Salt Lake magazine offers an insightful and dynamic coverage of city life, Utah lore and community stories about the people places and great happenings weaving together the state’s vibrant present with its rich past. Its Community section highlights the pulse of Salt Lake City and around the state, covering local events, cultural happenings, dining trends and urban developments. From emerging neighborhoods and development to engaging profiles long-form looks at newsmakers and significant cultural moments, Salt Lake magazine keeps readers informed about the evolving lifestyle in Utah.
In its Utah Lore coverage, the magazine dives deep into the state’s historical and cultural fabric, uncovering fascinating stories of Native American heritage, pioneer history, and regional legends. Whether exploring ghost towns, untold tales of early settlers, or modern folklore, Salt Lake magazine connects readers with the roots of Utah’s identity.
The Community section emphasizes the people and organizations shaping Utah’s present-day communities. Through stories of local heroes, grassroots movements, and social initiatives, the magazine fosters a sense of belonging and civic pride. It often spotlights efforts that promote inclusivity, sustainability, and progress, giving voice to the diverse communities that make up the state.
New Year’s Eve is almost here and with it the perfect opportunity to show 2021 the door. While the big party with the countdown to midnight is a classic stand-by for a reason, there’s no need to limit ourselves–there are plenty of events around Salt Lake City, providing an ample number of ways to say “good riddance” to another year.
BARS & PARTIES
Last Hurrah 2021 The Gateway 18 N. Rio Grande Street, SLC Friday, Dec. 31, 9 p.m.-midnight This free event will be open to the public. The main stage will be featuring DJ Justin Cornwall, and local bands brother and The Rubies. Draft beer, wine, hot cocktails and hot chocolate will be served in the main plaza.
12th Annual NYE Masquerade Ball Salt Lake City Hilton 255 S. West Temple, SLC Friday, Dec. 31, at 9 p.m.–1 a.m. Giveaways, dancing, food, door prizes, and dance the night away to DeeJay Stario; $150 per person for dinner tickets, $50 for reception only tickets.
The Black & White Ball NYE Party Urban Lounge 241 S. 500 East, SLC Friday, Dec. 31, doors open at 8 p.m. With Flash & Flare and Jesse Walker; tickets $10 per person, $150 to reserve a booth.
The 4th Annual Silver Ball Quarters Arcade Bar 5 E. 400 South, SLC Friday, Dec. 31 at 4 p.m. Free-play pinball, live music, and drinks; first annual Silver Ball Showdown pinball competition starts at 5 p.m.
New Year’s Eve With Brighter Tides The Rest 331 Main Street, SLC Friday, Dec. 31, at 10 p.m.–1 a.m. Musical Performance by Leah Woods; $80-$90 per person.
New Year’s Eve 2022 Flanker 6 N. Rio Grande St., Suite #35, SLC Friday, Dec. 31 DJ Scene; $20 per person
Countdown to NYE Party The Complex 536 W. 100 South, SLC Friday, Dec. 31 at 9 p.m. DJs, giveaways, special guest appearances; $15-$35 per person.
JRC Events Presents: NEW YEARS EVE 2022 Union Event Center 235 N. 500 West, SLC Friday, Dec. 31, doors open at 8pm Shows at 9 p.m., 10 p.m., 11 p.m., midnight; $30-$75 per person.
Great Gatsby Gala Prohibition 151 E. 6100 South, Murray Friday, Dec. 31, 2021 7:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Dress in 1920s attire, burlesque shows at 7:30, 9:30, 11:15 p.m.; $25 admission at door, reservations required.
SHOWS
Mokie New Year’s Eve The Commonwealth Room 195 W. 2100 South, SLC Friday, Dec. 31, doors open at 8 p.m. $40 per person.
Pixie & The Partygrass Boys New Year’s Eve The Depot 13 N. 400 West, SLC Friday, Dec. 31, doors open at 7 p.m. $15 per person.
DINING & DRINKING
New Year’s Eve Food and Beer Pairing Bewilder Brewing 445 S. 400 West, SLC Friday, Dec. 31, 7-10 p.m. Six-course meal with five 8 oz. beers (including a small batch beer release) and a brewery tour; $125 per person.
New Year’s Eve Dinner at Finca Finca 1513 S. 1500 East, SLC Friday, Dec. 31; Book reservations through Opentable Four-course tasting menu with vegetarian options; $75, optional $32 wine pairing.
New Year’s Eve Dinner at Franck’s Franck’s 6263 S. Holladay Blvd., SLC Friday, Dec. 31, 7-10 p.m. Five-course meal; $165 per person.
New Year’s Eve at Pago Pago (9th and 9th) 878 S. 900 East, SLC Friday, Dec. 31, 5–9 p.m. Five course tasting menu; $95, optional $35 wine pairing.
New Year’s Eve at Pago 2.0 Pago On Main 341 S. Main Street, SLC Friday, Dec. 31, 4–10 p.m. Three-course tasting menu; $65, optional $35 wine pairing.
New Year’s Eve Dinner at Stanza Stanza 454 E. 300 South, SLC Friday, Dec. 31 Five-course prix-fixe meal; $95 per person.
New Year’s Eve Dinner at Tuscany Tuscany 2832 E. 6200 South, SLC Friday, Dec. 31 Four-course menu; $150 per person.
See more of Salt Lake magazine’s event coverage in our Art & Entertainment section and subscribe for our latest issue.
Bosozoku, also known as the Black Emperor, is a Japanese subculture focused on speed, excitement, and powerful motorcycle or vehicle customization. This delinquent subculture arose when some kamikaze pilots returned from World War II in the 1950s. The pilots could not cope with having an ordinary life after returning home, having experienced violence on the battlefield. They established motorcycle gangs that would cruise around neighborhoods at night on high-speed, high-noise, and high-risk rides, pursued by police to imitate the military nature of brotherhood, danger, and thrill.
