I recently visited Duluth, albeit briefly, and I must say that to me it came off a lot rosier * than the tone the above write-ups.
First of all, the entire city is on one big steep hill that slopes up from the lake shore. Probably hell for driving in the winter, but it makes for dramatic vistas and helps to concentrate the city in a relatively small area, reducing the ugly sprawl that plagues most similar places. Secondly, the downtown is remarkably large and in good shape for a town of that size. Covered 'Skywalks' connect all the buildings, presumably because of the wretched climate. Thirdly, the lake shore is truly nice, from the restored warehouse area of Canal Park to the aquarium and Omnimax to Leif Erikson park and the giant rose garden. Again, these are things you won't find in most places with 88,000 people. Fourthly, the people and neighborhoods seemed upon cursory inspection to be less shady than the average similarly-sized burg. I even saw many people engaging in big city pursuits such as jogging and riding bikes.
The Achilles heel of Duluth has to be the climate though. In August, waking up from camping in the nearby Northern Wisconsin wilderness, there was frost on the windshield and on my nose. It was still jacket weather that August afternoon in Duluth, and I asked the woman at the tourist information center if this was unseasonable weather. Yes she said, it was a warm spell.
The Edmund Fitzgerald actually left for its final voyage not from Duluth but from Superior Wisconsin, which is right across the bay. Bob Dylan was born in Duluth and lived there until the age of six.
* This is a pun based on the large rose garden. ha ha.