Duluth is at the very westernmost tip of Lake Superior. It has always been an important port. Whether it was Native Americans, fur traders or miners, people have been shipping stuff out of Duluth forever. A lot of people needed a place to live permanently while handling all these goods. I’d like to show you a few of the places that the natives of Duloot (Genuine Minnesoda Norwegian pronunciation) came up with.
There must be something in the water of Lake Superior because the folks in Duluth seem to be driven to build “unique” houses and cabins.
Note: Instead of enacting your labor and linking the thumbnail images to higher rez ones, I just left the original link to the stories below. You can get more pics by clicking the link.
The Flintstone House
The Flintstone House is just a regular 2800 sqft. house that you can pick up for $280K. You get .6 acres of very green and leafy land with it. Just a normal everyday house that was built by a guy who wasn’t – get ready for it – a professional architect. The only thing not weird about him was that he was still going like a maniac at the age of 94. (Fourscore is still trying to catch up to him).
The 5-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom house was built in 1971 by George Hovland, the Duluth skiing legend who competed with the 1952 U.S. cross-country team in Oslo. Despite no formal architectural training, he dabbled in home design and construction. Hovland, who opened Duluth’s first ski shop and championed the sport his entire life, died in May following hip surgery complications. The 94-year-old was still skiing in March.
Floating Cabin
The Cabin in the Sky is a bit outside of Duluth’s city limits, but not enough for it to not be another example of what you can expect when you want to get out of the big city and back into nature. It is not a guard tower for some forest prison. Although, I doubt you’d get in much trouble if you shot a white tail deer trying to escape from that catwalk. For just $170K you can have 260 sqft. of aerial bliss. From way up in your cabin, you can watch your 248 ft. of lake shore and the rest of your 2.15 acres of wilderness.
Glib Fortress of Solitude
If the article wasn’t so detailed, I might think that this one actually belonged to one of our Duloot Glibs (looking at you PO’d Nick). But it seems to be a legit compound built by a non-Glib crazy person. You could hold off the entire Minnesoda Dept of Natural Resources if they showed up to seize your pet squirrel.
A tiered stone wall rises like a fortress at the end of this rural Douglas County dead-end road.
It’s holding back a hill with a nearly 8,000-square-foot triplex built into it.
Like the stone walls surrounding it, the exterior of the home, 5312 S. Stone Road, is made of stone quarried from the 80-acre property’s ridges. It’s unclear where the roof, covered in lawn grass, ends and the yard begins.
It has backup water and heat sources and once could produce its own power.
And if the stone exterior and concrete walls and ceilings weren’t strong enough, the Van Horns installed an underground tank that could serve as a bunker.
The house is currently listed just under $1M. That might be a bit steep given that the current owners bought it for $330K in 2019.
Back To School
It isn’t quite the tricked out dorm room Rodney Dangerfield had, but it is still a unique place to live. Oh, and you will have 121 neighbors in the building with you. You didn’t really think you could afford that big building for yourself did you?
The building is the old Duluth Central High School. It was built in 1892 and closed in 1971. It had various uses before developers decided to convert it into apartments in 2021. The article has the usual hand waving away of how much the city of Duluth got swindled out of by the developers, but it does look like an interesting place to rent an apartment in.
Zenith DCHS has several common spaces for residents to gather, including the front porch, penthouse lounge, clubhouse, Lake Superior Lounge, Gallery Hall and the Dean’s Office poker room. Plans for the former school auditorium will transform it into an indoor backyard with pickleball courts and a golf simulator.
Amenities include a fitness center, sauna, co-working space, oversized laundry, and a workshop with tool sharing and storage. There is also a mud room for residents to wash their bikes and dogs.
Be warned, the place is on the National Register of Historic Places. I once worked in an office that was on that register and it was a real pain in the ass. There are a lot of rules that go along with being on it.
The Ultimate Safe Space
This place isn’t very big, but it is definitely a safe place to hang your hat. It was a small bank (no room for a Scrooge McDuck swimming pool of coins) before being transformed into another of Duluth’s unique homes. The big selling point for most Glibs would be the bar that is located in the old vault.