As the kamikaze generation grew older, these motorcycle gangs were replaced by a new generation of disgruntled teenagers more tradition-oriented. After a series of disturbances triggered, the gang brought the motorcyclists’ reckless driving behaviors to media notice; they nicknamed the emerging group “Bosozoku.” The subculture immediately embraced the term because of violence and speed.
The Bosozoku was mainly comprised of working-class male teenagers between the ages of 17 and 20. Most gang members were uneducated teenagers, and many dropped out of school. Even though Bosozoku was primarily a male-dominated organization, there were also female-only Bosozoku gangs. They sometimes paired with the male-only gangs to ride together. Despite their prominence in the subculture, there appears to be little research on female Bosozoku members.
Ascension and Decline of the Black Emperor Gang
The National Police Agency of Japan believes that there were more than 40,000 Bosozoku gang members countrywide in the 1980s. They were all over the place, not only in large cities but also in rural areas. They regularly fought with residents and authorities, creating noise violations, property damage, and sometimes full-fledged riots with massively modified motorcycles.
Members routinely engaged in violent confrontations with law enforcement and rival gangs. Getting beaten to a pulp by senior gang members was a rite of passage for many newcomers.
It’s easy to see how Katsuhiro Otomo would extrapolate the Bosozoku’s ubiquity in his picture of Tokyo’s dismal future in the early 1980s, given such an environment. They controlled the police agenda in Akira and took part in anti-government protests. They turned the streets into a playground and defied any authorized person who tried to stop them. It is definitely easy to imagine such a scenario given the state of affairs in Japan’s postwar bubble economy in the 1980s.
However, the asset bubble broke in the early 1990s, and the ensuing lost decade brought everything crashing down (the effects of which still reverberate through the Japanese economy). During the 1990s, membership decreased precipitously. The fact that bike modifications were costly was a large factor. Given the status of the economy, many young folks could not afford such upkeep.
Another factor that contributed to the Bosozoku’s decline was the National Police Agency’s growing strength. Previously, police had limited recourse for reckless driving and violating noise restrictions by customized bikes. Arrests were challenging unless the Bosozoku injured someone or damaged property. The government changed the road traffic rules in 2004, resulting in increased arrests of Bosozoku members. The dangers were no longer worth it for many young members.
Black Emperor Gang Retro Motorcycles
The Bosozoku retro motorcycles started as locally built 250-400cc road bikes but eventually morphed into Kaizsha (“Modified Vehicles”), which are more than the sum of their parts. Although American choppers and British cafe racers influenced their design, Bosozoku’s retro motorcycles are distinctive. According to motorbike enthusiasts, these bikes can be fully fixed up, from fixing or replacing engines to crucial replacements and updates. The retro motorcycles include flamboyant paintwork, stickers, flags, modified exhausts, larger fairings, and gigantic sissy bars. Symbols such as the Rising Sun became standard branding. Horns, often many per bike, were custom-made to generate melodies that gangs adopted as their own.
The changes were made for one reason: display. The Black Emperor gang was unconcerned with speed or power, but they didn’t mind either. Instead, for many, the highlight of the culture was bragging to their peers and the larger community. Whole gangs, often hundreds at a time, cruised through cities and towns as one, clogging highways and generating the type of disturbance that seemed pointless at the time but is now remembered fondly as time well spent.
Modern Retro Bikes
As the name implies, modern retro bikes are modern production models designed like historical motorcycles but with modern engines, chassis, and componentry. These bikes combine a nostalgia-inducing appearance with totally modern performance and conveniences, including current electronics packages and rider aids, to provide what many riders believe to be the best of both worlds. This means you’ll be able to cruise the streets on a vintage-style motorcycle without having to worry about drum brakes, fussy carburetors, or archaic wire wheels. Most current retro bikes are based on the 1960s and 1970s models, while some exceptions are based on 1980s motorbikes and prewar motorcycles.
The combination of old-school aesthetics and modern powertrains and technology distinguishes a modern retro from other retro bike models. An example is the Royal Enfield Bullet or Yamaha SR400. These are essentially retro bikes that have remained in production, largely unchanged for many years compared to modern motorcycles with modern retro bikes designed to look like vintage scoots. While some classic forms, like scramblers or cafe racers, are prevalent in the modern-retro area, modern-retro motorcycles are available in virtually every motorcycle genre, from minibikes to full-sized cruisers.
Although it has been many years since the Black Gang Emporers dominated the streets, the memories are kept alive, and the culture that they created has never been forgotten.
It’s a familiar tale. Bright-eyed youngsters come here to ski and end up staying in Utah. But not every ski bum who found their way West grows up to become the head cheerleader for Salt Lake City. Kaitlin Eskelson, the new CEO of Visit Salt Lake, came to Utah from Wisconsin when she was 22 and parlayed her love of the mountains above the city into a career inspiring the world to discover SLC.
And, in another familiar story, she took the job in March of 2020—yes, that March—starting a new job whose main purpose is to bring conventions and visitors to Salt Lake en masse.
“The pandemic forced us to pivot on behalf of the business community and really focus on providing support services for the small business who depend on the visitor economy,” she says.
To that end, Visit Salt Lake became a resource helping members in navigating the red tape to find assistance for weathering the lockdown, providing webinars and advice for the local business community.
“We went from being 100% outward facing to looking inward, finding ways to dig in and assist the community,” Eskelson says.
“We have a rich history combined with a forward-thinking future.” -Kaitlin Eskelson
Eskelson is a make-lemonade-from-lemons type of leader. She had been honing her craft, educating and preparing herself for the top spot at Visit Salt Lake for the bulk of her career. She earned a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Utah. Passionate about Utah and the people who call it home, she is a tireless advocate who has dedicated her years of study to the promotion of Salt Lake and the state of Utah as a collective gem of a travel destination.
