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Living in Lakeside

nobike070508.jpgSo I've been living in Lakeside for less than 2 weeks now. When I went out to my garage this morning around 8:30 I noticed an abandoned bike on the street behind my house. I said, "huh," but didn't think much of it. When I went to take out the recycling and garbage later in the morning it was still there. About a half hour ago I got a knock on my back door. It was Officer Friendly asking me if I had any kids and knew about this bike that was on the street. Apparently a neighbor called it in. When I went out to take this picture the bike was gone.

I think this confirms Paul Lundgren's insightful "Abandoned Car" Theory of Neighborhoods in Duluth (which I will reprint in the extended entry so you don't have to search through all the comments).

I'm going to have to adjust to living in Lakeside.

Paul Lundgren's Abandoned Car Theory of Neighborhoods in Duluth (December 24, 2007)

Abandoned Car Test

Although there are many unique neighborhoods in Duluth, the city is essentially divided into three sections: West Duluth, Central Hillside and East Duluth. For whatever the reason, Duluthians are raised three different ways.

Say you notice there’s a strange car parked on the street near your house. The car has a flat tire and a smashed windshield. How will your neighbors to react?

In East Duluth the car would be towed within a matter of hours. The first person to notice it would call the police immediately and report the nuisance vehicle.

In the Central Hillside, everyone would ignore the car. It would sit undisturbed until winter, when the snowplows need to get through. Then, the city would have it towed. Although many people would notice the car for several months and recognize it as abandoned, it would never even become a subject of conversation.

In West Duluth, the car would go undisturbed for a few days, and then everyone would start talking about it. Theories of where it came from and what happened to its owner would abound. No one would call the police though. After a month or two, little kids would start playing inside the car until a few older kids would eventually come along and shoo them away. Then they’d push the car down a hill into a crick.

Comments

who spells creek "crick"


Clearly the answer is "Paul Lundgren." Where I hail from the word "creek" can be pronounced with a long e sound or with a short i sound, the latter of which is more colloquial. I expect the writer was using this spelling to evoke this colloquial pronunciation since it is stylistically awkward to write:

"Then they'd push the car down a hill into a creek, which, by the way, they'd pronounce 'crick.'"

See how that lacks the punch of the other sentence?


I grew up in Lakeside/Lester Park where you could almost count on your bike being stolen if you left it outside overnight. At least back in those days that was the case. So the cops are on the look out for that sort of thing, I suppose. Here in the hillside? I have had two ... no THREE bikes outside my house for weeks now and no one has touched them. One of the m I wish they'd steal, the others belong to my downstairs neighbor. I'm not saying that the hillside is safer, I'm just saying that bikes are apparently safer in the hillside. In our case, anyway. As for the abandoned car theory, there is currently one on 6th street that I drive by everyday. I have noticed it (obviously) but then again, I grew up out east so that might just be a hold over from those days. No one else seems concerned.


I don't get the point of the officer's question. Was she/he concerned about the bike having been abandoned or the unknown person who was riding the bike having apparently disappeared? Perhaps that early in the morning abandoned bikes are sufficient reason for a police response but that seems a bit ridiculous unless they were trying to confirm the rider was safe given that they'd left their bike unattended in the evening or early morning hours.


It's plausible the owner returned and grabbed it. I've personally dumped a bike when I was younger and more disposed to booze. I wonder what type of bike it was (kid's bike/expensive bike/etc.)


a one-person rapture in Lakeside!

kokigami--where the hell you from? in the Midwest, especially in the Midwest populated by factory workers descended from farmers, "crick" is just about the only way you say "creek". unless of course you're some effete snob from d'east.

(and by east i mean east of Ohio. Ohio bein' where i learned that "creek" is what grama's door does at 5:30am. that wash of water out back that floods while grampa and i watch from the porch during a thunderstorm--that's a crick.)


I would almost say that crick vs. creek comes down more to size than anything else. I refer to Chester, Miller, and Keane as creeks. Paul and I grew up on opposite ends of a crick in West Duluth. And I would gladly give anyone who deemed it otherwise a swift kick in the jibs.


I think I was probably 19 or 20 before I ever met someone in real life who pronounced it "creek."


GAH! Scratch what I just said. I completely agree with Chris. First of all because he's right (I forgot about the larger "creeks,") and second of all because I've been kicked in the jibs before, and really would like to avoid it in the future.

I too grew up next to a crick, and think of that crick whenever the subject of cricks comes up. It was probably as wide as the average kitchen table.


I should add that the bike was a dirt bike and the officer said that if he couldn't find the owner he was going to haul it away. I'm assuming that is what happened, but I don't know that.


Based on size, I'd say.

LOL, Heidi. You think all that would be sitting there would be a pair of shoes. And maybe Kirk Cameron


In Illinois it's "creek". In Minnesota it's usually "crick" as I learned when I lived off the "Mud Crick Road" which was in no way an official road name but that's what EVERYONE called it.

But both are spelled "creek" though - whether you pronounce it like a hillbilly is up to you! ;-)


I grew up with a 'crick' that ran behind my back yard. My favorite memories are playing in that 'crick' and if anyone had called it 'The Creek' no one in the neighborhood would have known what you were referring to....


OK, I'm laying down the rule on "crick" vs. "creek". A "crick" is a small creek, let's say, about 3 to 4 feet wide. A creek is obviously bigger than that, but not a river. I think the confusion is coming in that many of us have probably never seen the word "crick" in type before. I know my initial reaction was "wtf", though I've been differentiating between "cricks" and "creeks" my whole life.


Paul Lundgren is a science unto himself. That is the most accurate description of Duluth I have ever heard.


A PERFECT description of the three Duluths. Hilarious.


Duluth is a beautiful city, but it, like Da 'Range, suffers from anti-capitalism, which contributes to its shrunken economy and weak tax base. Yes, there are exceptions.


Which has what to do with anything that went before? Ironic1 should have stolen the bike and sold it to make a profit?


right eco eco--don't you know that any discussion involving duluth has to be injected with hand-wringing and frothing over our wicked anti-capitalism? everything must be blamed on those damned commies, now and forever. i find it touchingly anachronistic. like listening to your alzheimer's afflicted grama complain about female newscasters.

damn. i resisted getting snarky about this yesterday. now look what you made me do. it's so not worth it.


hbh-you just need a good coozie rub down is all.


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