It was built in 1918 and stopped being a bank in the ’70s. The current owners bought it for $205K in 2022 and meant to live in it themselves. Unfortunately for them, they need to relocate for a job and are now asking $500K for the 2500 sqft. property that has 1 bedroom and 5 bathrooms. It also includes a 17,000 sqft. parking lot.
Several banky features still abound within 1106 88th Ave. W. Consider the walk-in vault, the perfect spot to recreate certain scenes from Oceans 11. (Rud says it’d also make a wonderful wine cellar.) Or the original, currently un-plumbed drinking fountain, which was relocated from outside. Or the safe located in the living room, which is now being used to house pantry items. Or the bullet-proof glass window located on one of the balconies. “You can imagine what the circular hole cut into it was meant for,” the listing agent says.
You know a house is Minnesota classy when it has carpet in the bathroom.
Carpet in a bathroom is an abomination to all civilization,
Cool post!
I’m thinking that Cabin in the Sky probably doesn’t have carpet in the FREAKING OUTHOUSE.
Sorry, for me an outhouse is a hard no. Especially in Duluth.
My Yooper Grandpa used to sing me this song when I was a wee lad:
Oh, will you come to my shithouse?
It’s nice and cozy there
Where the wind blows up and cracks your ass
And parts your curly hair
PUD!
How the hell are you, brother?
Shoot me an email when you can.
Hey Tundra! I’m doing great. Just got back from a week long trip skiing in da UP.
I went skiing for the first time up at Mt Bohemia, which is in the upper tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula by Copper Harbor.
I think it might even be better than Lutsen for skiing, but not for everyone. It’s almost all back country skiing with no amenities aside from a Nordic spa, and it’s 30 miles from anywhere. No groomed trails and 80% gladed runs, many of which are steep and tight. It was the best midwest ski trip I’ve ever had, and I’ve done a lot. It snowed every day we were there, about 18 inches total, so fresh powder every day. They average 270 inches, so fresh snow is common. The place is deceivingly big. We were discovering new areas and runs still on the 4th day.
I’ll shoot you an email tomorrow. I plan on taking a couple more trips yet this winter to hike / ski, and Colorado is one of the places I’m considering. I am absolutely loving this seasonal semi-retirement after getting out of snow removal. Work about 1/2 the winter doing shop work and tree / shrub trimming, and the other half playing.
Iv’e never been there, but I’ve heard nothing but good about Bohemia!
I’m glad you enjoying semi-retirement.
Talk tomorrow!
If I’m going to live in an old school, I want the building to myself.
Oh wow – those are some beautiful buildings from when we were a proper country!
I often watch the Duluth harbor canal cam to see the big ships come in and out. The James R Barker is my favorite (yes I have a favorite great lakes ship!)
I mean to add I might have to see some of these buildings if I ever get up to Duloot to see the ships
The bank is intriguing, but I’m thinking overpriced. It needs fewer bedrooms and more bathrooms, and that reno ain’t gonna be cheap.
Periodically, that huge parking lot is going to need work to keep it from looking like shit, and that also ain’t gonna be cheap.
I love repurposed buildings for homes. I lived in a converted one-room schoolhouse in WI for years, and loved that place. If I win the lottery, I’m buying it back. I saw on the teevee a show about a young couple reno-ing an old firehouse (the big open first floor where the trucks parked would be where they had their business), and just loved it.
Hardest working man at the Honey Harvest.
No.
And everyone who has ever been there knows the truth.
Great article, though!
I think I like the bank best.
There is a restaurant in Golden that has a vault. I like that feature!
Why did you choose Dulute?
For the trading post obviously
It really is a wonderful town.
https://www.bayfrontfestivalpark.com/
https://grandmasrestaurants.com/
https://www.duluthpack.com/
https://frostriver.com/
https://www.exploreminnesota.com/list/best-north-shore-camping-state-parks
https://odysseyresorts.com/lutsen-sea-villas/
Just go.
Tundra:
I agree that Duluth is a great place. Our family loves camping somewhere on the North Shore.
