The Black Water Lounge featured live music in a classy atmosphere. The restaurant closed in July after a 15-year run in Greysolon Plaza. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)
Downtown Duluth suffered blows to its dining scene over the past year with two restaurants leaving prominent, historic buildings while Hermantown will lose a landmark establishment at the end of the month.
Jim Carlson talks to a television reporter in front of his head shop, The Last Place on Earth, on Sept. 16, 2011. (Photo by Paul Lundgren)
A Duluth head shop owner convicted of federal drug trafficking charges more than a decade ago will have his sentence commuted in a sweeping clemency order issued by President Joe Biden Dec. 12.
A Better Futures Minnesota worker removes shingles from the roof of the ‘Pigeon House.’ The home was purchased and recycled by owners of the nearby restaurant At Sara’s Table / Chester Creek Café. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
Deck-side diners at a popular Chester Park neighborhood restaurant are treated to glorious Lake Superior views but staff knew an abandoned house — in a direct line of vision — could easily spoil the scene.
The “Pigeon House” had to go — but not to a landfill.
Mural artists Kevin Ballecer, left, and Mela Nguyen are painting the exterior of Chicken n’ Whaaat?! on Central Avenue in West Duluth. The pair also painted murals for Burger Paradox on Superior Street. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske).
A family-owned restaurant group that helped revitalize Lincoln Park will expand outside the neighborhood for the first time with a new fast-casual chicken eatery attached to a West Duluth gas station.
Taimi Ranta has owned the Curious Goods building for about 35 years. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)
A widely photographed building on one of the funkiest street corners in Superior is up for sale after a long run as an antique store, warehouse and spare apartment.
The Curious Goods building, 1717 Winter St., just off Tower Avenue, has been put up for sale by owner Taimi Ranta after about 35 years of using the property for her antique and vintage sales business. While Curious Goods featured an enticing and colorful storefront the space has been used only as a warehouse for the past two decades.
United Protestant Church member Bob Berg, left, Moderator Marna Fasteland and Pastor Mitch Nelson stand in a back balcony inside the church sanctuary. The Morgan Park church was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
A monumental concrete block church constructed by idle steelworkers in early 19th-century Morgan Park earned national recognition last month and will be a stop on a historic building tour this weekend in Duluth.
Duluth grain magnate W.J. McCabe and his wife Jane Chidlaw McCabe built this Georgian-style colonial mansion in 1914. It is located in Hunters Park, about two miles uphill from Glensheen Mansion. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)
Duluth is famous for its turn-of-the-century mansions proudly showcased in busy, well-touristed east-side neighborhoods, but a few historic homes are tucked away in unexpected places far from the grand Lake Superior shoreline.
One of those hidden gems is up for sale.
Peter Pascente stands outside the former Young at Heart record store building at 22 W. First St. Pascente is rehabilitating the 1893 structure. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske).
The Young at Heart record store was a Downtown Duluth musical mainstay for some 40 years when it closed in 1999. After its colorful store fixtures were claimed by the Minnesota Historical Society and massive inventory moved to Superior, the building sat unused for two decades and fell into disrepair.
Now the property at 22 W. First St. has a new life and big plans that include more music in the historic space.
New Duluth store manager Jessy Peterson, left, and Vice President of Retail Operations Jamie Swan stand in front of the cheese cases at the Burnett Dairy Cooperative store in Alpha, Wisconsin. The new Duluth store will feature a similar layout. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)
Duluth cheese lovers will have an extraordinary place to shop for their provolone, cheddar and curds next month when an award-winning Wisconsin dairy opens a large specialty store in a newly developed section of the Riverside neighborhood below Spirit Mountain.
MidCoast Catering owner Jonathan Reznick stands outside his Central Avenue buildings. Reznick is remodeling the property on the left to create a new event center called The Tasting Room. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)
A popular Duluth food truck and catering business plans to expand operations later this summer when it opens a new event center adjacent to its West Duluth headquarters.
The Rambler food truck and MidCoast Catering owner Jonathan Reznick said he purchased the Michael Talarico law offices at 313 N. Central Ave. last May. Reznick connected the building to his catering kitchen next door and launched remodeling efforts this spring. The new space will be called the Tasting Room.
Marios Glitsos, right, and fiancé Brooke Joyce are opening Grow Your Own Garden Supply at 1801 W. Michigan St. in Lincoln Park. The store will specialize in cannabis cultivation. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
It took at least two miracles for longtime cannabis grower Marios Glitsos to open a new Duluth garden supply store.
The Fleet Farm property in Hermantown has been sold to a North Dakota investment firm for $30 million. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
The Fleet Farm big-box retail store property in Hermantown has been sold to a real estate investment firm based in Fargo, North Dakota for $30 million.
Misha Smith stands outside the future home of Wired Whisker Cat Café, 1823 E. Superior St. The building served as home to Endion Square Children’s Center for 33 years. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
Duluth will soon see its first cat café open with a special lounge where customers can drink coffee and meet the “purr-fect” adoptable pet.
Jungle North Holdings purchased the former Endion Square Children’s Center, 1823 E. Superior St., in November and is currently directing a full building renovation. St. Louis County records show the new owners paid $216,000 for the 1,800-square-foot property.
The Sunshine Café in West Duluth closed at the outset of the pandemic in March 2020. Owners announced this year it will not reopen. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
One of Duluth’s most significant restaurant closures of 2023 technically happened in 2020. The Sunshine Café closed more than three years ago as COVID-19 swept the country. What was considered a temporary closure at the time was finally announced as permanent in September 2023.
The Twin Ports restaurant scene has stabilized and grown as the pandemic has wound down, but the closure of the beloved diner at 5719 Grand Ave. in West Duluth can be seen as evidence the coronavirus fallout lingers. The Sunshine Café had been a neighborhood gathering place for more than three decades.
Park Hill Cemetery is located off Vermillion Road in the Morley Heights neighborhood of Duluth. The Park Hill Cemetery Association is selling 52-acres of excess property on its northern edge to the city of Duluth. The property will remain natural. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)
A rugged chunk of deep forest in a remote northeast corner of Duluth has been secured for preservation and ongoing trail use after city officials agreed to buy the property, which was reserved for cemetery space more than 100 years ago.
