Left: Eric Sturtz self portrait. Right: Stony Point.
When looking at Eric Sturtz’s body of work, it’s clear the natural world inspires him. His photographic journey has taken him to the Grand Canyon and the hills of South Dakota, as well as out of the United States to places like Iceland.
Close out a month of tricks and treats with this week’s current affairs quiz.
A deep dive into Alan Sparhawk’s many music projects will come your way on Nov. 10. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Nov. 7.
The live view from one of the 11 Duluth Harbor Cam locations.
[Editor’s note: For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the archive of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. Twenty years ago the Sultan of Sot paid a visit to the Duluth Athletic Club Bar & Grill, 402 W. First St., and composed this article for the October 2004 issue of the Ripsaw magazine. The Duluth Athletic Club closed in 2008 after it was flooded by a toilet overflow.]
Tonight, in an effort to mentally prepare you for the upcoming presidential election, I ask this question: Where in the Twin Ports would George W. Bush go to get drunk? The answer, of course, is nowhere. Bush doesn’t drink. He used to drink, but then he flip-flopped and turned into an evangelical traitor to the cause.
John Kerry, on the other hand, might go to the Duluth Athletic Club Bar & Grill. After all, the DAC is a nice, clean, all-American place where any political figure could spend a quiet night without any controversy whatsoever. And a rich sonuvabitch like Kerry could certainly afford the overpriced drinks.
Perfect Duluth Day’s own Tony Bennett has a hot new single burning up the Halloween charts.
One hundred years ago today — Oct. 25, 1924 — the Duluth Rip-saw newspaper published a front page story attacking Minnesota State Senator Mike Boylan. The article contributed to the 1925 creation of the Public Nuisance Law, also known as the “Minnesota Gag Law,” which made publishers of “malicious, scandalous and defamatory” newspapers or magazines guilty of creating a public nuisance, and allowed judges to stop the publication of those periodicals. A restraining order was placed on the Rip-saw in 1926. Publisher John L. Morrison fell ill soon after and died.
In 1931 the gag law was challenged by Jay Near, publisher of the Saturday Press in Minneapolis. The Supreme Court ruled the law violated the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which protects the freedom of the press.
The Way There
This sample ballot is specific to Duluth’s western neighborhoods. Races for Minnesota State Representative and St. Louis County Board of Commissioners vary throughout the city.
A collection of 5,000 photographs by Duluth native Wing Young Huie will soon be available online through the Minnesota Historical Society, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports. The images capture a view of community life in Minnesota.
The first part of the collection, 965 images and supporting material, is already available in the searchable Collections Online database and the Gale Family Library. The full archive of 5,000 photographs and related material will become publicly available over the next five years.
Dee Morales is back in the restaurant business. He opened El Jefe Bar & Grill in early October.
There’s a familiar face in the kitchen of a new eatery in the Town of Superior. Dee Morales quietly opened El Jefe Bar & Grill in early October after closing Bucktales Cantina & Grill in the city of Superior, 12 miles north. El Jefe operates out of the same building that served as the original Bucktales.
Two obvious things you should know about Perfect Duluth Day: 1) It could be better. 2) It could be worse.
The existence of this website depends heavily on the work of talented writers and reporters who deserve to be compensated. The funds to do that come from advertising sold to local businesses and donations from readers. The more cash that goes in, the more work that goes out. That’s why we occasionally toss up a post to remind everyone that donations are a big help.
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.
Yesterday my uncle was in Cafe Coco in Washburn, Wisconsin, and saw this poster on the wall. If I had to guess, I would say the person shown is a founding member of Colder by the Lake Comedy Theater. But does somebody know for sure?
When I developed the image, two specters became visible behind me (Photo by David James with Photoshop Generative Fill)
With Halloween approaching, this post takes a close look at the tales of hauntings around Duluth, presenting a classification system for the four different types of haunted Duluth locations. It concludes with a Geoguessr challenge made up of five spooky Duluth photospheres.
Since early September I’ve been really wanting to throw a football around with someone. It makes sense given the season, but until a few weeks ago I bet it had been 25 years since I’d even thought about it. After the last throw or catch on some early-’90s day I’ll never remember, after throwing and catching footballs every autumn day and a lot of others from elementary school until college, I just didn’t do it anymore. I don’t even know the last time I picked up a football before recently. And now, for no reason I can discern, I’m lost in thoughts of throwing a soft, arcing spiral to someone, watching the ball into my hands after they throw it back to me, and repeating that process over and over and over.
I played organized football from elementary school until college. Fourth grade until sophomore year. Age nine to age 20. Eleven years. I’m 53 and the 11 years from here back to 42 feel like a blip. Nothing. Pretty sure I turn 64 next month. I’ll be 75 a week or two after that. But when I was 20 those 11 years were half of forever and Football Player was most of what I had known myself to be. Elementary school, junior high, high school, and the first two years of college. Each an eon that feels more heavy and definitive the older I get. The past won’t stop being present. Those 11 years have lasted so much longer than their actual length.