I’ve always been surprised that Duluth hasn’t become a magnet for IT workers that can work remotely. All the benefits of a smaller town (decent schools, low crime, low cost of living), while being close enough to the Twin Cities (easy two hour drive) for any Big City thing you have to have.
It is also located in some absolutely beautiful country. The IT nerds who are always driving around with their mountain bike on their car would finally have somewhere to use it.
Hey Jimbo!
I agree with you. Duluth to Grand Marais is some of the finest anywhere.
Current temperature 2° 🥶
4° where I am oo la la.
It’s 2 degrees here, too.
For some reason the winds have calmed, so they’re not showing wind chill.
Hah!
Decent schools: East Side (flashes gang signs, shouts “Go, Greyhounds!”) is at least as cakey-town as Edina, Minnesoda. Good schools, yes, but high property taxes. West side (spits) schools, not so great.
Crime: East side (flashes gang signs) and Lakeside are low crime. Hillside (where I first lived when I moved here) and Downtown have lots of drugs, homelessness (in the summer), and several shootings per year.
Low Cost of Living: Depends on what you compare it to. There is a shortage of housing in Duluth proper. The permit department (if you want to build a new house or build multi-tenent housing) has been adversarial. My heating costs are $2500-3000 per winter. Property taxes are quite high. City sales taxes. Minnesoda state taxes. County taxes.
Yes it is a wonderful town. Great landscapes. Beautiful views.
The city politics are pretty shitty: I can’t buy menthol cigarettes (not that I smoke, but who the fuck are YOU to tell me what I can ingest?). I have to buy grocery bags if I don’t bring my own bags. City streets are third-worldly with potholes.
I moved out when I got the chance. Like California, nice place to visit, wouldn’t want to live there. Hence, why I moved out.
It seems to be a golden rule that the more you pay in taxes, the shittier the streets are.
My folks met one another in Duluth, courted, married. Romantic town but it ain’t Silver Bay
A few years ago, we in Duloot had 12 feet of snow during the winter.
Just this morning, I drove to work in -29 deg F temperatures. Nevermind the windchill (sorry, “feels like” for you youngins, git offa my snow-filled lawn).
The summers are glorious except for all the mosquitos. And the liberals.
I have glorious summers in upstate NY. No mosquitos but tons of liberals.
I win.
Tundra:
Technically, avoiding work is a type of work. And you can’t deny that I do a LOT of that.
Someone has to take care of the chicks.
You are a giver.
Pope Jim, I can’t help it, but every time I see your avatar I see the below image of the cover of Mountain Press’ Roadside Geology of Minnesota. The resemblance is uncanny.
http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2470/3250/products/9780878425624_1024x1024.jpg?v=1513370092
*raises hand*
More likely the developers got swindled by the city. These things usually require set-asides for the poors (is that what “mixed-residential” is supposed to mean?) making it difficult to make a profit without socking to the chumps who didn’t win the poor-lottery.
But still, neat.
My old elementary school is apartments now.
The old HS in my current town is now a mall full of hippie shops.
Other day discovery: Lake Superior is a fucking shark that happens to have *another* shark coming out of its nose. And they both look VERY angry. I’m sure that region’s lovely when it’s nice out, but it looks awfully ominous on the map. Unwelcoming. Foreboding. That cold frightens away most, but I still expect discounts. “We’re gonna need a bigger hotel,” shit.
I think there’s a song about that.
https://archive.org/details/looney-tunes-s-1941e-19-hiawathas-rabbit-hunt
The bottom one reminds me of this house in my town where Carl Sagan lived. Super tiny but unique.
I believe before he moved in, it was some sort Egyptian society/frat house type thing. The news reported it was just bought by a new owner who intends to renovate & live in it after being empty for some years.
Carl couldn’t do better?
Maybe he was high when he bought it.
It, like all of us, is made of Star Stuff.
Very interesting, Your Popeness.
There must be some kind of Cryptid in the area. A lake monster? A hermit that only sings Gordon Lightfoot songs while foraging?
Babe.
‘Nuff said.
What I do when I forage is my own business!
