Tag Archives: 1980s

2011 News Tribune archive photo calendar

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As mentioned a couple days ago, the News Tribune has published a 2011 calendar featuring 14 photos from the newspaper’s archives, including the one you see above, showing downtown Duluth in 1970.

The calendars are printed on glossy paper, and the photos are sharp and full of detail. They date from the 1950s through the 1980s.

The calendar sells for $7 at the News Tribune office, or $10 shipping included. If you can’t stop by the News Tribune, you can order online here.

Proceeds from the calendar sales will go to the local Newspapers in Education program, which gets newspapers into local classrooms.

If you have any questions, send me an e-mail at akrueger@duluthnews.com.

Socrates runs aground on Park Point, 1985

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At this time 25 years ago, crowds were flocking to Park Point to see the freighter Socrates, which had been driven ashore on Park Point by a big November storm. Here is a look back in photos and stories from the News Tribune archives…

Chuck and Leeann Richards and their dog, Toby, glance back at the crowd on the dunes watching the beached freighter Socrates on Park Point on Nov. 19, 1985. (Joey McLeister / News-Tribune)

The Socrates was at anchor off Duluth on the night of Nov. 18, 1985, when strong winds and intense waves drove it ashore on the shallows of Park Point. Here’s the next-day account from the Nov. 19, 1985 News-Tribune:

WIND, WAVES PUSH SHIP AGROUND

By Susan Stanich, News-Tribune staff writer

Winds gusting to 40 mph blew the 584-foot freighter Socrates aground on Park Point in Duluth Monday night, stranding the vessel in shallow, sandy-bottomed waters.

A strong northeast wind hurled 10-foot waves over the Liberia-registered ship late Monday. However, Coast Guard officials said the ship was in no immediate danger and no attempts to free it were expected until today.

The saltwater vessel, with a Greek crew of 24 aboard, was coming into port for a load of wheat bound for Italy, said Dan Sydow, agent with Federal Marine Terminals Inc. in Duluth.

The ship, its decks lit up with floodlights late Monday, was lying almost parallel to the shore near 18th Street South on Park Point, said Petty Officer 1st Class Thomas Dennis, spokesman for Coast Guard Group Duluth. He said the waves were too high for tugs to try to pull the ship to deeper water.

About 7:45 p.m., “one of the people here at the station saw out the window what looked like a ship barreling into Park Point,” he said.

The ship had been anchored offshore when winds gusting to 40 mph began pushing it toward shore, Dennis said. The ship ended up in about 20 feet of water, about 50 feet off shore.

“It’s a sandy bottom, so there’s no hull damage,” Dennis said. “It’s in no danger of flooding, as far as we know.”

———————–

The Socrates is blown ashore on Park Point on Nov. 18, 1985. (Jack Rendulich / News-Tribune)

From the moment it started coming ashore, the Socrates drew a crowd of spectators. It remained stuck for days. Here’s an account of the scene from the News-Tribune of Nov. 20, 1985:

GROUNDING LAUNCHED BIG BEACH PARTY

By Bob Ashenmacher, News-Tribune staff writer

At 8 p.m. Monday it was a maritime mishap.

Three hours later it was Duluth’s newest tourist attraction.

The grounding of the freighter Socrates on Park Point instantly turned a storm-lashed Canal Park and Park Point into a carnival.

The festive atmosphere increased Tuesday, until Duluth police — imposing restrictions that will continue today — began stopping sightseers from driving out onto the Point. If you didn’t have a helicopter or Jet-Ski, as some people were employing, you were out of luck.

Duluth radio and television stations began broadcasting word about the ship’s distress shortly after the situation became apparent Monday night. And after the television stations had led late newscasts with the story, hundreds of residents made their way to the area.

Never mind the icy rain, flooded streets or steady 40 mph wind that drowned out most sounds except the roar of the surf.

On they came.

Tow trucks zoomed everywhere, liberating people who had calmly driven into water up to their headlights, stalled and then gotten indignant.

One of the Aerial Bridge’s two lanes was closed for construction, so access was regulated by traffic lights on each end. Drivers ignored the lights, causing several near-collisions on the bridge.

The Warehouse Bar at Canal Park did a brisk business, according to owner Butch Curran. And there was some unusual behavior.

“Yeah, I saw kids standing up there letting waves hit them. Kids were driving up saying ‘Where’s the boat? Where’s the boat?’ Their parents had heard the news on TV in the Cities and called them. Weird, huh?”

Business was slower at Grandma’s Saloon & Deli, probably because it was nearly surrounded by water full of driftwood and other flotsam.

Crowds of chilly boatwatchers keep an eye on efforts to free the freighter Socrates on Nov. 22, 1985. (Jack Rendulich / News-Tribune)

The best action, of course, was out on the beach itself.

