Would anyone like to take a stab at translating the message on the back of this postcard? It was mailed from Duluth to Miss Lillian Carlson of Minneapolis at some point during the era of one-cent postcard postage and fancy hats. The postmark date is not readable.
Mailed in 1923, six years before the Aerial Transfer Bridge became the Aerial Lift Bridge, this postcard depicts the old days when a gondola car carried passengers, streetcars and wagons over the canal. Numerous buildings in this postcard are long gone.
There is an evolution of grocery shopping that occurs during a lifetime, if you didn’t grow up on a farm or hunting shack living off the land. It starts when you’re a kid and your parents drag you along to the Piggly Wiggly, Red Owl or wherever.
They try to ram you into that cold metal seat on the cart, facing the opposite direction of traffic, but it never quite works out. It doesn’t take much kicking and screaming to get mom to let you loose, so you can scamper all over the store and knock things over.
It’s not your fault. You don’t want to be there; you were brought against your will. A tantrum is to be expected.
Also, as long as you are being held hostage on this mission, it only makes sense to grab all the low-hanging snack food and try to use it as a bargaining tool. If mom will simply buy a box of individually wrapped corn syrup wads, you’ll stop tugging on her pants to constantly beg for them. It’s a fair deal.
Eventually, of course, your parents smarten up and lock you in the car. Soon you become old enough to be left home alone, and it’s at that point you enter a long period where you never go to the grocery store. Food is just delivered to you and magically appears in cupboards. This is the halcyon period of your sustenance-acquiring existence.
“In Minnesota, the Democrats are all for Wilson so far as the candidates for delegate are concerned. The crazyquilt presidential primary law has befuddled everybody from the rummy to justices of the supreme court. Only Albert B. Cummins, senator of Iowa, and Henry D. Estabrook of New York, are before the Republicans for their “preference.”
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Politics and civics grab the headlines this week with caucus after caucus after caucus after caucus after caucus taking place throughout Minnesota on Tuesday. In the realm of literature, Lucie Amundsen talks about all things poultry at her Locally Laid book launch on Wednesday. At the same time, the Walker Art Center’s Internet Cat Video Festival screens at Zinema 2. Chickens or cats, take your pick. If that’s not enough variety, more than 100 robotics teams from across the region compete at the DECC Arena on Saturday.
Two new theater productions open on Thursday. UMD’s Dudley Experimental Theater stages a drama about rhinoceroses taking over a French town, while the Underground presents a comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan that follows a band of immortal fairies.
In the realm of music, the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra pays homage to the mythical god Wotan on Saturday, then its three youth orchestras roll out the lollipops on Sunday. The Red Herring Lounge counters those shows with Minneapolis’ Bad Bad Hats on Saturday and 1990’s teen sensation Aaron Carter on Sunday.
This week is a big one for sports enthusiasts. Hermantown faces off against Hibbing-Chisholm on Wednesday for the Section 7A boys hockey title, and Duluth East battles Grand Rapids on Thursday for the Section 7AA championship. The Duluth Climbers Coalition celebrates West Duluth’s newest parcel of parkland — Quarry Park — with three events: the kickoff is at Bent Paddle on Friday, the actual ice climbing is on Saturday at Quarry Park, and evening programs at Clyde Iron Works wrap it all up. Also on Saturday are the Tour du Luth cross-country ski event and the Harbor City Roller Dames Winter Wonder Jam Double Header.
In the realm of music, the Dotys perform a Matinee Musicale concert at the Depot on Tuesday, Bill Staines plays his annual Amazing Grace show on Friday, Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls play the Grand Minnesota Taste-Together in Hinckley on Saturday, and that show’s opener, 16-year-old singer Madi Davis, performs at Mitchell Auditorium on Sunday.
There are also numerous literary events this week, and a slew of seminars about everything from the textile community in Telemark, Norway, to the Northern Lights Express.
At the top of the “theaters just about no living person has heard of” category is Duluth’s Sunbeam Theatre, located at 109 W. Superior St. from 1908 to 1922. The Minnesota Reflections website notes “the silent film Highbrow Love was out in 1913. In 1922 the motion picture theater the Astor took that address, and the Sunbeam moved to 103 W. Superior St., where it remained until 1930.”
With high school hockey playoffs underway this week, PDD takes a look back 30 years to Denfeld’s first trip to the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament. The video above includes TV news clips of Denfeld’s Section 2 playoff wins (2-1 over Duluth East, 8-2 over St. Cloud Apollo and 6-2 over Anoka). The photo at left is from the victory over Anoka, shot by John Rott of the Duluth News Tribune (as featured in the DNT archives).
Safe at Home
Somewhere at sea: Two landing craft ease their way — side by side — through the wide opening at the stern of the USS Duluth. The craft employs almost all the room available on coming aboard. After the boats are tied down, the ballast tanks are emptied and the wall is drained.
(U.S. Navy photo via United Press International)
When it comes to picking the best indoor concert venue, there are a lot of things to consider — seating, acoustics, general vibe, etc. There might be plenty of room for argument on just about any criteria, but in one facet Duluth has a clear winner. It would be tough to dispute that any local concert hall, club or coffee house has consistently brought more high-caliber talent to its stage in the past two years than the Red Herring Lounge. Among the top four in PDD’s poll, the Herring pulled out a clean win with 35 percent of the vote.
It looks like the postmark on this card to Emily Jackson of Albert Lea might be from the year 1909. The day is clearly July 26.
Last summer a PDD poll determined Bayfront Festival Park is the region’s best outdoor concert venue. Now, in the dead of winter, it’s time to determine the best indoor concert venue. From large arenas to tiny little barrooms and coffee joints — what is the best place for live music in the Twin Ports?
This poll is now closed. The results were:
Red Herring Lounge – 35 percent
Sacred Heart Music Center – 26 percent
Clyde Iron Works – 21 percent
R.T. Quinlan’s – 18 percent