The Judge disagrees, you still have a pending indecent exposure charge…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DK–A-IaZnA
RJ, I picture you more of a David Hasselhoff singing Paloma Blanca type.
Never once have I thought of you as a hairy hermit romping over hill and through dale.
*sigh*
I’ve scheduled my permit class, and the fingerprinting for a consecutive saturday-sunday-monday, since they need to be in within 30 days of the formal filing.
My timeframe is now set in silicon, I have to file late February, early March. Or I’m out $400 in fees for just those two pieces
🤬
“Shall not be infringed”, baby!
We need something with teeth to slap around New York’s government.
That is so awful. I’d invite you to move down here for more freedom but you despise the weather.
Hey, our massively bloated state budget won’t pay for itself.
Do your part, citizen.
🤣
That’s $300 to the permit class, and $100 to the fingerprinting contractor, neither of which are the state, or the city.
The government fee later on is… $10.
I can’t believe the gov isn’t wetting their beak on that stuff.
Probably on licensing the providers.
And hidden fees I don’t see.
But I don’t have transparency to that.
I am keeping a spreadsheet with costs and dates and a checklist, both to make sure I’ve got everything, and because I’m thinking of doing a write up for this site after everything shakes out. Ideally, the last picture will be steak ala sean, with proper defence.
Sounds awesome!
Monty Python did a takedown of their own Monty Python and the Holy Grail movie where they posted the receipts and accountants notes in the corner of each scene, with a big red number at the bottom showing the running cost tally. That would seem appropriate for you too.
Isnt there a market somewhere, kind of dark, next to a lake where you can get those kind of things?
No, Yusef, you’re thinking of fish bait.
😎
Any old churches converted into homes? You wouldn’t have to take the garbage out for a long time! 😃⛪
There is a church made into a home in Podunkville, 3 miles north of here.
There is an old church in Manhattan that was turned into a dance club. I hooked up there a couple times. 🫤
Limelight, yes?
Semi-legendary
Yup.
It became a mall sometime in the late aughts. 🙄
That’s so sad I’ll pass on the Rush link.
Not sure about Duloot, but Perham (near my hometown) has one!
I have stopped there once, but it wasn’t that spectacular.
Nicest part of Duluth is it’s only a 100 miles east of Honey Harvest Heaven.
On our way to HH (year before last?) we stopped at a rest area off the highway in Duluth. It had a “scenic overlook” of the bay and river that was impressive even on a gray, rainy day!
Thompson Hill?
It is a well known place for the gay dudes to hook up. A local cop was caught getting his whatnot sucked a few years ago. Big scandal.
The overlook we saw was inside a visitors’ center in the rest area. Did not witness any untoward activity.
I’m sorry you did not get a show. Duluth will endevor to do better.
Hmph. Cops need some strange just like anyone.
Calling all Michiglibs!
https://thechive.com/humor/wtf/things-to-do-in-michigan-prettiest-btthole-competition/
Seems like something Duluth could also start up.
NB: Duluth is technically an ocean port.
“Buttholes are judged based on multiple criteria:
-Shading
-Number of Spokes
-Personality”
I got nuthin’.
So is Tulsa, if I recall.
Nick is not selling the town like it deserves.
Still go see it.
https://archive.is/R9Bdv/e566c8f444336a9102ca201b4d785d3639fe71f0.webp
Thanks for this your Holiness. I had no idea there was anything like that in Duluth.
0 degrees.
Minchia.
The news is feeding me stories about Barron’s taste in bespoke suits and Zuck staring at Bezos’ gal pal’s tits – again.
It’s morning again in America!
He’s 6’9″ and maybe still growing.
Bespoke is his only option.
They linked his previous arrival at the White House – he was 11 years old lol.
Zuck staring at Bezos’ gal pal’s tits
He’s probably not used to seeing tits that size in his daily life. His own wife is typically Asian.
I thought posting US real estate was my thing.
Nice houses. Would not live anywhere near Duluth I would think.
Is it any coincidence that the renamed Gulf of Murica! has snow on it? Never happened when it was the Gulf of Mexico.
There has been lots of Snow in the gulf for a long time.
