Harry's Gang: A lot changes in a city in 20 years

It’s been 20 years, and Cloquet has changed a bit since I first moved to town on Oct. 1, 1999.

There were two weekly newspapers then, too, the old Pine Knot and the upstart Cloquet Journal. But those papers eventually merged into the Pine Journal, and we had one paper until the new Pine Knot News started up last year.

Cloquet had video rental stores all over: McDonald Rental, Spotlight Video and a few others. Some gas stations rented videos too — big, clunky VHS tapes. DVDs were just gaining popularity, but most new releases and all the old classics were on VHS. They imposed a fine if you didn’t rewind. You can still rent movies in town — from a small red box in front of Super One. That’s it. All the video stores are closed now.

Cloquet Avenue was deserted after 5 p.m. A few cars were parked on the street, mostly patrons of the few downtown bars, and renters who lived above the storefronts, but it was always easy to find a parking spot. You never saw the bar patrons, since they didn’t have to come outside to smoke. The only way to know who was in the bar was to go into the bar. The Hotel Solem was big, dark, and vacant. I always thought it was a neat building that could be repurposed; someone else beat me to it and today it’s busy every night with customers of Pedro’s restaurant. The hotel rooms are still vacant, though, allegedly.

Pinehurst Park was a mud pit. No one swam in the pond; no one ice skated on the pond, mostly because it was too much trouble to climb over the chain link fence surrounding the water. Today it’s a fancy sand-bottom pool, and the basketball and tennis courts are first-rate. The ball fields are still a little damp at times, but your car doesn’t sink in the muddy parking lot anymore — it’s all paved. Crazy what half a penny can accomplish.

Walmart was a tiny convenience store, compared to what’s there now, and they didn’t sell lettuce. The only supermarket was Super One, although B&B Market sold groceries, too. A few other neighborhood stores, like Marketplace Meats, sold groceries. Those other stores are all gone now, but Carlton Meat & Grocery is thriving, and a few other grocery stores have joined in the mix. We won’t go hungry in Cloquet.

When I got to town 20 years ago, the Cloquet Country Club had but nine holes. Now there are 18 holes. The country club was significant to me because if I needed to talk to my bosses at the Newby Law office on a Thursday, I had to head up to the club to track down Butch Newby or Dave Lingren. Tom Skare, at least, was easier to find on Thursdays. Now the Newby firm has dissolved and the Rudy Law Firm is the only sizable firm headquartered in Cloquet. Fortunately, there are plenty of small and solo lawyers like me still around. Jeff Westermann and Tom Skare, both former Newby partners, each have their own practices, and Keith Carlson, Joanna Wiegert, and Terri Port Wright have local offices. Rex is retired, although I still see him at church sometimes. No shortage of lawyers nowadays, I guess.

WKLK was an oldies station, playing pop hits from the ’60s and ’70s; now it’s an oldies station but plays classic rock. The rich baritone voice of Jake Kachinski still graces the airwaves, though. If you don’t look directly at him, Jake hasn’t changed a bit in 20 years.

And no one had even heard of Andy French back then.

I suppose in some ways Cloquet is still the same. When I got to town in October 1999, I planned to work here for three or four years, get some experience and move on. Twenty years later I am married with three kids, own a historic house in town, have a library card and a gym membership, as well as my own law firm and pizza restaurant. But I haven’t bought a cemetery plot. I guess I’m probably here for another 20 years, at least.

Pete Radosevich is the publisher of the Pine Knot News community newspaper and an attorney in Esko who is finally hosting the longtime cable access talk show Harry’s Gang on CAT-7 again. His opinions are his own. Contact him at [email protected].