Paul McCartney announced a set of U.S. summer tour dates yesterday. According to a City Pages story and comments on paulmccartney.com the press materials for the tour originally stated it “takes Paul to three cities and venues he’s never played before” including a July 13 show “at the Infinity Energy Arena in Duluth MN.” McCartney’s website has since fixed the error, clarifying that the Infinity Energy Arena is in Duluth, Ga.
The chimes of the 125-year-old Central High School clock tower fell silent last week when one of the clock’s gears failed. A new gear is being made and should be in place within about six weeks, according to Dave Spooner, manager of facilities for Duluth Public Schools.
“We’ve got the clock apart and we’re in the process of having another gear made,” Spooner said. “It’s not something you can buy, you have to have them made. … It’s just a failure of an old part.”
Central High School opened in 1892, built with a clock tower that rises 230 feet. A new Central High School opened in 1971, and the original building was converted into the school district’s administrative offices. The building has since been known as the Central Administration Building or “Historic Old Central.”
Bagley and Company, 315 W. Superior St., was operated by the same Duluth family for 131 years before closing last summer.
A long-time downtown jewelry store has been purchased by a Texas-based developer with Hermantown roots who plans to turn the building into office space for Internet professionals and create a food and music venue where diamond display cases once stood.
The Bagley & Company Jewelers building, 315 W. Superior Street, was purchased earlier this month by Titan Premier Investments of Houston, Texas. The property includes three historic retail buildings, approximately 19,000-square-feet of space, several skyway storefronts and a turn-of-the-century tea room hidden in the middle of it all.
Ellen Vaagen, photo by Wolfskull Creative
Ellen Vaagen, the sassy, dreadlocked woman known affectionately around town as “Crafty Ellen,” is launching Vaagen’s Vegan Sauce, the Twin Ports’ first vegan blog on April 22.
The launch party will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Red Herring Lounge and feature sample platters of Vaagen’s vegan snacks, along with free recipe cards.
A home in Duluth’s Endion neighborhood, known for the collection of items attached to its exterior, was significantly damaged by an accidental fire today. The homeowner sustained a slight injury.
Duluth’s Bent Paddle Brewing has announced a partnership with Dean Distributing of Green Bay. The relationship will expand the availability of Bent Paddle’s beer into the Wisconsin counties of Ashland, Iron, Oneida, Vilas, Forest, Langlade and Price.
Distribution to those areas will begin this week with events marking the expansion. On Wednesday, April 12, representatives from Bent Paddle will be offering samplings in Rhinelander at Trig’s Cellar from 3 to 5 p.m., followed by a tap event at Bucketheads Sports Bar & Grill from 6 to 8 p.m.
There will be more samples in Hurley on Thursday, April 13, from 3 to 6 p.m. at Town and Country Liquor and at the Ashland Super One Liquor from 3 to 6 p.m. on Friday, April 14.
Members of the Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department, along with several area residents, rescued a moose that had fallen through ice 100 yards from shore this morning on Hungry Jack Lake, about 30 miles north of Grand Marais. Forrest Parson, owner of Hungry Jack Lodge, tells the story in the audio clip above from WTIP North Shore Community Radio.
Hoops Brewing founder Dave Hoops and Head Brewer Melissa Rainville pose in front of recently installed equipment. Hoops Brewing plans to open in late May or June.
Seven stainless steel tanks and a catwalk preassembled with pipes and pumps were lifted off flatbed trucks and squeezed through the stone doorway of a former Canal Park restaurant on March 21.
The equipment, including four huge fermentors and two beer tanks, was hauled inside on heavy duty carts and laid on a new custom-built floor like tipped-over beer bottles. The massive move, which stopped traffic outside 325 S. Lake Ave., was a major step in plans by longtime Duluth brewmaster Dave Hoops to open Hoops Brewing, a beer hall that will match the largest in Minnesota.
Update: Medical examiners have identified human remains found Sept. 28, 2017, along the Duluth Lakewalk as that of William Saker, a Duluth man who hadn’t been since March 10. (Duluth News Tribune: Remains found along Lakewalk identified as man missing since March)
Original post: The Duluth Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating missing person William Robert Saker. Saker is a 50-year-old white male, 6-ft. 2-in. tall, 200 lbs., has brownish blonde hair and blue/grey eyes. He was last seen on Friday, March 10, leaving his residence in the 800 block of Upham Road and has not returned. There is urgency in finding Saker due his need for prescribed medications. Anyone aware with information about Saker’s whereabouts is asked to call 911.
Duluth City Councilors adopted an ordinance Monday establishing regulations for transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft to operate within in the city.
The measure passed 7-1, with Fifth District Councilor Jay Fosle casting the dissenting vote. The ordinance goes into effect April 27.
The video above is the full 35-minute discussion of the issue. It opens with four citizens speaking in opposition to the ordinance. Comments by city councilors begin at the 9:40 mark.
As Garrison Keillor observes, “March is the month God created to show people who don’t drink what a hangover is like.” Did you retain anything from the hangover that is March? Take the quiz and find out!
The next PDD Quiz will cover Homegrown band names and will be published on April 16: start scouring those field guides! E-mail question suggestions to Alison Klawiter at [email protected] by April 13.
Fortune magazine’s list of “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” includes Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau, a native Duluthian. Harteau is positioned at #22 on the list, just behind U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts and just ahead of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
Harteau graduated from Denfeld High School in 1982 and earned a law enforcement degree at Hibbing Community College before joining the Minneapolis Police Department at the age of 22. She was sworn in as chief in 2012.
Duluth Coffee Company is expanding its footprint on the 100 block of East Superior Street with plans for a major upgrade to its roasting operations and more space for events and education.
The coffee roasting business and over-the-counter java shop has occupied 105 E. Superior St. since 2012. Owner Eric Faust recently took over the former BB Makeup location two doors down at 101 E. Superior St. and renovation work there is underway. When the project is completed, Duluth Coffee will move its roasting operations into the new location on the corner of the block while retaining the original coffee-shop space.
From a hidden stairway to the original rail line servicing the city, Duluth is not “anyplace, USA,” the Duluth Preservation Alliance announced in a news release. “It is home to an abundance of historic buildings and sites.”
To bring awareness to some of the city’s most threatened properties, the DPA put out its list of “Duluth’s Ten Most Endangered Properties in 2017.”
1. Pastoret Terrace
131 E. First St.
What began as luxury townhouses in 1887 has since been divided into multiple apartments. In 2010, the Terrace experienced a devastating fire and currently sits as a fraction of its former glory. Now owned by the city, it could be razed, or it could be renovated and be a catalyst that helps revive First Street.
It’s been eight months since Duluth City Councilor Noah Hobbs had his first formal meeting with City Attorney Nate LaCoursiere to begin crafting an ordinance to regulate ridesharing businesses like Uber and Lyft.
Both companies have expressed interest in operating in Duluth, and now Hobbs’ ordinance is on the city council’s March 13 agenda for a first reading. The soonest the ordinance could pass is March 27; it would then go into effect 30 days later.