When the larger waves hit the side of the Socrates, the resulting geysers of water looked as though the ship was under torpedo attack. Spray catapulted over the tallest rigging and was illuminated by powerful floodlights atop deck cranes.

Already aground, the ship was visibly working its way further toward shore, more securely into the sand. Its bow, feebly lit by two nose spotlights, yawed laterally. An anchor chain set to the lake side jerked and slacked as the vessel rolled.

Occasionally a sound of smashing metal was audible above the roar of the wind and surf; it may have been a raised anchor banging against the side of the vessel that faced the beach.

Viewers made their way to the tops of the closest dunes. they stood bracing themselves against the wind as long as they could stand it, then retreated. They tried to record the spectacle on film with everything from Instamatics to elaborate shoulder-held video units.

On Tuesday, the weather calmed and the hundreds of sightseers turned to thousands.

People tramped through Park Point residents’ lawns on their way to the beach. They took group photographs in front of the vessel. they peeled bark from trees and scavenged driftwood for a bonfire.

Grandma’s did very good business, according to manager Brian Daugherty.

“In fact, we’ve been wondering how much it would cost to sink a ship on a weekly basis if it could be done,” he said.

He wasn’t the only one half-joking Tuesday about the tourism potential of the Socrates.

“My tongue’s in cheek, here — wouldn’t it be terrible if they couldn’t get it off, if it was there all winter?” said a chuckling Dan Russell of the Duluth Convention and Visitors Bureau.

He said the bureau received about 20 calls Tuesday morning from people elsewhere in the state wondering if the ship would be grounded long enough for them to make it to Duluth.

“There’s a tremendous amount of interest in it,” he said.

——————————

The Socrates lies stuck in the shallows of Park Point as seen from Skyline Parkway on Nov. 19, 1985. (Bob King / News-Tribune)

The Socrates rests nearly parallel to Park Point on Nov. 19, 1985. (Charles Curtis / News-Tribune)

The crew was evacuated from the ship, and after some delays a flotilla of tugs got to work on freeing the Socrates on Nov. 22, 1985. Eight tugs pulled on the Socrates; six were captured in this memorable image by the News-Tribune’s Charles Curtis:

As you can see in the photo, the tugs succeeded in getting the bow freed and swung around, but the stern stayed stuck in the shallows.

Crews dredged around the stern on Nov. 23, digging a 20-foot trench in the sand around the ship. And on Sunday, Nov. 24, the flotilla of tugs finally worked the Socrates free. Here’s an excerpt from the next day’s News-Tribune:

At 12:46 p.m., after having been coaxed about 120 feet forward, the Socrates started to pick up speed and slipped onto Lake Superior.

“She’s really moving!” said someone standing by a window in the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Office at Canal Park. Coast Guardsmen ran to the window from the next room, where some of them had been watching the Minnesota Vikings play the New Orleans Saints.

“That’s it!” “There you go!” “:46 on the hour!” the men exclaimed.

Cmdr. Stanley Spurgeon, commanding officer of the Marine Safety Office, put down his binoculars. “The first big moment was when we got everybody off the ship (last week) … This is the second.”

A radio squawked in the next room: “No oil leakage around the Socrates.”

“And that was the third,” Spurgeon said.

An aerial view of the Socrates and the tugs that freed it on Nov. 24, 1985. (Bob King / News-Tribune)

The Socrates underwent repairs for some holes in a forward ballast tank, but otherwise was relatively unscathed from its unplanned sojourn on the shore.

The News-Tribune of Nov. 27, 1985, included some interesting details. A salvage official said crews needed “every trick in the book” to free the Socrates. Where it landed helped.

“It was on a sandbar. You couldn’t ask for a better thing to run aground on,” said Doug Oppliger, an engineer for Durocher Dock & Dredge. “If you look at the rest of the shore of Lake Superior, there aren’t a whole lot of better places to put a ship.”

Meanwhile, the News-Tribune also talked to the captain of the Socrates for that Nov. 27 story. Here’s an excerpt:

Up in the master’s quarters, Capt. Ioannis Kukunaris was finishing up paperwork and getting his ship ready to sail again.

“The high winds and waves pushed us ashore,” Kukunaris said, struggling to describe the grounding in English. “I saw the worst of the lakes,” he added.

Kukunaris, a seaman for 23 years, would say little about the accident. But Jack Frost, a representative of the ship’s owners, Heliotrope Shipping Corp. of Liberia, said the Socrates and its crew were overwhelmed by wind and waves that forced the ship to drag its anchors and drift into shallow water.

“They saw it was dragging,” he said. “The engines were ready. The crew did everything possible and couldn’t stop it.”

Frost said he doesn’t know the cost of the salvage operation. But Durocher officials have put the price tag at about $500,000 in salvage costs and lost time.