“I think what happened was about 10 years ahead of schedule,” she says. “Meetings and conventions were already moving toward hybrid configurations with in-person and virtual components.”
To speed that transition, VSL took advantage of the downtime to build a media center in the Salt Palace to facilitate virtual meetings. Projects that were in the works continued full speed, including the construction on the much-discussed convention hotel near the Salt Palace and a full rebranding of the city’s image. The new slogan “West of Conventional” leans into Utah’s contradictions.
“We are a community of juxtapositions,” she says. “We have a rich history combined with a forward-thinking future. A lot of times in the past we’ve been apologetic about who we really are. We’re celebrating these intersections and honoring our diverse culture and history.”
As Eskelson continues to navigate the ever-changing waters ahead she likes to remind people that she can handle a challenge. Why?
“I have twins. I’m not scared of anything.”
Subscribe to read more about life in Salt Lake City.
Nine days (nine days!) after the Latter-day Saint pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley—which, if you’re counting, was August 2, 1847—the Saints had a street system mapped out. The streets-to-be would measure 132 feet in width (apocryphal tales suggest Brigham Young wanted room for a team of oxen to flip a U-turn). They ran north-south, east-west and intersected at right angles. The eastern edge of the Future Home of Temple Square was given the role of longitude, and its southern border was to play latitude’s part. And thus, the nexus of Utah’s street universe is the corner of Main (East Temple in those days) and South Temple.
And if you don’t know that, you are really lost.
Salt Lake is not alone in its grid system. Many of your finer cities have one—Paris, Manhattan, Washington, D.C. But few do it with such stricture, such enthusiastic adherence. Paris muddles its grid with willy-nilly diagonals, and D.C. also has diagonals dicing a perfectly good grid into pie pieces—courtesy of, yes, a Frenchman. Then there’s Manhattan. Now there’s a grid system. You drop a born-and-bred Utah boy in Battery Park, make sure he knows how to pronounce “Houston,” and he’ll fight his way to Central Park. It won’t be pretty, but he’ll make it.
Once you realize all roads lead to Temple Square, it’s easy
And as in Manhattan, hemmed by its rivers, comprehension of the grid system here along the Wasatch Front is aided by an understanding of the landscape. To the east are the Giant Mountains, and to the west are the flat places on the way to Wendover. It’s easy to talk in terms of compass points because of these omnipresent landmarks. Still, the system was stubbornly applied across the state and persists in locales as bereft of topography as Delta and as Martian as St. George.
For newcomers, the confusion comes down to the numbers. In city-states like Las Vegas, where to know where you are is to know the progression from Tropicana to Sahara, folks are used to a more touchy-feely street system. In Utah, the hard, cold grid is like grade-school math. “I live at 241 S. 500 East” is the equivalent of, “Two trains, at equal distance from Temple Square, are traveling at 60 mph and 70 mph; which one will arrive first?” But once you get it figured, it’s easy to appreciate a good grid system, and we have one of the best.
It’s a low-tech precursor to the modern world, where all ye need know is just a Google away. A Promethean and prophetic GPS, courtesy of Brother Brigham.
Local tall guy and radio legend Bad Brad Wheeler set up a heavenly dedication line on KUAA, a local SLC station, for the late-great Mary Brown Malouf our legendary editor and all-around real Dame. Bad Brad broadcast the unsurprisingly heartfelt results the night before of a big ol’ party for Mary on Saturday, Oct 30, 2021. We’ve compiled them all here (probably violating FCC rules) for those who couldn’t listen to the live show. They’re out of order from the show a bit but as Mary would say, “who cares?” Xoxomm. (Plus bonus tracks.)
Southern Utah often is often described as having a Martian landscape. Certainly, the hues evoke such comparison, but there’s also an unfamiliar quality to the red dirt and rock for many who visit. Not for Ethan Nell. The born-and-raised southern Utah local is a professional freeride mountain biker. He practically grew up on two wheels and his riding style, perfectly adapted to the unique setting, is as much a reflection of where’s he’s from as who he is. Nell is among the 15 riders taking on the steeps around Virgin for Red Bull Rampage this weekend. After back-to-back third place finishes in 2017 and 2018, he’s eyeing the top step.
Rampage is perhaps the purest and most literal distillation of extreme sports. The world’s best mountain bikers tackle impossibly steep terrain with massive jumps and drops in the Utah desert. Just how big? Legitimately enormous. Check out the video below for a little illustration of what the riders are stepping up to.
Since the inaugural competition in 2001, Rampage has captured the attention of everyone from diehard mountain bikers to curious fans captivated by the red rock formations and death-defying stunts. Only nine riders have been crowned champion over the 14 events, highlighting how difficult it is to reach the top spot and earn the most prestigious title in freeride mountain biking.
With a combination of technical mastery on rugged terrain and a deep back of aerial tricks, Nell is one of the few riders on the planet with the ability to reach those heights. To do so, he’ll have to top a veritable who’s who of the best bikers in the world, including multiple time Rampage champions Kurt Sorge, Kyle Strait and Brandon Semenuk. The venue is the same as in 2017 when Nell bagged his first podium, and it’s about time a Utahn put his stamp on the local event as the world watches.
Tickets are sold out, but you can always hit the secondary market, hop in the car and head to Virgin. If you want to watch the madness and cheer on Nell from the comfort of your own couch, check out the Red Bull TV Livestream. Finals are slated to begin at 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 15.
Relive Nell’s 2018 third place run for a little preview of what you can expect come Friday in the video above. Read more outdoor coverage.
Thousands of vehicles will drag Main Street in Salt Lake City on Sunday to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and National Coming Out Day. The Utah Pride Center is organizing the Utah Pride Road Rally and expects an even bigger turnout than they had in 2020, the inaugural year for the event, which proved a successful solution to celebrating amidst pandemic restrictions.
