West Duluth

Alan Terway (left), bartender at Mr. D’s Spirit Valley Bar and Lounge, 5622 Grand Ave., talks with retired bartender Johnny Matheson of Superior. Matheson tended bar there in the 1940s and ’50s, when it was called Teve’s West Duluth Bar and Grill. (Duluth News Tribune & Herald photo by Charles Curtis, 1985)

And now, a look back at a look back. Forty years ago today — July 18, 1985 — the Duluth News-Tribune & Herald published a special Community Herald section with several stories about West Duluth. The cover story delved into neighborhood bar nostalgia. …

West Duluth’s Alhambra Theater reopened under a new name, The State Theater, on June 27, 1925. The name change came after a renovation of the space, which had originally opened on Sept. 15, 1913.

The State Theater closed circa 1928. The building housed a variety of businesses until it reopened as the Alhambra on May 16, 2025 — one month ahead of the centennial of its name change. …

Carl Kuchenbecker was apparently responsible for nine primates disappearing into the woods near Kingsbury Creek during his many years as proprietor of The Same Old Place in West Duluth. The story of a “ringtailed monkey” named Bobby landed on the front page of the Duluth Herald on Oct. 18, 1941. …

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