Socrates crew members descend a ladder to a waiting Coast Guard vessel on Nov. 19, 1985, the day after the grounding. (Joey McLeister / News-Tribune)

————————–

The ship left town on Dec. 6 with its load of grain for Italy.

On Jan. 18, 1986, the News-Tribune carried a story about the Coast Guard’s report on the grounding. The report cited the captain of the Socrates, Ioannis Kukunaris, for not reacting quickly enough to the worsening storm.

“He had shown concern about the weather and about the wind, but he took no positive action to meet his concerns,” Cmdr. Stanley Spurgeon, head of the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Office in Duluth, told the News-Tribune. “It wasn’t a major foul-up, but it had major consequences.”

The Coast Guard said Kukunaris should have moved his vessel farther out on the lake, as another freighter did that evening. They did commend Kukunaris for acting quickly and professionally to prevent damage to the ship once he discovered it was drifting ashore.

Two years later, the Socrates still was sailing the Great Lakes with Kukunaris as its master, although it had not been back to the Twin Ports, according to a News-Tribune article.

As far as where the ship is today… I tried to find out online, but didn’t have much luck. If anyone knows, or if you want to share your memories of the Socrates, post a comment.

And here are two last photos from the News Tribune files…

Tom Maki and Carol Holleman and their dog, Rupert, at their home at 1609 Lake Ave. S. on Nov. 21, 1985. They saw the ordeal of the Socrates from their front windows. (John Rott / News-Tribune)

————

Pete Williams watches dredging operations around the Socrates on Nov. 23, 1985. (Joey McLeister / News-Tribune)

———————–

And one note for anyone looking for Part 2 of the Mr. Magoo the Mongoose story… I haven’t forgotten, and I’ll post it soon.

Vintage video of WDIO’s Dennis Anderson

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It was reported Wednesday that longtime WDIO-TV anchorman Dennis Anderson plans to retire in the next few months.

I remember watching Dennis Anderson on the news as a kid, visiting relatives in the Hayward area in the 1980s. He was an institution even back then – and, of course, he was still anchoring the news when I moved to Duluth a few years back.

Over the past few years I’ve posted a few links to YouTube videos of vintage Duluth newscasts that include Dennis Anderson. Here is one:

Complete 1973 WDIO newscast

And I thought I had posted a link to these clips in a previous post, but now I can’t find them. So, here they are again (in the second clip, Dennis Anderson appears briefly in the first commercial:

There was one more, of WDIO and KDLH newscasts following the 1988 fireworks explosion in Duluth, but apparently that video has been removed from YouTube.

As always, thanks to those who took the time to post those videos. And best wishes to Dennis Anderson, a Northland institution for decades, in his upcoming retirement.

Share your stories about Dennis Anderson by posting a comment.

Silver’s, 1982

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August 22, 1982

Silver’s, at 1303 Jefferson St. in Duluth in this view from August 1982, gives little clue it’s anything but a private home. (Joey McLeister / News-Tribune & Herald)

Silver’s: Super chic store in different setting

By Sandy Battin, News-Tribune & Herald staff writer

Silver’s is so exclusive, women tell each other in hushed tones, that you have to call in advance and make an appointment to shop there.

And you can’t just walk inside – you must be introduced by someone who’s been a customer for years, they say knowingly.

Ellie Lindgren, manager of the women’s clothing shop at 1303 Jefferson St., laughs when she hears such talk.

“Maybe they think that’s true because a lot of our customers will call in first and say, ‘Ellie, what’s the best time to come in?’ A lot just don’t like to waste time waiting,” she said.

Or perhaps it’s because they – or their mothers – still remember when the late Ida Silver started her business back in the late 1930s. “She sold the clothes in her apartment, open by appointment in the evenings,” Lindgren said.

The Silver’s mystique has also been fed by the fact that the business neither advertises nor shouts out its presence with an outdoor sign. A small, simple and tasteful engraved nameplate on the door is the only indication that the former carriage house across the street from the Armory is more than an ordinary home.

Those aren’t the only differences about shopping at Silver’s. Gather your curiosity and your courage and go inside.

Mabel Sonju and her daughter, Phlaine Johnson of Two Harbors, relax in the parlor while Ellie Lindgren shows them a blouse. The rack means a special sale is on. (Joey McLeister / News-Tribune & Herald)

——————-

Entry is through a room that seems more parlor than place of business. A love seat nestles comfortably behind a pair of small Oriental-style tables just right for serving coffee. Classic prints from Vogue magazines adorn the papered wall.

Mirrored shelves and an old-fashioned dressing table display such things as ceramic pitchers, jade jewelry and woolen scarves. Most unusual, there are jars of jam from England and special vinegars imported from France.