“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate National Coming Out Day than for all of us to decorate our vehicles and come together in this way,” says the Utah Pride Center CEO Stacey Jackson-Roberts. “It gives everyone an opportunity to be true participants in a cause, rather than simply spectators. Given everything the LGBTQ+ community has been through this past year, this is a chance to show the broader community that we’re here, we belong and we have pride.”
National Coming Out Day began in 1988 on the one-year anniversary of the second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. That march, which attracted hundreds of thousands of attendees, demanded funding for medical research and an end to discrimination against gay people. National Coming Out Day was founded by psychologist Richard Eichberg and activist Jean O’Leary as the AIDS Epidemic raged in the U.S., encouraging queer people to publicly declare their sexual orientation and fight for gay rights.
Come Sunday morning at 11 a.m., participants will arrive at one of the nine rendezvous locations across the Wasatch Front, where they’ll decorate their vehicles for the big drag. At noon, the rally kicks off with pace cars for everyone to follow that will stagger their arrival on Main Street.
Jackson-Roberts says National Coming Out Day provides an important opportunity for members of the LGBTQ community to come out and be seen and validated as their authentic selves. The Pride Road Rally will also bring in funding for services provided by the Utah Pride Center–including mental health and wellness services, education and training and suicide prevention resources. “By registering vehicles and raising money, we’re shooting for $150,000,” says Jackson-Roberts. “This will help people who are pushed to the margins of our society, which values heterosexual and cis-gender experiences over LGBT life experiences.”
During the pandemic, the Utah Pride Center had to suspend or shift many of its in-person services to online. But, come January, Jackson-Roberts says that should change. “Our staff has been diligently working very hard to make sure we are providing the services virtually, and our behavioral health department has started seeing some people in-person, but it’s not fully in place yet. We hope to put policies and practices in place to be able to open in January with a full slate of in-person services.”
Jackson-Roberts, who took the position as Utah Pride Center CEO just this past September, is also planning a listening tour for later this year. “We want to find out how we can best serve LGBT individuals in smaller, rural communities throughout the state of Utah.”
Salt Lake is a city built on secrets. Its origin tale is wrapped up with the “Bible 2.0” Exodus of Brigham Young and his followers, the Latter-day Saints, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (officially) or the Mormons (colloquially and historically). The Mormons first arrived here in the Great Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, after a long and insanely dangerous trek from Nauvoo, Ill. Why? Well. The Mormons fled Nauvoo after a mob murdered their founder Joseph Smith outside of the jail in Carthage, Ill. But why stop here? This is just two years before the 1849 gold rush in California. Why not carry on to the coast and get in on the action? Brigham wanted no part of it. His plan was to find a home for the Saints far away from, well, anywhere. And back then, while the blank-ish spot on the map that would eventually become Utah was not nowhere, it was also, paradoxically, not anywhere. Technically it was Mexican territory, but the Mexican-American War was about to get underway and much bigger dogs than Brigham and his rag-tag band of Mormons were squaring off for a fight. Brigham wanted his followers to be left alone to practice the LDS faith and, yep it gets weird, to establish a short-lived autonomous nation called the Kingdom of Deseret (which got as far as developing its own language and currency, BTW). It is, as we say around here, a heck of a story.
In the late 1800s, federal troops, sent here to put the kibosh on this whole Kingdom thing, discovered rich veins of copper and silver and paved the way for the age of the silver barons and more outside influence. The east-west railroad brought an influx of laborers who would add diversity to the mix, and Utah’s admission to the United States, in 1896, brought even more changes. Still, Utah remained apart with a dominant religion, which often dictated politics and individual conscience. The point is: this whole delicious frontier mix of history made an atmosphere perfect for the cultivation of mushroom-like secrets.
Secret No. 1: The Lost Hawaiian Colony
What: An abandoned Hawaiian settlement in Utah’s Skull Valley
Where: From Salt Lake City travel west on I-80 to exit 77. Travel south of Utah Highway 196 for 15 miles. A large sign marks the dirt road that leads to the cemetery.
In 1845, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent its first missionaries to the South Pacific Island of Tahiti. The Mormons weren’t alone. It was a period of zealous Christian proselytizing in the Pacific Islands. But the LDS missionaries had remarkable success in the South Pacific. A good number of those converted were from the Hawaiian Islands, then known as the Sandwich Islands, and many of the fresh converts made the perilous journey to Salt Lake City to dwell in the shadow of Temple Square.
Although it is not stated officially, irrational fear of leprosy may have been behind the far-flung location of Iosepa. The site is 75 miles from Salt Lake City, an arduous journey in the days of horse-drawn carts. Although three leprosy cases were documented during Iosepa’s lifespan, the fears were largely unfounded. Photo by Jeremy Pugh
In 1879, LDS Church leaders established a colony for Hawaiian immigrants to Utah in Skull Valley, an ominously named and arid place in the western desert near what is today the military proving ground and chemical weapons disposal base Dugway. The settlement was named Iosepa, the Hawaiian word for Joseph. It was named after Mormon founder Joseph Smith and his descendant, LDS church president Joseph F. Smith, who went to Hawaii on a church mission in 1854.
It’s hard to imagine Hawaiians coming from such a lush and green island ever feeling quite at home in Skull Valley. But religious zeal (and ample support from Salt Lake City) sustained them in a hardscrabble existence where they farmed, ranched cattle and raised pigs.
By 1917, the church abandoned the experiment and many of the residents returned to their native islands, drawn back to help work on the LDS Temple being built in Laie on the island of Oahu. At its height, nearly 228 Pacific Islanders lived in Iosepa. The site is a ghost town today on the National Register of Historic Places. There are informational markers, remnants of some structures and a forlorn graveyard that continues to bear testimony to the harsh conditions in Iosepa.
