Canal Park Posts

Parking Crunch in Canal Park

May 20, 2016 6 Comments

The season for enforcing paid parking in Canal Park has begun (see the DNT article here). Parking in Canal Park will get tight and expensive.

Lake Superior Magazine image

Lake Superior Magazine image

The photo at left is of pre-redevelopment Canal Park, not parking this weekend. But you get the idea.

If you are reading this and remember life in Duluth when this was the beach, I’d love to hear stories.

Meanwhile, parking…

I used to meet friends at Endion Station, which was the (I think) last cheap place to park in Canal Park until the meters were upgraded.

And for a while, I joined the Great Lakes Aquarium because the free parking given members of the Aquarium was cheaper than parking in Canal Park. Plus the Aquarium is awesome.

What is the last secret of the local for getting into Canal Park this summer with a car?
 


News and Current Affairs

Canal Park Timber Lodge Steakhouse won’t reopen

Apr 13, 2016 4 Comments

Canal Park Timber Lodge Steakhouse Timberlodge Steakhouse

After 20 years in business, the Timber Lodge Steakhouse in Canal Park is calling it quits. Bruce Taher, CEO of Timber Lodge’s parent company, Taher Inc., says he regrets having to make the decision. He hoped to close the restaurant for the winter and reopen it this spring, but a number of challenges precipitated the restaurant’s demise.

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News and Current Affairs, R.I.P., Restaurants

Map of the Day: Duluth’s Canal Parking

Feb 28, 2016 13 Comments

Canal Park Map

After a ridiculously warm weekend, it seems like spring has arrived early. Before you know it, thousands of Minneapolis-types like myself will be driving up Interstate 35 to the cool shores of Gitche Gumee.

Since its post-industrial low point a few decades ago, Duluth has built Canal Park into one of the top-drawing tourist spots in the state. It’s definitely a great place, but I continue to be amazed by how much prime Canal Park real estate is occupied by pavement for storing cars. After a visit last fall, I made this map and found there are 21 acres of surface parking in Canal Park.

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Polls , ,

Canal Park parking has been … um … streamlined

Jun 09, 2015 13 Comments

The Duluth News Tribune reported on Monday that rates have changed at three parking lots in Canal Park. Two examples are the Northwest Iron lot (between Grandma’s Saloon and the DeWitt-Seitz Marketplace) and the Lighthouse lot (near the lighthouse pier). The minimum rate is now $3 for three hours, up from last year’s $2 for two hours.

The DNT notes:

Parking Operations Specialist Mark Bauer said the city decided to make the changes to streamline the parking process.

“Instead of trying to interpret and guess how much time you’re going to be there, we thought it would be easier to just simply pay for this three-hour block of time,” Bauer said. “It simply covers you up to that three-hour limit.”

There has been no word yet on whether hotels in the area will be streamlining their processes by invoking a three-night minimum stay or whether bars will enforce a three-drink minimum for customer convenience.

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News and Current Affairs , ,

The Rosewood Wonder

May 05, 2015 No Comments
Photos by Jamie Merideth

Photos by Jamie Merideth

The view from the fourth floor of DeWitt-Seitz Marketplace is amazing. Outside the windows are the icons of Duluth: Lake Superior and the Aerial Lift Bridge. On the inside sits Mike Furo, quietly bringing new life to old musical instruments as the owner of Rosewood Music.

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Music ,

Noooooooooo!

Oct 14, 2014 14 Comments

oh give a guy a break


News and Current Affairs , ,

Shoddy construction

Sep 29, 2013 16 Comments

Before I begin my condemnation of BlueStone Lofts and the Park Point Marina Inn, I just want to preface my position with this. I don’t mean to vilify anyone personally. I do not begrudge anyone for trying his level best to make an honest living. I just feel there has to be a voice of reason where there is none and that happens to be me on this occasion.

I’m far from perfect and I’m not a know-it-all. I simply hate this throw-away practice of our modern, disposable society. And for some reason, I still want the very best for Duluth even though I haven’t lived there for decades.

There are some good people there doing great things. In architecture and house building, it’s David Salmela and the Bruckelmyers. Builders’ Commonwealth is up with the best, too.

It is the armchair urban planner, the aesthete, the eco-warrior, the idealist and the public advocate that is writing this. That said, here is my tirade.

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News and Current Affairs , , , , ,

Found: Warehouse Bar artifact

Jul 08, 2013 1 Comment

1988 relic.


History , ,

Whatever happened to the Canal Park Holiday Inn?

Sep 14, 2012 24 Comments

The old Holiday Inn in Duluth was located in Canal Park, just down from downtown, and this was before all the new development happened in Canal Park. In the 1980s, it had its name changed to something else. I don’t remember what that name was, or if the building is even still there. Can anyone bring me up to date?


History , , , ,

What Canal Park Brewing Company will look like

Jan 17, 2012 33 Comments

Canal Park Brewing Co. is expected to open this summer. Construction is underway and Wagner Zaun Architecture’s designs look like this.

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News and Current Affairs, Restaurants , ,

Walk for Thought in Canal Park

Aug 19, 2011 No Comments

The 10th Annual Walk for Thought is rapidly approaching! This year’s walk will take place on Saturday, Sept. 24, at Canal Park in Duluth.

Since 2002, thousands of individuals who have experienced a brain injury, their loved ones, and the professionals who work with them have come together for one event to commemorate their strength and success as well as to remember those who were lost to brain injury.

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Events, Outdoors , , ,

One more free day in Canal Park

May 13, 2011 28 Comments

Parking meter on Lake Ave. Note the May 15 start date.

If you think that Canal Park belongs to Duluthians and not just to the tourists, you have one more day to freely utilize that right. Emphasis on the free. Paid parking goes in effect this Sunday, at  least at the meters and presumably at the paid lots as well.

Stroll the piers. Gawk at a 1000-footer. Deconstruct the meaning in public art. It’s your birthright, Duluth.

For today, you don’t have to worry about the gatekeepers at the hotel parking lots and their clipboards.

You don’t yet have to worry about the eager tow companies in the private lots, who will boot, tow, or just flop upon every car whose driver heads to Coldstone before hitting Caribou Coffee.

Toss some rocks at the beach at the corner of the lake. Enjoy your city. Without a roll of quarters in your pocket.


News and Current Affairs ,

Twelve Moons on Gichigami – Canal Park Film

Nov 11, 2009 2 Comments

Not sure if this has ever been posted here before, but figured I’d share it just in case.


Videos , , , ,