The atmosphere is warm. Customers are greeted by name and with a hug. Coffee and cookies are served and customers stop to admire what Lindgren is wearing, perhaps ask how they’d look in a similar belt or jacket.

Customers are invited into one of the special fitting rooms, a private place furnished with full-length mirrors, an old Chinese chest and a matching lacquered chair. Prints from Godey’s Lady’s Book, Victorian America’s fashion arbiter, set the scene. In elegant luxury, the salesclerk brings clothing she believes will suit and delight you. No racks are in sight anywhere except when a special sale is under way a few times a year.

It’s an atmosphere and a service not found much anymore – even in fashion centers such as New York. “It’s almost like something out of the past,” Lindgren said. “People say it’s quaint, unusual, different.”

Mabel Sonju of London Road in Duluth prepares to try on clothing Ellie Lindgren has selected just for her. (Joey McLeister / News-Tribune & Herald)

—————-

If you’ve been a customer for long, chances are Lindgren knows just what you’re looking for. “Each item is picked to suit a special customer’s needs,” Lindgren said. When she flies to New York, Chicago or Houston on a buying trip, Lindgren keeps each of her regular customers in mind. She may buy a dress in one’s favorite color or another in a style that suits someone else.

Such a dress will be the only one to be sold in Duluth. “The dresses in the couture lines we don’t duplicate,” said Wilson Thompson, who has owned the shop for eight years.

Alterations make sure the items fit. “You can change a dress one whole size down or one size up. … Few people are a perfect size 8. We weren’t all stamped out of the same mold,” Lindgren explained.

Lindgren prides herself on knowing her customers’ figures and what will look good on them. “No matter where you buy your clothes, if they don’t fit they’re no good,” she said. “If one of your shoulders is lower than the other, we’ll put in a shoulder pad. If one hip is higher, we’ll let the hem down a little on that side. We … alter their clothes according to their figures.

“Help (store employees) is not something that changes every month,” she said. “That’s why they’re able to give the special service.

“How many times have you been dressed and pampered?”

Ellie Lindgren, manager of Silver’s in Duluth, shows off some of the clothing in stock. (Joey McLeister / News-Tribune & Herald)

————-

Some women fly in from Oklahoma, Texas or Minneapolis just to shop Silver’s. Another woman has a selection of clothing sent to her in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Clothing is from such designers as Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, Adelle Simpson and “lots of silk from China,” Lindgren said.

Each piece of clothing is registered with a description at the shop. “We’ve had people with fires, thefts and so forth,” Thompson said, “and we’re able to tell them what they paid for it.”

Lindgren likes to describe the clothing Silver’s sells as unique. “We sell some classics, but also the unusual, the different, the extraordinary, the elegant.”

“But things are not so high-style that they’re not usable,” added Thompson. “A lot of people have the mistaken opinion that we’re high priced. I think we have a price for everyone. Maybe we won’t have a $39 dress but, in the intermediate range, we’d have something for $69.”

The difference is also that Silver’s urges women to try clothes they might have believed they could never look and feel good in. “We dare to do something a little bit out of the ordinary,” Lindgren said. “When you pay $200 for an outfit you want something that’s a little daring. … Everybody likes to be feminine and young-looking.

“You want, when you come into a room, for there to be an intake of breath.”

————————

A sign in the window of Silver’s Dress Shop, 1123 E. Superior St., says it has temporarily closed on January 15, 2001.(Bob King / News Tribune)

At some point after 1982, Silver’s moved to the big mansion at 1123 E. Superior St. – one of the houses threatened with demolition as Walgreens wants to build a new store on the site. Efforts are under way to move and save the mansion.

Silver’s shows up again in the archives in late 2000 and early 2001, as its inventory was seized to be auctioned off by the IRS to pay off federal tax liens in excess of $300,000.

Emily Hanson, 19, of Duluth, expresses her delight with the fit and style of this long, black formal dress at Silver Rose in June 2001. Emily was shopping for a dress with her mom, Pat. (Ann Arbor Miller / News Tribune)

In June 2001, the store reopened at the Superior Street location under new ownership as Silver Rose. While it’s no longer in operation on Superior Street, I think the business continues today in Cloquet – correct me if I’m wrong.

And as for the carriage house on Jefferson Street that house Silver’s for so many years, it’s gone – does anyone know when it was torn down? The National Bank of Commerce now occupies the site.

Share your memories of Silver’s by posting a comment.

Gunflint Trail school bus ride, 1988

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Minnesota Public Radio ran a story earlier this month about the extremely long school bus ride endured every day by students who live up the Gunflint Trail.