Secret No. 2: Hail Princess Alice
What: A sculpture bearing the likeness of Utah’s first elephant, Princess Alice
Where: The elephant house at Utah’s Hogle Zoo, 2600 E. Sunnyside Ave.
In 1882, Salt Lake City completed work on its first major park, Liberty Park. The park was built in the grand tradition of New York’s Central Park and London’s Hyde Park, albeit on a much, much smaller scale. In that tradition, Salt Lake City’s grand park had to have among its attractions a zoo. Animals exotic and, more often, not-so-exotic filled the menagerie. But what zoo is complete, at least in the minds of Salt Lake City residents at the turn of the 20th century, without an elephant? In 1916, Salt Lake City school children gathered up nickels, dimes and pennies in a fundraising drive and purchased an Asian elephant from a traveling circus for what was then the enormous sum of $3,250. Her name was Princess Alice.
Princess Alice was a favorite, drawing visitors from around the region. But Alice didn’t take well to captivity. She became known for her daring escapes, rampaging around the surrounding Liberty Wells neighborhood, knocking down fences, and hiding from searchers for hours. The repeated escapes, although charming, alarmed neighbors and prompted the zoo to relocate to its current location at the mouth of Emigration Canyon in 1931. Local author and historian Linda Sillitoe memorialized Princess Alice’s exploits in her work of fiction The Thieves of Summer, which she set during her own childhood in Salt Lake City around the time Princess Alice and the zoo moved to Emigration Canyon.
A sculpture in relief of Princess Alice’s visage was included in the elephant enclosure and remains there today. Even with the new digs, in 1947, she once again escaped, rampaging around the zoo grounds. In 1953, at the age of 69, Alice was euthanized after a prolonged illness.
Prince Utah
In 1918, she gave birth to a male elephant zookeepers named Prince Utah, the first elephant ever born in Utah. He died a year later after his mother rolled over on him.
Secret No. 3: The Exile of Jean Baptiste
What: The island where grave-robber Jean Baptiste was exiled.
Where:Fremont Island, Great Salt Lake viewed from Antelope State Park. Antelope Island is likely as close as you are going to get to Fremont Island. Antelope Island is filled with hiking trails and, contrary to its name, a herd of bison.
In the late 1850s, a man named Jean Baptiste drifted into Salt Lake City. The immigrant of unknown descent found a job as the city’s gravedigger. In 1862, a flap over the body of a local troublemaker named Moroni Clawson led investigators to Baptiste. They discovered he had been stealing clothes and jewelry from the bodies he was charged with burying. In all, Baptiste was thought to have desecrated more than 300 graves.
Although his offense was grave (pun intended), it didn’t call for hanging or life imprisonment, so territorial authorities devised an especially cruel punishment—exile. Baptiste was rowed out to Fremont Island, a small cay used intermittently for sheep ranching, and deposited on the shore, where he was essentially left to die on the harsh, exposed island. Weeks later, authorities checked the island to find Baptiste had escaped. A small shack on the island had been torn down, leading to theories that he’d built himself a raft. Years later, in the 1890s, hunters found a skeleton with leg irons, and some say this was Baptiste (although it’s not known if he was shackled when he was left on Fremont Island).
Secret No. 4: The Sphinx of Salt Lake
What:Gilgal Garden
Where: 749 E, 500 South, SLC
t was a legend among Salt Lake teenagers in the ’70s and ’80s: a bizarre sculpture garden located in the middle of Salt Lake with a menagerie of odd Mormon-themed statues and rock art installations. What adventurous teen wouldn’t want to sneak into a strange yard filled with bizarre carvings featuring ominous Biblical verses set in the stones, and (why not?) a sphinx-like creature bearing the visage of LDS Church founder Joseph Smith?
Photo by Jeremy Pugh
The works sprang from the mind of outsider artist Thomas Battersby Child Jr., a Mormon bishop, local businessman and stonemason. Child tinkered relentlessly in the backyard of his childhood home building his Gilgal (a word that means “circle of stones” in Hebrew and is a place name in the Book of Mormon). Child was self-taught; he made it all up as he went along, and his creations are excellent examples of outsider art. The sculptures are large and imposing, and a walk through the garden is a tour through Child’s eclectic fascinations with masonry and his musings on the relationship of Mormonism with the ancient world. The show pony is the Sphinx-Smith, but be sure to note Child’s self-portrait, a man constructed entirely of bricks.
After Child’s death, the garden became an oddity—almost an urban legend—and, while the mystique of hopping the fence to see the place was a dare-worthy part of life for SLC teens, the artworks fell prey to the elements and vandalism. In the late 1990s, the property was put up for sale, and a coalition of private citizens, public entities and nonprofit groups worked to preserve the site.
Secret No. 5: Utah’s ‘Black Dahlia’
What:The last known whereabouts of Dorothy Moormeister
Where:The Hotel Utah (Now the Joseph Smith Memorial Building), 15 E. South Temple, SLC
Photo courtesy of Special Collection, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah
The victim is the young wife of a prominent and wealthy physician. The story has suitors, insinuated affairs, missing jewels and even an Arabian prince. It sounds like an Agatha Christie novel, but it all happened in Salt Lake City. Just after midnight on February 22, 1930, the brutally disfigured body of Dorothy Dexter Moormeister, 32, was found on the western edge of Salt Lake City. She had been repeatedly run over with her own car. Dorothy’s husband was Dr. Frank Moormeister, a physician and abortionist for the local brothels. Dr. Moormeister was much older than his wife, who had a wild social life and actively solicited the attention of other men.
