figured I better head out to the garage and dig around through the ol' photo archives and pull out the two snapshots below, from May 22, 2007. 



And yes, it is ironic that I found myself digging through boxes and trying to remember where my stuff was, just like Doug would.



I shot these photos at Doug's old costume shop on Tower Avenue for the story below, which appeared in Business North newspaper:

Costume collector keeps on collecting

Even after selling the vast collection of vintage clothing it took him 40 years to assemble, Doug Moen is shopping for more.

"I'm still collecting," Moen said. "I'm antiquing when I can, and that includes vintage clothing. It's kind of hard to stop after all these years."

Moen sold his massive collection in 2006 to the A. H. Zeppa Family Foundation, which has opened a costume warehouse in Superior's Mariner Mall called Northern Theatrical Costume to service theater and film interests.

"I'm glad they came and got the business," Moen said. "I was struggling for some years, working another job to support it, and I don't want to die underneath this big pile of stuff."

Moen began collecting vintage clothing in 1967 and opened his first costume shop, Rags to Riches, in 1972 in the back of an antique store he owned in Superior. In 1977 he opened the Second Act Costume Shop in Duluth, but ended up moving his operation numerous times during the 1980s, frequently changing its name.

In 1990, he finally settled into the space at 1226 1/2 Tower Ave., in Superior, above Vintage Italian Pizza. Doug Moen's Clothing and Vintage Costume Rental held on until Halloween of 2005. Moen said he continued to open his shop to high school theater groups into 2006, until he sold the collection.

"I feel pretty good that it's in their hands," Moen said of the Zeppa Foundation and its Northern Theatrical Costume subsidiary. "They're very competent people. I think they'll take care of it a lot better than I ever could have. I'm 60 now. I'm really tired. I don't have the stamina I used to have."

Moen said he stayed up many nights until midnight working on his costume shop, putting in long hours after he'd already put in a full day's work doing rental property maintenance for Duluth landlord and emergency room physician Eric Ringsred, M.D.

Moen said the costume business never quite paid its bills, relying heavily on Halloween rentals to support it year round. Theater groups, theme parties and historical recreations were never enough to make the shop profitable, he said.

Moen did catch a few breaks when major motion picture companies needed his costumes. He said the 1995 movie "Dead Man," starring Johnny Depp, needed long underwear, lumberjack clothes and fur and wool coats.

"I had it and they didn't," he said.

Among other films that used Moen's costumes are "Far North," "Iron Will," "North Country" and "A Prairie Home Companion."

Because he couldn't afford a good warehouse, Moen scattered items in numerous basements, wherever he could find space. He eventually began to fear the collection would be lost forever if he didn't unload it.

"I sent out distress signals into this area for three years, but nobody seemed to be interested. I was ready to contact Hollywood -- or Hollywood's competition especially -- and just see who would want to take over this collection. I bought this stuff mostly from this area. People had me in mind when they were unloading this stuff. I think it would have been kind of a letdown had I gone to other markets and just shipped it out."

Tyra Adams, operations manager for Northern Theatrical Costume, said Moen has made a huge contribution to the local theater community.

"The man did amass quite a collection," she said. "We want him to know that he really has done something for the theater and film world. He's done a great thing by being willing to part with his fabulous collection. He's making available to theater and film some wonderful pieces that otherwise might be very difficult to find."

Moen hopes to create a new use for his former costume shop location, and continue renting it. Owned by John Dandrea, the space is the former Italian-American Club, and has a restored 1930s bar-area to which Moen has devoted much work.

"I think I'm going to take the old space and try to open up some kind of small video production studio," he said. "I'd like to open it up as a lease space for novice photographers by setting up a video and mini-stage production area.

"Of course, if it doesn't work, I'll have to bow out and then fade into the woodwork of Duluth and Superior ... which is a wonderful thing to do, by the way," he said.

Of course, it hurts now to read the quote "I don't want to die underneath this big pile of stuff," knowing that Northern Theatrical Costumes failed and Doug did kind of end up dying with a big pile of stuff. But the more I think about who Doug was and how he couldn't stop acquiring things, the more I believe there was no way he was going to leave this world without boxes of cool stuff stacked up in basements all over town.

Anyway, I hope I fade into the same woodwork as Doug Moen someday.