The News Tribune did its own story on that long bus ride almost 22 years ago, in November 1988. The driver is different, but much remains the same…

Paul Werdier stands by his school bus on November 15, 1988, at the start of the Gunflint Trail in Grand Marais. (Tom Dennis / News-Tribune)

Gunflint Trail run means a long day for the bus driver

By Tom Dennis, News-Tribune

Paul Werdier cranks open the door to his school bus and climbs aboard, holding a snow shovel and a double-bladed axe.

“Yeah, I guess I carry a few things on this bus that others don’t,” he says.

The supplies go behind the driver’s seat, where the spare boots and blankets are kept in winter. Werdier double-checks the oil, the lights and the emergency heater. He punches the ignition and the big diesel roars into life.

It’s 5 a.m. in Grand Marais. The longest school-bus run in Minnesota has begun.

Twice a day, every school day, Werdier makes a 114-mile trip up and down the Gunflint Trail. The night is black as he rolls through the empty streets of Grand Marais.

“I’ll be surprised if we don’t see two or three moose today,” he says. “After a big snow, I’ve seen them goofy moose lie right down in the middle of the road, licking up the salt.

“Does that ever wake you up.”

The bus swings north into the woods, which stretch unbroken all the way to Hudson Bay. A few inches of snow have fallen overnight; the bus fishtails ever so slightly as Werdier negotiates the winding road.

“It’s a little slushy out,” he says. “Once in a while I’ll see a logger who got up early. But usually I’m the first one breaking trail.”

Werdier, 40, has been making the Gunflint run for about a year. The hours are long, he admits. He starts at 5, gets back at about 8:15 a.m. and works in a Grand Marais lumber yard until 3. Then the afternoon run up the trail begins, which puts him home about 7. He goes to bed at 8:30.

Working several jobs is about the only way to survive in small towns these days, he says. “Anyway, I don’t mind it. I like this time of day. I’ve always liked the morning.”

Miles rumble by in comfortable quiet. The headlights illuminate the road, but the woods seem to soak up light like a sponge.

Suddenly two moose dart off the road and into a gully. “Well, look at that,” Werdier says, watching them gallop. “A cow and a calf. Our first two of the day.”

Werdier has never hit a moose, but he did smack a downed tree one time. And the big bus has broken down more than once.

But when that happens, Gunflint parents respond. “When you’re not at your stop, they come looking for you,” he says. “Just sit tight and wait. Pretty soon they’ll be driving by.”

At 6:20 a.m., an hour and 20 minutes after the run began, Werdier parks in a turnaround near the tip of the trail. He takes a break for a few minutes and rubs his eyes. Then he starts back down.

The bus slows, the blinkers flash and two small forms materialize by the side of the road. The door opens and two grade-school boys, bundled up snug in wool hats and winter coats, climb aboard.

“Hi, Mark. Hi, Peter,” Werdier says. “Hi, Paul,” Mark answers.

The boys are quiet as they take their seats.

“Sometimes the kids talk. They fill you in on what’s going on,” Werdier says later. “But sometimes they sleep all the way into town. They sleep in the afternoon, too; a 10-hour day is a long one for a kindergartner, that’s for sure.”

The bus slows again. “Morning, Joey,” Werdier says to the youngster who steps aboard.

“Joey lives on an island on the lake over there,” Werdier says. “He comes over by canoe. In the winter, he snowmobiles.”

Two girls at the next stop bear gifts and shy smiles. In the distance, a parent stands silhouetted in a cabin doorway.

“Well, look at this. I get coffee this morning,” Werdier says, accepting a cup from the first girl. “And a doughnut, too,” a gift from the second. “Thank you both very much.”

Six youngsters are aboard for the trip back down the trail. The hour passes quickly and quietly; a glance toward the back door shows several pairs of boots sticking into the aisle. Only a few wool-hatted heads are visible.

Dawn breaks; the sun comes up; and the bus approaching Grand Marais awakens, too. Youngsters board by the handful at one stop after another. For the few minutes before reaching the Grand Marais schools, the bus is just another school bus, noisy and crowded and alive.

Then it empties, and all is quiet again. Werdier sighs with relief. “That’s that,” he says with a grin.

The longest bus ride in Minnesota is complete.

Victory Chimes, 1986

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There’s a story in Thursday’s News Tribune about the Victory Chimes, a tall ship that for a few months called Duluth home – before financial and logistical difficulties resulted in the ship being repossessed by the bank, auctioned off and eventually sold to a buyer who moved it out of town (the buyer was Domino’s Pizza, but we’ll get to that later on).

In any case, I thought it would be a good chance to take a look at some photos of the Victory Chimes’ stay in Duluth. We’ll start with this Oct. 21, 1986, article about Denfeld physics students’ trip aboard the vessel:

The Victory Chimes sets sail from its Duluth berth with its Denfeld physics class passengers on Oct. 20, 1986. (Photos by John Rott / News-Tribune & Herald)

Denfeld physics students steer new course on Victory Chimes

By Linda Hanson, News-Tribune & Herald

For most people, the three-masted schooner Victory Chimes brings to mind romantic visions of life at sea – not physics.