One of these men, Charles Peter, was the prime suspect in her death. He had allegedly urged Dorothy to divorce her husband and fleece him in the settlement. Additionally, the doctor had loaned Peter a large sum of money and had, as partial payment, taken from Peter a valuable pendant. The pendant was among the jewelry missing from Dorothy’s body. Another suitor, Prince Farid XI, who had met the Moormeisters during an excursion to Paris, was rumored to have been in Salt Lake City at the time. Afterward, there were letters discovered intimating that Dorothy had designs to run away with him.
On the night of her murder, Dorothy was seen entering the Hotel Utah (now the Joseph Smith Memorial Building) at around 6 p.m. She left a short time later with two men and another woman. Dr. Moormeister claimed to have gone out to see a movie alone during this time period. The autopsy revealed traces of absinthe in Dorothy’s stomach. A search also revealed that she had been hiding money in various safety deposit boxes around town and had drafted some recent changes in her will, but she had not signed them officially.
However, despite all the intrigue and a massive effort by county investigators—they even brought in a private detective who was considered popularly as the “Sherlock Holmes” of his time—the killer was never brought to justice.
Secret No. 6: The State Street River
What: A marker remembering the flood of 1983
Where: 1324 S. State St., SLC
In the spring of 1983, two very snowy seasons culminated in a crisis for Salt Lake City. The first signs of danger appeared in late April of that year when a 40-foot hole opened up in Emigration Canyon Road to the east of the city. According to Neil Stack of Salt Lake City Flood Control, “the massive crater was created when water from the surrounding hillsides seeped deep into the ground until it stopped behind a natural sandstone table and an impenetrable layer of soil under the road.”
With May came rains that quickly melted lower-elevation snowpack and added more moisture to high-elevation snow. Flooding and mudslides in the foothills around Salt Lake City rang the alarm bells. Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson held a meeting to discuss the potential of flooding. They proposed deliberately flooding parts of the city to accommodate what was fast becoming a perfect storm of snowmelt.
Mayor Ted Wilson turned to leaders at the LDS Church to call up volunteers; however, the need was greatest on Sunday morning, a day where LDS Church members are not supposed to work. Gordon B. Hinkley, who would eventually become LDS President but was then a counselor in the First Presidency, famously said, “Well, the ox is in the mire,” and gave the order to cancel Sunday services so that members could join the sandbagging crews that were fighting to save Salt Lake City.Photo by Jeremy Pugh
On May 26, 1983, Salt Lake City declared an emergency and decided to dike 1300 South in order to route floodwaters from Red Butte, Emigration, and Parleys Canyons to the Jordan River. The Salt Lake Tribune headlines that day read, “Mayor Calls Emergency, As Waters Flood Street.” The story reported that “the mayor, after considering options and the impact of allowing Mountain Dell Reservoir in Parleys Canyon to overflow, made the proclamation of emergency in order to begin immediate sandbagging.” Water released from the eastern canyons began flowing west toward the Jordan River down 1300 South, past Derks Field, the minor league baseball field (now Smith’s Ballpark). A bridge over the “river” was built for fans to attend the Salt Lake Trappers opening day game.
But there was more to come. On May 29, City Creek, to the north of the city, breached its banks and started to flood downtown SLC. More than 6,000 volunteers (some estimates say 10,000) sandbagged State Street to the 1300 South diversion into the Jordan River. Mayor Wilson called the effort “the biggest street festival ever.”
The two rivers, especially the State Street River, became a sensation in the days that followed. Bridges were built over State Street and thousands of valley residents came downtown to marvel at the sight and walk along the “riverside.” There are accounts of kayakers and tubers plying the waters and half-serious fishermen dipping lines into the rushing waters.
Secret No. 7: Our Lady of 200 South
What: The Madonna of Salt Lake City
Where: 158 E. 200 South, SLC
There is one thing everyone knows who knows anything about Salt Lake City: It’s the world (probably galactic) headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the all-American religion founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith in, Fayette, N.Y. And although only about half of Salt Lake County’s population is LDS, the capital city is still dominated by Temple Square, the religion’s center, and by buildings that house the administration of the faith. So, it could be a bit disconcerting to some to drive down 200 South in downtown Salt Lake City and see the ultimate Roman Catholic image: a wall-sized 44- by 22-foot mural of the Virgin Mary, complete with a giant flaming sacred heart.
Photo by Stuart Graves
Two famous muralists, El Mac and Retna, used 80 cans of spray paint to create the image on the side of what’s known as the old Guthrie Bicycle building in 2010. Why? Corey Bullough, the owner of FICE, the urban fashion store that now occupies the building, told the Salt Lake Tribune the idea occurred to him after a stroll through nearby Temple Square. Bullough was reared Mormon and said he noticed the square paid homage to many men—Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, various LDS prophets, God and Jesus. And being a woke young fashionista, he decided the city streets needed a woman. He commissioned the painting, and after 18 months of considering the design the artists came up with an image of a brown-skinned Madonna revealing an anatomically correct heart. The Madonna was a hit with everyone.
Secret No. 8: Mormon Hooch
Although the product known as Valley Tan is a brand of Park City’s High West Distillery, the term “Valley Tan” has a historical connection from long before distilling was reintroduced to the Beehive State in 2007 by High West Distillery. The term was first applied to leather made in the Utah Territory but came to apply to just about anything made by the Mormon settlers, including the whiskey that was sold to passing wagon trains headed for the coast. In 1853, publisher Kirk Anderson gave the name to his newspaper, an alternative to the dominant Mormon press. In the first issue, Anderson explained the odd title, writing, “‘Valley Tan’ was first applied to the leather made in this Territory in contradistinction to the imported article from the States: it gradually began to apply to every article made or manufactured or produced in the Territory, and means in the strictest sense Home Manufacturers (sic), until it has entered and become an indispensable word in our Utah vernacular; and it will yet add a new word to the English language.” Despite Anderson’s attempt at coining a frontier term for DIY (and starting a newspaper, The Valley Tan, which existed for a mere two years) the term Valley Tan is now applied most often to whiskey.
