Paul Lundgren Posts

Paddling the Pier

Photographer A. Hoppenyan of Noct Studium studio took this photo last night at sunset on Lake Superior next to the Duluth Shipping Canal. The identity of the person in the shot is unknown. Hoppenyan would like to get a print of the photo to the mystery paddle boarder, so give a shout if you can provide a clue.

The Repairmen – “Duluth Song”

Duluth-based folk rockers the Repairmen released their contribution to ever-growing collection of “Duluth Songs” in 2019 on the album Garage.

View of Duluth, North Section, 1888

Old Softball Field in Midway Township

On Midway/Becks Road, about a quarter mile south of Interstate 35 and just west of the former Nopeming Sanatorium, sits a softball — or perhaps youth baseball — field that doesn’t appear to have been played on in about 40 years. These photos are from November.

Duluth Incline Magic Lantern Glass Slides from 1893

Car on the Seventh Ave Incline Duluth Minn. 1893

Images here of the Duluth Incline Railway are from three lantern slides, also known as “magic lanterns.” According to the website of the Magic Lantern Society of U.S. and Canada, the slides generally “consist of two sheets of glass, one of which has the image on one side of it and the other which covers the image, and bound all around by a black paper tape.”

Cut- and Burned-over Timber Land near Duluth

This image is from a stereograph published circa the early 20th century by the Keystone View Company of Meadville, Pa.

Selective Focus: Having a PDD at the start of 2023

Select photos from Instagram spanning the first days of 2023, all hashtagged with the name of a certain website.

Mystery Photo: The Ritcheys

This cabinet card photo of the “Ritcheys” is listed for sale on eBay. Who were the Ritcheys? Well, that’s our primary mystery. The photo was presumably shot in Duluth, being marked with the logo of the Robinson Studio … although the “and New York” below the address is a little confusing. Anyway, it’s supremely likely the Ritcheys either lived in or near Duluth, or visited Duluth about 125 years ago, and that’s about all there is to go on.

Postcard from the Spalding Hotel Lounge

This undated postcard shows the stylish design and furnishings in the lounge at Duluth’s Spalding Hotel circa the early 1900s.

Duluth Waterfront Painting by Erna Ullrich

2022: The Year in Duluth Gig Posters

The age-old technique of using images to promote music is as popular as ever. More and more of the artworks, however, exist solely as compressed digital images for use on the internet rather than taking up space in the physical world as actual “posters” taped to restroom walls and thumbtacked to bulletin boards. Either way, they’re all JPEGs on Perfect Duluth Day.

Postcard from the Rustic Bridge at Lester Park in 1912

This postcard of the Rustic Bridge at Lester Park was mailed on New Year’s Eve of 1912 — 110 years ago today — to Mrs. Frank Larson of Stockholm, Wis.

Saturday Essay: Select Gems from 2022

Saturday Essay logo genericWe stand on the precipice of a magnificent achievement in the category of literary endurance. Next week Perfect Duluth Day will launch the eighth year of its “Saturday Essay” series by publishing the 300th essay. Did we think when we launched with the first essay in 2016 it would last this long? Of course we did. We like to write; you like to read. Duh.

At the end of each year we briefly rest our typing devices and look back at some of the highlights of the previous year. Last week we focused on the most read essays of 2022. This week we ignore the numbers and look back at a few select essays of similar quality that might have been missed by non-compulsive followers.

PDD Shop Talk: Last call for 2022 donations

(Enter the amount of your choice.)

Perfect Duluth Day will celebrate 20 years of being Duluth’s Duluthiest website on June 29, 2023. At some point this year, we’ll be relaunching the site under a new WordPress theme and hoping we don’t break everything in the process. But before we get further into explaining that, we lead with the standard plug for donations to ensure the whole operation remains solvent.

So if you appreciate the thorough listings of hoopla on the PDD Calendar and/or the features on the PDD Blog, kindly drop a few bucks in the PayPal account.

The Most Read Saturday Essays of 2022

Saturday Essay logo genericSeason seven of Perfect Duluth Day’s “Saturday Essay” series has drawn to close, and it’s time to look back with the usual popularity contest. In 2021, Jim Richardson pulled off an unprecedented sweep of the top-five most read essays; this year he remained the click hog, but holds a more reasonable three out of five works deemed by Google Analytics to be your favorites.

Next week we’ll highlight a few “select gems” judged by attributes other than page views, but this week it’s all about which ones had the most people tap the Read More button.