But for 100 Denfeld High School students, the 86-year-old ship was their physics classroom for two hours Monday.

"Physics is not just in a book," said Denfeld physics teacher Ed Felien. "Physics is in everything you do. We try to illustrate that whenever we can."

As part of their physics classwork, students learn how to navigate with a compass, said Polly Hanson, a student teacher who arranged the field trip. Hanson, 21, is a senior at the College of St. Scholastica.

For example, the students must learn how to calculate how wind and currents affect the course of a ship, Hanson said.

Hanson thought it would be good for students to see firsthand how navigation works.

"In class, we’re working on vectors – those are directions on a compass," said Tim Sisto, 17, a senior.

"If you’re off on your vectors, you’re lost," added Mike Vukonich, 17, a senior.

There were no formal lessons on the ship, but students were encouraged to ask the crew questions.

Debbie Shepard, 16, said she learned three nautical superstitions from a crew member.

"Never whistle on a ship. That’s because they used to do commands by whistles and it would be confusing if someone was whistling," she said. "Also, women are bad luck and they don’t belong on a ship. And never change the name of a ship."

Debbie said a crew member explained that the ship use to be called the Edwin and Maud, but the name was changed to the Victory Chimes after World War II.

The ship’s two auxiliary engines, which are used for raising the sails and anchors, were named Edwin and Maud because of the superstition, she said.

Crew member Carol Bresser steers the Victory Chimes through the harbor while answering the questions of physics students.

——————–

Several students gathered in the captain’s quarters to hear a crew member explain the workings of the ship’s computerized navigational system called Loran C. The sailor explained how the system uses radio signals to determine the ship’s position.

"The signals form a hyperbola," he said.

"That sounds like calculus," one student moaned. "I hate calculus."

THis was the first trip on the Victory Chimes for most of the students, but it was the last outing of the season for the schooner and crew. The ship will spend the winter in the Minnesota Slip and will re-enter service next spring, said Capt. Sandy Clark.

While the ship made its final loop around the Duluth harbor in the balmy October air, not everyone’s mind was on physics. Some students visited with friends, while others talked about what it would be like to go for a long voyage on the Victory Chimes.

Danice Klimek, 15, leaned back on the rail and smiled, the sun glinting off her purple sunglasses.

"I’d love it," she said about going on a long voyage. "It’d be just me and nature."

Pat Smith, 17, thought a long trip would get old fast because you’d be cooped up with the same people for too long.

Danice said, "If I got riled up, I’d just go out and look at the stars. That always calms me down."

Denfeld juniors Wendy Whelihan, 17, Carolyn Flaim, 16, Jennifer Forstrom, 16, Terri Panyan, 16, and Dawn Sobczak, 16, drink soda and talk during their physics class cruise on the schooner Victory Chimes.

—————————————

Stepping back a bit, the Victory Chimes’ move to Duluth was discussed for some time before it actually happened. According to news accounts, architect Ted Rosenthal of Carlton first tried to buy and bring the ship here from Maine in 1976, but that effort fell through. Plans were revived in summer and fall 1985, with Rosenthal – joined by Duluthian Jerry Jubie, then president of First State Bank of Floodwood – bought the vessel for about $1 million.

The ship was battered by storms in early 1986 while still in Florida and on the East Coast. It finally arrived in Duluth on Aug. 29, 1986, greeted by a crowd estimated at 2,000 people:

The Victory Chimes, accompanied by a welcoming flotilla, makes her way under the Aerial Lift Bridge on Aug. 29, 1986. (John Rott / News-Tribune & Herald)

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Crowds line the North Pier to watch the arrival of the Victory Chimes in Duluth on Aug. 29, 1986. (Charles Curtis / News-Tribune & Herald)

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Things took a turn for the worse rather quickly. By December 1986, Jubie (not sure where Rosenthal went to – he’s not mentioned) told the News-Tribune & Herald that he was putting the Victory Chimes up for sale because the cities of Duluth and Superior had not provided enough support (city officials disputed that claim).