Sir Richard and the Angel
Another noted explorer, Sir Richard Burton, a British expert on religious places and the first white man to enter Mecca, also visited Utah, where he met the notorious “Avenging Angel,” Porter Rockwell. Rockwell was Brigham Young’s infamous strongman and protector. According to Burton, when they met, “Rockwell…pulled out a dollar and sent it to the neighboring distillery for a bottle of Valley Tan…We were asked to join him in a ‘squar’ drink, which means spirits without water. Of these, we had at least four, which, however, did not shake Mr. Rockwell’s nerve, and then he sent out for more, meanwhile telling us of his last adventure.”
The local hooch, distilled from wheat and potatoes, was sold at the Mormon outfitters, ZCMI, in competition with Gentile, or non-Mormon, store owners. The booze didn’t get very good reviews. In his book Roughing It, Mark Twain famously wrote, “The exclusive Mormon refresher; Valley Tan is a kind of whiskey or first cousin to it; is of Mormon invention and manufactured only in Utah. Tradition says it is made of imported fire and brimstone.”
Secret No. 9: Inside the Pyramid
What: The Summum Pyramid
Where: 707 W. Genesee Ave., SLC
Summum’s mummification specialists (again, thanatogeneticists,) are available to perform the rite on your own dearly departed loved one or even pet. Yes, you can preserve your beloved pet in the hopes that Fido or Fluffy might be cloned one day. Photo by Jeremy Pugh
In 1975 Claude “Corky” Nowell had a revelation from otherworldly intelligent beings who told him the true nature of the universe. He immediately changed his name to Amon Ra (though he still goes by Corky). The newly anointed Summum Bonum Amon Ra founded the Summum religion. “Summum” is a variation on the Latin word “summus,” meaning “highest,” and “bonum,” which means “good.” Amon and Ra, of course, are names of the ancient Egyptian sun god. Summum has its own stories of creation and learning, which sound somewhat like New Age and Gnostic beliefs blended with Philip K. Dick sci-fi stories laced with a smattering of various ancient religions. Instead of The Ten Commandments, Summum holds to “The Seven Aphorisms.” In 1975, the church went to the U.S. Supreme Court, maintaining that if the Ten Commandments had a place in the city of Pleasant Grove’s city park, so did the Aphorisms. The Court sided with Pleasant Grove.
Summum worship takes place inside a pyramid on Salt Lake’s west side (which is zoned not as a church but as a winery, because of the beverage used in church rituals). The Pyramid-church-winery was built between 1977 and 1979 and concentrates on meditation. The goal is “spiritual psychokinesis,” the ability to move objects using mental effort. Think spoon-bending. Oh, also, there are mummies. Summum’s rituals include the practice of mummification in funeral rites. Unlike the Egyptians, who mummified Pharaohs and buried them with treasure and provisions to prepare them to journey to the afterlife, Summum mummy makers (called “thanatogeneticists”) believe the process preserves the cells so that the body can be cloned in the future.
Secret No. 10: Crispin Glover’s Handprints
What:A set of handprints from Crispin Glover and Howard Hesseman stars of the Trent Harris film Rubin & Ed.
Where: The Tower Theatre, 876 E. 900 South, SLC
To promote the film, Crispin Glover infamously appeared in character (and costume) on The Late Show with David Letterman and nearly kicked the irascible talk show host in the head with Ruben’s signature high platform shoes. Photo by Trent Harris
Local filmmaker Trent Harris is known for his odd, left-field looks at Utah history and culture. Perhaps his biggest film is the Utah cult classic Rubin & Ed, released in 1992 and starring Crispin Glover and Howard Hesseman. At the time Hesseman was known for his iconic role as Dr. Johnny Fever in TV’s WKRP in Cincinnati and his turn on the sitcom Head of the Class. Glover, however, was best known for his role as George McFly in the blockbuster Back to the Future films. Glover’s role in Rubin & Ed was a strange choice for the actor, who was something of a get for Harris. In the film, Glover portrays Rubin, a depressed oddball who lives with his mother and is looking for a friend to help him bury his cat, which he has been storing in the family freezer. He finds common cause with Hesseman’s Ed, a washed-up salesman who is desperately recruiting clients for a multi-level marketing real estate seminar. The duo journeys into the Utah desert to lay Rubin’s beloved cat Simon to rest. It’s a weird and very funny movie.
The relative fame of the film’s stars prompted the Tower Theatre to hold a world premiere gala, one of the few in the theater’s history. The event included a ceremony in front of the art house cinema on what Harris calls “the lawn of fame” to enshrine Glover’s and Hesseman’s hand- and footprints. The film, Harris’ largest commercial release, didn’t make too many waves outside of Utah, but locals adore the strange buddy flick for its sideways humor and backdrops of familiar Utah settings in both Salt Lake City and Goblin Valley State Park.
Secret No. 11: The Swiss Connection
What: A diplomatic token in the form of a chunk of the Matterhorn
Where:9600 S. Little Cottonwood Canyon Rd., Snowbird
Back in the 1970s, skiing was much more a European sport than an American one, so American resort owners borrowed many of the accouterments and affectations of their Continental forebears. A-Frame, Swiss-style chalets, Bavarian flourishes and food such as sauerkraut and bratwurst helped legitimize the fledgling sport in America at now-venerable resorts like Alta and Sun Valley, which had long been hot spots for the jet-set but were still catching on with everyday Americans.
