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.
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.
We 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.
Clare Cooley is a multi-disciplinary artist and teacher whose career has spanned decades and coasts. Cooley emphasizes the healing nature of artistic and creative endeavors, whether that be teaching expressive dance classes, transforming a home into a sanctuary piece by piece, or sharing stories through written or visual art.
As part of its repaving and redesign of London Road, the Minnesota Department of Transportation is planning to put a 150-foot diameter roundabout at 60th Avenue East and London Road. The build will take two years, will destroy a two-household historic home, and will take parkland that was granted to the city on condition that it would always be parkland.
It will be accompanied, of course, by many streetlights, because roundabouts are only safe if they are very well lit.
Today, John L. Morrison is best known as the publisher of the muckraking Duluth Rip-Saw from 1918 to 1926, but his period of greatest fame occurred before that, when he was employed by the Duluth Evening Herald. Morrison was well-known regionally as a travel writer and nationally as an authority on the Canadian gold-mining regions.
Music fans react to a performance by New Salty Dog at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center in May during the Homegrown Music Festival. (Photo by Paul Lundgren)
Somehow, 2023 is just a few short days away. What better way to bid farewell to auld lang syne and ring in the new year than with some local music? Whether the goal is to turn in early or dance all night, the Duluth music scene has an array of options. Presented here are just a handful.
This 1870s-era photo of the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad has been discussed on PDD before, but today I came across a handsome framed enlargement. Where is it?
Twin Ports food fans gained some favorable new restaurant options in 2022 — from high-end dining to downhome comfort food, tacos and the return of an old classic.
The Miller Hill Mall Perkins closed in March after 37 years of service. The national chain still operates at two other Duluth sites. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
Restaurants come and go all the time but some seem like they will be around forever. The Miller Hill Mall Perkins is a perfect example. The naugahyde booths, chrome-plated tables, gigantic breakfast menu and sweet pies made each visit feel like the one before — like eating in a time machine that would never end.
But then it did end.
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.
Previously I posted some AI generated images that could plausibly be of Duluth but it was difficult to create images that were distinctly Duluth. The absurd specificity of Jim Richardson’s interactions with ChatGPT inspired me to try again but with a different process.
Look back on 2022 in the Duluth area with this end-of-the-year quiz.
The next PDD quiz will preview coming attractions for 2023; it will be published on Jan. 15. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Jan. 11.
Season 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.
“Joel in Duluth” currently has an essay on the front page of Dailykos.com, a hive of fightin’ mad progressives. The essay is a cogent analysis of the recent Santos scandal in New York, where a Dem candidate’s oppo research was so underwhelming, he lost to Santos (above) who immediately became embroiled in a scandal about whether his bio is full of lies. Joel in Duluth diagnoses the problem using his own campaign experiences.
The former Duluth Central High School on the top of the hill was demolished at the end of November. The video above is by Doug Johnson.
