“A humble Midwestern team” that “made curling cool” is on the cover of this week’s Parade magazine.
The U.S. men’s Olympic curling team members pictured are, left to right: John Landsteiner, Duluth; Chris Plys, Duluth; John Shuster, Superior; John Landsteiner, Duluth; Colin Hufman, Minneapolis; and Matt Hamilton, McFarland.
This undated postcard shows Duluth’s Aerial Lift Bridge, ships on the lake, the Duluth Arena-Auditorium, parts of the Downtown and Canal Park areas and more circa perhaps 1980 or so.
As we ease in and out of mask mandates and public health challenges, the world of arts, athletics and leisure carry on. And the PDD Calendar has all the details as usual. 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 events. So if you appreciate it, drop a few bucks in the PayPal account.
As I struggled to get down into and then out of the Chester Park ravine during a walk, I recalled this short video interview I made with Philip Jones in 2017. Enjoy Philip’s thoughts on stairways, community, and the fact that the Hillside was built for trolleys, not for thousands of cars!
Quiz regarding the location of the Northeast Passage to follow!
A reader has sent some information about Helen Futter, the subject (I think) of some thoughts I’ve had about record collections, midcentury media, and pop culture. (See here, here, here, here, and here.) Generally, reflecting on what (I think) was Helen’s record collection, donated by her estate to Gabriel’s Books in Lakeside, I treated her like a “typical teen,” listening to records on her “Victrola.”
An update to the post “Sledding Duluth’s Avenues in 1921“:
By 1922 it was determined that the safe thing to do is hang red pennants to warn drivers about popular sledding intersections.
The 38th running of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon is underway. Collected here are a few select photos via Instagram. The 300-mile race is expected to finish on Feb. 1 in the afternoon.
The fake internet court podcast Judge John Hodgman, where pressing issues are decided by Famous Minor Television Personality John Hodgman, Certified Judge, once again mentioned Duluth, this time at length in the concluding segment of its Great Lakes Beach report.
Welcome to 2022! This week’s quiz looks at headlines and happenings from this first month of the new year.
In honor of the upcoming games, the next PDD quiz will look at Northland Olympians; it will skate your way on Feb. 13. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Feb. 9.
I push through the door — it’s late, but the massive cowboy hat on the roof glows red — and step into something more like a nightclub than an Arby’s. Steady, throbbing beats pulse across the rafters of the dim dining room, threading through stacks of waxed cups, snapping plastic straws with reverb.
This roast beef hashery is my kind of joint.
Eyes float to the menu board; simultaneously, my chin begins to bob. Anticipating the imminent rush of potato cake puissance, my body ticks with the vocals.
Suckin’ on my titties like you wanted me,
Callin’ me, all the time like Blondie
“OH MY GOD!” the blondie behind the counter shrieks as she looks up from tying a trash bag. My presence has startled her.
Her first reaction is to hunch low, bending torso toward linoleum, hiding her body behind the cash register. Her second reaction is to screech, barely audible over the racy lyrics shaking the dining room, “JOE. TURN IT DOWN. TURN IT OFF. TURN IT DOWN. OH MY GOD. TURN IT OFF NOW!”
“The right amount of elbow grease” is what the narrator recommends during this video tour of the former Finland Air Force Base, located about 50 miles northeast of Duluth, which is listed for $800,000.
The catch? It’s a superfund site.
Musicians Alan Sparhawk and Nat Harvie talk about how Duluth informs both their music and their outlook on the website Talkhouse, a media outlet where artists share firsthand perspectives and offer insight into their creative work.
The identity of the woman in this photo is almost certainly lost to history, but on Perfect Duluth Day it’s always worth trying. What we know about this photo is the photography studio it came from and roughly when it was shot.
Duluth native Nat Harvie has a new EP, Married in Song, set for release Jan. 28.