In April 1987, Norwest Bank foreclosed on a $650,000 mortgage on the schooner. It was the subject of a public auction in July 1987, at which the bank formally purchased the Victory Chimes. Tha bank moved the Victory Chimes to Maryland; with its masts taken down and strapped to its decks, the old schooner was towed out of Duluth for the last time on Sept. 22, 1987:

Towed by the Norfolk Rebel, the schooner Victory Chimes leaves Duluth on its way to the East Coast on Sept. 22, 1987. (Charles Curtis / News-Tribune & Herald)

——————–

The Victory Chimes is towed out of the Duluth harbor. (Dave Ballard / News-Tribune & Herald)

———————

In January 1988, Norwest Bank sold the boat to Domino’s Pizza Inc. for an undisclosed price. The owner of Domino’s, Tom Monaghan, planned to bring the boat to his resort on Drummond Island in northern Lake Huron, at the far eastern tip of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

The company refurbished the Victory Chimes and renamed it the Domino Effect, but that effort also ran into troubles. Efforts to dredge a harbor on Drummond Island to house the schooner drew environmental criticism that stalled the project. In addition, the schooner’s mast collapsed during repairs while on the East Coast, killing a crewman.

In October 1989, Domino’s announced it was putting the Domino Effect up for sale. At some point after that, the ship was brought back to Maine and renamed the Victory Chimes, and continues to offer trips along the coast – here’s the ship’s website.

The ship’s lasting legacy in Duluth is a stylized version of its silhouette, which was incorporated into a ubiquitous city logo still seen today, as shown in this News Tribune photo:

If memory serves correctly, the logo even appears on the facade of the I-35 tunnels east of downtown.

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So there, in a nutshell, is the story of the Victory Chimes in Duluth. Share your memories of the ship by posting a comment.

- Andrew Krueger

Loverboy comes to town, 1982

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February 15, 1982

A screaming contingent claiming to be half the city of Virginia joined several thousand other rock fans crammed into the entrance of the Duluth Arena on Monday, February 15, 1982, before a concert by rock groups Loverboy and Quarterflash. Tickets for the concert sold out faster than any show since Elvis Presley, and the doors opened an hour and a half early to handle the crush of the 8,000 fans. (Bob King / News-Tribune)

Quarterflash, Loverboy bring good rockin’ to Duluth Arena

By Bob Ashenmacher, News-Tribune staff writer

Quarterflash was good at the Duluth Arena on Monday night. Lead singer Rindy Ross threaded her alto sax and appealing voice through 40 minutes of material sure to make Pat Benatar more irritable than she must be already. The sellout crowd of 8,000 was swaying and yelling for more after the group’s climactic hit single, "Harden My Heart."

So return Quarterflash did, to end things with a lark. They brought out the Byrds’ "So You Wanna Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star," shining with a touch of chrome from Patti Smith’s version, and left the crowd wanting more.

Quarterflash was good, all right.

But the headline act, Loverboy, simply blew them out of the water.

Two or three songs into the Canadian quintet’s set, it was clear they were an exceptionally good live band – an hour later they’d blasted out the best night of rock at the Arena in a long, long time.

They exhibited qualities you just don’t expect to find in stadium acts. Technically, they sounded as good as their records. Lead singer Mike Reno’s voice got stronger as the night wore on. They kept the songs short and didn’t dink around between them. Best of all, they worked as hard onstage – as joyfully – as anyone I’ve seen since Springsteen.

From the first notes that jumped out of group leader Paul Dean’s guitar, the crowd was in his hands. But he and Reno never played down to their audience, or played hard to get. They just worked their butts off to wring even louder screams out of the hoarse mass that jammed the Arena floor, and the seats up to the rafters.

Much of the group’s material is standard hard rock fare. The rhythms are re-hashed, the lyrics typical, and the slower numbers, especially, sound shamefully close to Foreigner, But just when you’ve written off a plodding synthesizer waddle, keyboard maan Doug ("Doctor J") Johnson pulls out a saxophone and blows a bluesy sixteen-bar solo melody that seems to come from nowhere. He weaved a lot of delightful moments like those Monday night, using everything from electric piano to gravelly organ.

Dean, too, is intelligently flamboyant on his instrument. And Reno was so sexy I thought the girls in front would faint with ecstasy when he stuffed a bandana down his tight black Levis.

The group did 15 songs in a solid 90-minute set. The big crescendo started about 9:30 p.m., with "Turn Me Loose," and increased with "The Kid Is Hot Tonite." The place went nuts, absolutely nuts, with "Working for the Weekend." It’s a great party song, and as mentioned, Reno’s voice seemed to be getting more powerful all the time.

The kid in front of me, who looked to be about 14, could only mutter, "Excellent. Excellent." The Bic lighters flared through the gloom like the biggest planetarium you ever saw.

Right-o, kid. There was good rockin’ Monday night in Duluth.

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Loverboy returned to Duluth for a concert in the summer of 1983, and again on March 30, 1986. The group played the Head of the Lakes Fair in Superior in 2002, and performed at Grand Casino Hinckley in 2004.

Here are some early-1980s publicity shots of Loverboy from the News Tribune files. The first photo is from 1980, the second from 1982:

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And here are a few close-ups of that crowd photo at the start of this post:

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Were you at the 1982 concert? Do you recognize anyone in the crowd? Share your memories by posting a comment.

