Wholesale Flour, Feed, Grain and Hay

Gina Temple-Rhodes Jul 15, 2022 No Comments

Recent work on the Duluth Plumbing Supply building at 322 W. Michigan St. — now SPS Companies — has made more visible the words painted on the back side more than a century ago. The bottom line reads “Wholesale Flour, Feed, Grain and Hay.” The top line originally read “Wright-Clarkson Mercantile Co.” but appears to have later been painted over with some other words.

The old-timey photo is via Shorpy and is dated “circa 1905.” St. Louis County property tax records list the building as constructed in 1910, but that’s potentially not accurate.


History

Selective Focus: Noihsaf Bazaar

Abigail Blonigen Jul 15, 2022 No Comments

Noihsaf Bazaar is a community-based resale marketplace focusing on independent designers and small labels. Founded in Duluth by Kate Lindello, Noihsaf has recently launched its own online platform to better provide a more curated experience for its unique community.

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Art ,

Duluth 2022 Primary Election Sample Ballot

PDD News Sieve Jul 15, 2022 No Comments

Above is what the partisan side of the primary ballot looks like for Duluthians on the western side of the city. Those on the eastern side will see candidates for Minnesota State Representative for District 8B instead of 8A. The dividing line of the district is at First Avenue East and also runs north/south along Kenwood Avenue.

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Politics

Postcard from Priley Fountain and the Radisson Hotel

Paul Lundgren Jul 14, 2022 No Comments

This 50-year-old postcard shows what was then the new Radisson Hotel behind the also new-at-the time Priley Fountain at the Duluth Civic Center. The message on the back of the card was written July 14, 1972, and the card is postmarked the next day.

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History , , ,

Monthly Grovel: July 2022

Paul Lundgren Jul 14, 2022 No Comments
(Enter the amount of your choice.)

It’s festival season and the PDD Calendar has it all sorted out — from the various outdoor concerts and art festivals to all the county fairs and neighborhood parady street-dancey things.

Each month we reach out with one beggarly blog post to remind everyone that human beings and not machines are at work editing and publishing calendar items. So if you appreciate it, drop a few bucks in the PayPal account.

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Random

Locally Laid: A Business Saved by Storytelling

Courtney Brunn Jul 13, 2022 No Comments

Owners of Locally Laid — Lucie Amundsen and her husband, Jason Amundsen

Lucie Amundsen’s journey to poultry success was not an easy one. The co-owner and marketing mind behind Locally Laid Egg Company dealt with the usual struggles of launching a sustainable farm — competing with bigger brands, a severely challenging profit margin and an audience that might not understand the importance of buying local.

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Random

Bay Days with the North Shore Mental Health Group

David Beard Jul 13, 2022 No Comments

I attended Bay Days to table with Wilderness Health and the North Shore Mental Health Group. It is an active group of citizens committed to increasing awareness of and access to mental health resources up the shore.

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Random

Trampled by Turtles – “Burlesque Desert Window”

PDDTV Jul 13, 2022 No Comments

The new Trampled by Turtles music video, complete with bicycling owls, was shot and edited by Cooper Baumgartner. “Burlesque Desert Window” is on the band’s upcoming album Alpenglow, scheduled for release Oct. 28.


Music, Videos

Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards announce nominees

David Beard Jul 12, 2022 No Comments

For the past three decades, the Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards have recognized books that substantially represent the history, culture, heritage and lifestyle of northeastern Minnesota. In 2021, longtime award coordinators at the Kathryn A. Martin Library at the University of Minnesota Duluth announced that due to staffing changes, the university library would no longer organize the awards. In early 2022, Twin Ports-based nonprofit, the Lake Superior Writers, announced that it would be the new NEMBA coordinators.

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Anna D. Oleson, first female major-party nominee for U.S. Senate

Paul Lundgren Jul 12, 2022 No Comments

The photo in this clipping from the Duluth Herald is dated July 10, 1922, and appears in the July 14 issue of the paper. That summer — one hundred years ago — Anna Dickie Oleson of Cloquet was campaigning to represent Minnesota in the United States Senate.

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History, Politics

To Fight for Ukraine’s Freedom, He Went Back Into the Closet

PDD News Sieve Jul 11, 2022 No Comments

The July 7 episode of the New York Times’ new podcast, First Person, was produced by Duluth’s Courtney Stein. Titled “To Fight for Ukraine’s Freedom, He Went Back Into the Closet,” the episode features Stein talking to a gay Ekrainian soldier during the first months of the Russian invasion.

“I got to know him through the voice memos he sent me in between shifts on guard duty,” Stein wrote in the Times’ Opinion Today newsletter. “He told me that it had been difficult to decide to enlist, not only because he feared fighting the Russians, but also because he was afraid that his fellow Ukrainian soldiers wouldn’t accept him.”


Random ,

Dave Mehling – “Country, USA”

PDDTV Jul 11, 2022 No Comments

Duluth native Dave Mehling has a new EP in the works titled 100 Percent Denial. The single “Country USA” features Stacy K on vocals and Jason McGlone on drums. The track is mixed by McGlone and mastered by Rob Schlette.


Music, Videos

West Superior Street, Spalding Hotel, Lyceum Theatre

Paul Lundgren Jul 11, 2022 No Comments

This photo from Detroit Publishing Company is a similar perspective to a shot previously posted on PDD. It shows Downtown Duluth at Superior Street and Fifth Avenue West at the turn of the 20th century, with the Spalding Hotel at right and the Lyceum Theatre at left.


History , ,

Almanac North: The Wall that Heals in Chisholm

PDDTV Jul 10, 2022 No Comments

The traveling Vietnam Wall was on display in Chisholm recently. WDSE-TV Producer Megan McGarvey visited the wall and produced an emotional report for Almanac North on the importance of the memorial in remembering those who paid the ultimate price during the war.


Videos , ,

Escape From Wisconsin

Jim Richardson (aka Lake Superior Aquaman) Jul 09, 2022 No Comments

If you’re wondering where I’ve been, three years ago I survived an assassination attempt on the Blatnik Bridge. Locally called “the High Bridge,” it is in fact 120 feet high over the St. Louis Bay. It is co-owned by Minnesota and Wisconsin, and when you cross the state line, you have a bird’s eye view of the bay, Park Point, and Lake Superior. For a moment, I thought it would be my final view.

Earlier that morning, I swam through the ruins off of Washburn, the tiny Wisconsin town with big secrets. On the way back to Minnesota in my blue 1976 Lotus Esprit S1 — the Aquamobile — I stopped at the Anchor Bar in Superior. Time: 11 a.m. The streets were quiet, church was still in session. I parked across the avenue and went inside. Joining my confidential informant for a burger in a booth, he slipped me a list of every crooked cop in Wisconsin. I put it in my shark-themed backpack, returned to the Aquamobile, and put the backpack in the passenger seat next to the speargun. I got in and rolled my window down. Now for a little drive to the U.S. Marshals office in the Federal Building at the Duluth Civic Center.

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Random