Map: The Iron Ranges of the Lake Superior Region
Man I love me a good fantasy map.
The Cuyuna Range is now home to deep water lakes, filled with trout and other fish and few fishermen. Scuba divers have interesting tales to tell.
There is a local industrial conversion house.
Brrrr! Good morning Glibbies!
✊🏼🐪🍳
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2B-1fi5JU8
🎶🎶
-8° here 🥶
“Only” 0 here.
Only -3°, we were promised -12°, this is some BS right here.
A mild 14 here.
Same here, big shift from the -31 yesterday morning. Spring is on the way!
The recent cold weather has convinced me that I’m going to retire to the West Texas desert. The older I get the more I dislike it.
5C. I blame SUVs
Good morning, Sean, U, Ted’S., Teh Hype, Roat, 4(20), and Stinky, and good afternoon, Pie!
-1 here in SW OH (“Feels like -13,”) and it might get down to -6 by the time I leave for work. And clear, dammit, which means rock-hard frost on my car windows. Gonna waste a lot of fossil fuel getting my poor Subie warmed up this morning. 😒
I had a perfectly good reply, but wordpress decided my session expired between the time the page loaded and I hit “Submit Comment”.
Maybe your internet pipes froze.
I hope not. Do you have any idea what the freezing point of Ether(net) is?
I think its – 273 C or something like that.
A balmy -8 up here by the lake.
suh’ fam
“When Your Son Goes MAGA”
NYT but via archivedotis
https://archive.is/lMx5J
Written in the tone of finding out that your kid has joined a cult or is a serial sex pest…slightly conciliatory but in a patronizing way. Never change NYT (and by that I mean do change, please).
“facts don’t matter to you,” Ms. Behr wrote in a moment of frustration – lefties are all about facts.
In bizarro-world facts are feels and feels are facts.
Why did anyone want to archive Otis?
The best change the NYT could make is to go bankrupt.
Unprecedented! Gee, sounds like the premise for a sitcom! 🙄
I like the premise, sort of a reverse All in the Family: we can even use black folks. Maybe Kevin Hart’s available and they can have a common sense and plucky Hispanic neighbor and an uptight upper middle class white family across the street. Hell, maybe we can get Cosby in on this, last I heard he was still considered wholesome but I can’t claim to have paid attention to entertainment news for the past decade.
No indication that this isn’t the kid’s real name, either. Mom sounds like a piece of work doing this to her kid in public.
On a quick skim, I don’t see that they even tried to talk to any of the young men in question.
The’re misguided MAGAtards obviously and their input is neither warranted nor desired.
They talk AT, not to, such rubes.
Mornin’ all!
-6 here, ‘feels like’ -10.
But supposedly ‘much warmer today than yesterday’ — the end (I hope) of our January cold spell.
Stay safe, stay warm, stay careful everyone!
Good morning, Beau!
Good morning GT!
Things are starting to trend back closer to ‘normal’ so I hope to be around more.
😃👍
Good morning all. Keeping the fire going here.
Slobbering over some gun porn here this morning. It’s a bit tiresome watching the firearms world continually reinvent the wheel.
Does Remington Gun Oil make a good lubricant for what I can only assume you’re doing or is WD40 more appropriate?
The Remington. WD-40 can burn the skin.
Your guns didn’t stop the snow, did they?
Relevant music.
Within hours of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the new administration took down the Spanish-language version of the official White House website.
The site — currently https://www.whitehouse.gov/es/ — now gives users an “Error 404” message. It also included a “Go Home” button that directed viewers to a page featuring a video montage of Trump in his first term and on the campaign trail. The button was later updated to read “Go To Home Page”.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-white-house-spanish-language-website-62224890c5b05c8ce0878358ba4a5266
They are changing some sections and wording for Pete’s sake. Not that AP would mention that.
Mornin’, reprobates!
Balmy 6 degrees here. My oldest will attempt to venture out today, we’ve all been laid up with the flu since Sunday. Since he works for a medical group, he had to take a covid test. Negative. And they’re once again requiring masks in doctor’s offices because science or something. Sigh.