- Andrew Krueger

 

Pancake Day, 1980s

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The Duluth Lions Club held their 53rd annual Pancake Day on Thursday, once again drawing big crowds to enjoy breakfast all day at the DECC. Here are a couple of photos from Pancake Days past:

Duluth Lions Club pancake flippers Stan Walczynski, Chuck Chairs and Bob Rockwood are ready for the 1985 Pancake Day at the Duluth Arena. (Bob King / News-Tribune)

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Duluth Lions Club Pancake Committee members Bill Bradley, Roy Mattson and Stan Walczynski pose with one of the griddles before the club’s 1987 Pancake Day. (John Rott / News-Tribune)

Share your memories of Pancake Day by posting a comment.

- Andrew Krueger

Have you seen the milkman?

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Does anyone remember a time when you didn’t have to go to the grocery store to get your milk? The milkman never brought milk jugs to my house, but I do remember the milk truck stopping at my grandparents’ farm when I was little. I liked to run to the end of the road to watch him unload his delicious cargo – cheese, butter, the frothy milk that helped wash down my grandma’s pancakes.

I better stop before I start licking my keyboard …

Anyway, while combing the News Tribune archives last week I came across a little feature about this dying breed of working man. It made me wish the milkman still was around. I could have used him this morning when I had to run to Cub and pay $2.39 for a half-gallon before I could eat my cereal.

Below is the 1988 story of Duluth’s favorite dairyman Joel Marien. Enjoy.


Joel Marien works his route in the rural Duluth/Pike Lake area and has a small office in the cab of his truck. (1988 File / News Tribune)

 


Eric Chillberg, Brandon Karasek and Ricky Lennartson eagerly wait, with check in hand, for milkman Joel Marien to deliver his goods. (1988 file / News Tribune)

 


Joel Marien prepares to deliver milk to his customers. (1988 file / News Tribune)

 


As part of his route routine, milkman Joel Marien stops for lunch at the home of Saima and Wayne Hekkinen on Hermantown Road. (1988 file / News Tribune)

Duluth’s Snow White sold groceries

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The Snow White Food Center, at 2305 Woodland Ave., had been a grocery store for more than 100 years, opening as McGhie’s Grocery in 1887. In 1989, the market was owned and operated by Don and Mary Ellen Miller and their family. (1989 file / News Tribune)

Chain supermarkets and 24-hour convenience stores seem to be the culprits pushing mom-and-pop grocery stores to the wayside. Just look what has happened to Park Point’s Bayside Market and Central Hillside’s Fourth Street Market, both of which have closed in the past year. (Romano’s Grocery in downtown Duluth also is looking for a buyer.)

But in the late 1980s, there was a little-grocer-that-could in Duluth’s Hunters Park neighborhood. Snow White Food Center, at 2305 Woodland Ave., seemed to be thriving in 1989, according to a News Tribune story written in November of that year. The building that housed Snow White had been a food market for more than 100 years, opening as McGhie’s Grocery in 1887.


LaDonna Bergum and John Fawcett chat while shopping an aisle at Snow White Food Center.
The pair said they were regular customers. (1989 file / News Tribune)

The grocery store also had been family-owned since then. As of the 1980s, the Miller family had owned and operated it for four generations. Snow White’s patrons could attest to the benefits of a grocer kept all in the family. They said it was a place where every worker knew your name. The Miller family — owners Don and Mary Ellen; Don’s brother, Richard, and Don’s nephew, Mark, who all worked at the market in the ’80s — also knew their regular customers’ hobbies and grocery preferences.


Many of Snow White’s regular customers say it is the friendliness of
the people that keeps them coming back to the grocery store, and the
warmth and smile of owner Don Miller sets the tone. (1989 file / News Tribune)

And unlike its super-chain counterparts, Snow White also offered home delivery and took its customers’ orders over the phone, charging the bill to a running tab. The Millers also were known to loan customers cash from the register, if they suddenly found themselves without money when checking out.


Snow White owner Don Miller catches up with customer Alyce Flaherty as he rings up her groceries. Miller often spends a few moments chatting with patrons, most of whom he knows by name. (1989 file / News Tribune)

By July 1990, the Miller family was planning a remodling project for the store. They wanted to change Snow White into a deli and gourmet specialty store, but were having some trouble securing financing, according to a July 24, 1990, News Tribune article. The Millers said they would be forced to close if they couldn’t get a loan. The story didn’t say whether that happened, but a chiropractic office had opened at that location by 1996. And in 2003, a News Tribune story indicated the former Snow White Food Center had been reincarnated, again, into an ice cream and coffee shop.

Now, the former Snow White building is home to a photography business, the Flower Cart floral shop and the Hair Company salon.