Photo courtesy Snowbird Resort
Snowbird, in Utah’s Little Cottonwood Canyon, was built in the 1970s. Today it’s one of the world’s most famous and celebrated ski and snowboard areas, known for its iconic tram, steep terrain and ample snowfall. It was the brainchild of Alta Ski Patroller Ted Johnson and a Texas oilman named Dick Bass. To put it mildly, Bass was a world traveler. In 1985, he became the first man to climb the highest peaks on the world’s seven continents. In planning Snowbird, Bass and Johnson visited ski areas and resorts around the globe to glean ideas for his new resort. One of his most inspirational stops was at Zermatt, the famous ski village in the Swiss Alps known for its access to the Matterhorn.
Bass met with then-Mayor of Zermatt, Amaday Perry, with a diplomatic proposal. Zermatt and Snowbird would be sister cities (although Snowbird isn’t so much a city as a ski area base). Zermatt’s mayor agreed and had an actual piece of the Matterhorn chiseled off the famed peak and sent to Utah to seal the deal. Upon its arrival, a celebration was held on the tram deck in the then-brand-new Snowbird Center. Snowbird’s former Director of Village Operations, Jerry Giles, who worked at Snowbird since the early days, said it was “a great occasion. All the Swiss dignitaries came over, and we put on a big dinner, with raclette and Swiss chocolate. Of course, schnapps was the big drink of the night.” Times change, of course. Swiss mayors come and go, and the importance of the Snowbird-Swiss Connection has faded into obscurity. But the large chunk of the Matterhorn remains prominently located at Snowbird’s base as a testament to the early days of skiing at the ’Bird and its international aspirations.
About the Book
Secret Salt Lake City opens a window into the weird, the bizarre and obscure secrets of Salt Lake, that are often hiding in plain sight. Utah’s one-of-a-kind state origin tale offers a rich backdrop of frontier grit, conflict and the tension between secular and religious realms that has generated a culture (and counter-culture) with unique manifestations and curious relics.
Did you know that the Mormons created their own alphabet and that it’s hidden in your computer? What do the strange symbols on the LDS Temple mean? Why is there a chunk of the Matterhorn enshrined at a Utah ski resort? What famed pachyderm does the sculpture on SLC’s Hogle Zoo’s elephant house depict? How did SLC police capture the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy? And what is the origin of Iosepa, a Hawaiian ghost town in the desert? Authors Jeremy Pugh and Mary Brown Malouf reveal these mysteries and more to pull back the curtain on the secrets of Salt Lake to enrich your life in the Beehive State (which is another secret to be revealed). Available at The King’s English Bookshop and Ken Sanders Rare Books and online at 100thingsslc.square.site.
You may have noticed there’s a lot of newcomers in town. You may even be one of those newcomers. If so, you probably have some questions about your new home state. We have answers. We consider Salt Lake magazine an essential resource for navigating life here in Utah. We write about food, culture, travel, history, nightlife, issues and outdoor fun with the goal of guiding you to the best of life in the Beehive. We even have a regular piece on the last page called Utah Field Guide (“The Grid System”) to explain the quirks and peculiarities that often perplex the newly arrived. In this issue, we decided to kick it up a notch with our cover story, “The Secrets of Salt Lake City.”
The feature sprang from the pages of a book I and our late editor Mary Brown Malouf wrote called Secret Salt Lake City (Reedy Press, 2021). It’s a guidebook for both longtime Salt Lakers and you newcomers. We collected a selection of “secrets” (that really aren’t so secret) and there was no shortage of material. Utah is weird, right?
The longtime Salt Lake Tribune columnist and law-enforcement historian Robert Kirby once told me what he loved about knowing the history of where we live. “I can look out into a field and it is just a field,” he said. “But if I know what happened on that spot 50, 100, even a 1,000 years ago it’s more than a field.”
We walk around the city and a street is just a street, but if you knew the history? Well, that’s when things get interesting. Our cover story plucks out a selection of the juicer secrets from the book that we hope will peel back the hidden layer of secrets and stories that are just waiting to be seen. Now get out there and discover them for yourself.
It started in 1980, we believe, with 7-11’s Big Gulp, a hitherto unimagined 32 ounces of icy soda. And then came the Super Gulp. We scoffed at its 44-ounce, ante-upping serving size. Maybe faraway hedonists somewhere “back east” couldn’t let themselves stop with the plenty-big Big Gulp. But then we discovered the 64-ounce Double Gulp. And lo, the people were sorely tempted and wickedness began to spread across the land.
See, in Utah, a large portion of our citizenry are practicing Latter-day Saints who abide by the Word of Wisdom, a stricture that commands the faithful to abstain from alcohol, tobacco and “hot drinks,” which came to mean coffee. This bit of doctrine has served to set the church members apart from many other faiths. As the old joke goes, how does a blind Mormon know they’ve walked into the wrong churchhouse? They can smell the coffee brewing.
Orthodox practitioners take it further and eschew any and all caffeinated beverages. There are thousands of households in Utah where Coke and Pepsi and (gasp!) Mountain Dew, are as reviled as demon rum and foul whiskey. But, as with any faith, there are degrees of devotion, and your average Latter-day Saint has reconciled the small sin of a fully leaded soda. Compared to a triple shot of espresso, what’s the big deal?
So, if in the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, in a culture where there is no double-shot latte, the Big Soda is gulped with impunity. And it came to pass, like gentile teenagers who had found the key to Mom and Dad’s liquor cabinet, we truly joined the devil’s conga line and the Big Soda begat the Dirty Soda.
Yes. The Dirty Soda, an unwholesome co-mingling of flavors that were once deemed “suicides.” Just as coffee gulpers have fetishized their favorite beverage, so too have Utahns added complex flourishes and artisanal elements to their modest vice.
Go then forth, pick any Maverik, Holiday or 7-11, and you’ll see a late-afternoon rush at the soda fountain while a forlorn carafe of coffee sits neglected; witness the line-ups of cars at the drive-through purveyors of the Dirty Soda across the land and know that, while we did not invent the Big Soda, it belongs to Utah now. And we like it dirty.
