I grew up in Duluth Heights, while I lived there it was not as developed as it is now.

Let me set the stage. Marshall School was called Cathedral. Duluth Central was open over the hill, and everyone knew why the street was called Central Entrance. Cathedral's football field wasn't what it is today. Duluth Central was underdeveloped. The reason I'm telling you this is there were lots of places to slide in the snow.

There is a trail that goes from Central Entrance up through the woods. Students used it to take a shortcut up the hill to school. When I was a kid it was a dangerously speedy hill to take a sled down. Cathedral (Duluth Marshall) had a huge hill that went down the straight, then down, then straight. You had to really hold on so you didn't fly off your sled. There were also other places to slide, Chester Bowl had a great hill too.

Growing up in the Heights meant I would meet my friends for boot hockey at the Duluth Heights Community Club. For the Winter Frolic (in February) there was a talent show, and skating races, a parade, winter fun, contests, and a big dinner with a hockey game afterward. It was my first performance of music I wrote.

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I would also lace up my boots for some great games in Central Hillside at "The Projects". We would hit a puck at each other and we wouldn't wear pads and would come away from every game with bruises and notches in our legs, arms, and back from the puck. Helmets? Not us!!

My cousins lived in West Duluth, so we always found places to go sledding and have snowball fights. We also found some hills that allowed me to use my toboggan style sled and I could steer, which made it even more fun.

I know I'm going to sound old now, we played outside and had Rosey cheeks when we came in, and knew the sound of our Mom's voice when it was time to go inside. We had to take off our snowsuit and boots because we were full of snow from making forts and stockpiling snowballs. We dug tunnels all over the yard so we could surprise our friends and throw snowballs from a secret place. We ate snow (not the yellow stuff) and called it food, and sometimes ate lunch outside so we could stay out longer. It took two people to get your snowsuit off, you and Mom or Dad.

When we became teens, we couldn't wear hats to mess up our hair and dressed like we lived in Florida because we had to look cool, We hung out at the mall because that's where everyone was, and that is where the record store was and the video store. (Anyone remembers Aladins Castle?)

I'm not saying we had it tough, or we had it better. I'm just sharing my memories. What are your memories as a kid, and where did you grow up. Leave some feedback for me.

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