Central Hillside Posts

Round-up Bar and Grill plans new patio space

Jun 15, 2023 No Comments

Round-up Bar and Grill owner Mike Ronning stands outside the site of a new side patio. Landscaping, furniture, games and a small stage will be built on the site of the former Fine Frog Emporium. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)

A longstanding Duluth bar known for its family-owned roots and connection to country music will add a new outdoor patio after an adjacent antique store was condemned and torn down earlier this year.

The Round-up Bar and Grill, 415 E. Fourth St., will construct space for outdoor dining and bar service along with a small stage on the east side of its building this summer. Fencing and signage have already been assembled and final landscaping work, lighting and furniture installation is expected to take place in the next few weeks.

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News and Current Affairs, Restaurants ,

Loiselle Liquor ends 88-year run; new owners plan name change

Dec 06, 2022 1 Comment

Loiselle Liquor Store, 413 E. Fourth St., was owned and operated by the Loiselle family for 88 years. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske).

The oldest liquor store in Duluth has changed hands and will take on a new name for the first time in nearly nine decades.

Loiselle Liquor Store, 413 E. Fourth St., was sold by the Loiselle family this spring to Matthew Krueger and Katherine Eagle of Cloquet. St. Louis County property tax records showed the sale price at $360,000 for the two-story building — which was constructed in 1893 as the Goering Block.

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News and Current Affairs ,

Duluth in Anarchy: A Journal of Anarchist Ideas

Nov 04, 2022 4 Comments

I found reference to Duluth in Anarchy: A Journal of Anarchist Ideas, issue #84, from February 1968, with a feature about something I have never heard of, the Kropotkin House.

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History

Calling Observation Hill and Central Hillside Residents

Mar 24, 2021 No Comments

People who live in Duluth’s Observation Hill neighborhood: please take 5-10 minutes and fill out a survey for my class. I am exploring the relationships between Central Hillside and Observation Hill, and Mesaba Avenue’s affect on the two neighborhoods.

People who live in Central Hillside: same deal, different survey. It would mean a lot. Thank you!


Random

Breanne Marie & the Front Porch Sinners – “Central Hillside ’91”

Oct 18, 2020 No Comments

Presenting the world premiere of “Central Hillside ’91,” the new single and video from Breanne Marie & the Front Porch Sinners. The song is full of early 1990s nostalgia, and the video was shot and edited by David Syring, with scenes captured in Duluth’s Central Hillside neighborhood, of course.

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Music, Videos ,

Reservoir ruins sale offers cliff views, odd history

Aug 31, 2020 No Comments

The ruins of the 1884 Duluth Gas and Water Company reservoir can be seen from West First Street, just west of Point of Rocks. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)

The sprawling and mysterious stand of stone and brick ruins that occupies perhaps the best clifftop view over Duluth’s harbor is for sale.

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News and Current Affairs ,

Great Lakes Gear Exchange opening store in Central Hillside

Oct 04, 2019 No Comments

Great Lakes Gear Exchange is opening a storefront 510 E. Fourth St. in Duluth’s Central Hillside neighborhood. The outdoor gear consignment business has existed since January and has hosted monthly pop-up shops at the Duluth Folk School and other locations over the past six months.

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News and Current Affairs , ,

Ingeborg von Agassiz – “Oh, the Hillside”

Dec 05, 2017 1 Comment

Duluth’s Ingeborg von Agassiz (Emma Rustan) has written an ode to the Duluth Hillside, part of her upcoming debut album O Giver of Dreams, to be released later this winter. Perfect Duluth Day and the Homegrown Music Festival bring you this wintry holiday-time video for the song. It features some of Emma’s music students, and dancers Brianna Hall-Nelson and Amber Burns.

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Music, Videos ,

Old Central chimes will return in a few weeks

Apr 25, 2017 No Comments

Central-Clocktower-BellThe chimes of the 125-year-old Central High School clock tower fell silent last week when one of the clock’s gears failed. A new gear is being made and should be in place within about six weeks, according to Dave Spooner, manager of facilities for Duluth Public Schools.

“We’ve got the clock apart and we’re in the process of having another gear made,” Spooner said. “It’s not something you can buy, you have to have them made. … It’s just a failure of an old part.”

Central High School opened in 1892, built with a clock tower that rises 230 feet. A new Central High School opened in 1971, and the original building was converted into the school district’s administrative offices. The building has since been known as the Central Administration Building or “Historic Old Central.”


News and Current Affairs , ,

Duluth’s Cascade Hotel

Dec 19, 2016 1 Comment

cascade-hotel

“Your home when you’re in Duluth” is the Cascade, “the friendly hotel.” Located on the corner of First Avenue West and Third Street, it features “kitchenette apartments – hotel rooms” that are “transient – residential.”

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History , ,

Bicycling the Hillside

Feb 13, 2016 No Comments

Don Ness Saturday EssayThe climb feels endless. Tattered concrete fills my field of vision — taunting and mocking my painfully slow bike ride up the hill. My legs ache and are starting to shake. My lungs burn and seem to collapse a bit more every time I turn the pedals over and try to suck in a great, heaving gulp of oxygen.

The front wheel wobbles for lack of momentum, forcing me to cross back. Now I’m shamefully zig-zagging across the steep avenue, which both relieves the burdensome pitch, but quadruples the length of the climb. There is a deep desire in me, immutable by logic or maturity, to ride the whole way, steep inclines notwithstanding.

Then the moment of kinetic equilibrium arrives in which the depleted energy of my legs can no longer overcome gravity’s backward force and for the briefest moment my bike and I are stuck in suspended animation. I dismount at the very moment gravity begins to prevail. With humility washing over me, bike and I switch roles as I become the vehicle delivering the two of us up the hillside.

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Art , ,

The Red Door brightens Duluth’s East Hillside

Apr 08, 2015 No Comments
Photos by Jamie Merideth

Photos by Jamie Merideth

Hibbing native Sharon Kangas has been a Head Start teacher and cosmetologist. Now she’s an entrepreneur. In September 2013 she opened the Red Door, an ornate consignment shop in Duluth’s East Hillside neighborhood.

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News and Current Affairs

Steve O’Neil Apartments grand opening

Feb 03, 2015 1 Comment

Union Block 2010 Steve O'Neil Apartments 2015

That was then, this is now. The photo on the left is the old Union Block in 2010; the photo at right is Steve O’Neil Apartments today. (Apologies for not shooting from the same angle for this before/after comparison.)

A ribbon-cutting and grand opening was held today at the new 44-unit complex located at 115 W. Fourth St. in the Central Hillside. The apartments are providing supportive housing for families that have experienced long-term homelessness. it is operated by Chum, which provides 24-hour supportive services to those living in the facility.

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News and Current Affairs

Old Central Clock

Dec 15, 2013 2 Comments

Has anyone else noticed that the old Central High School clock has stopped?! I hope it’s going to be fixed. I enjoy hearing the bells ever 15 minutes.


Uncategorized , , , ,

R.I.P. Gangsta/Ghetto Spur

Aug 12, 2013 15 Comments

Gangsta_Spur

Well, that was the word that I heard From my brother in a fur hanging out at the Gangsta Spur He said, “it always begins behind The Twins they trade a bottle a gin for night full of sin.” -Giljunko

Tonight is your last chance to patronize the infamous Gangsta/Ghetto Spur. It will soon be razed and a new SA will be built farther back toward the alley.

The GS joins its fallen brethren Johnny Ray’s Pizza, House of Donuts, Members Cooperative Credit Union and others I’m probably forgetting. Share your memories in the comments.


News and Current Affairs, R.I.P.