There were three different birthday celebrations happening the Sunday we walked into Chang’s Food in West Valley City. The family parties that packed the house are testament to the popularity of the Chinese-Venezuelan restaurant. After the third round of “Feliz Cumpleaños,” an older man unwrapped a brand new Cuatro, its high-lacquer shine catching the afternoon light. He tuned the instrument—similar in appearance to a ukulele—and began to play. It didn’t stop there. Multiple sets of maracas emerged from unknown places and an impromptu concert broke out in the middle of the restaurant, with the patrons and staff singing along to traditional Venezuelan songs. It was the rare (for Utah) fusion of food from Venezuela and China that brought us to Chang’s Food, but we stayed for the party.
Chang’s Food gives a look inside a community and culture that many readers might not have known existed, and it is just one example of the pockets of rich culinary heritage dotting the Utah landscape, courtesy of food fusion pioneers.
Sushi from Mixturas (Courtesy Mixturas)
Mixturas
If you want to continue on the South American-Asian fusion journey, there’s the family-owned Mixturas in Orem. The name of the restaurant literally means “mixture,” and they offer a fusion of Peruvian and Japanese food. The roots of this culinary combination (you may hear it referred to as Nikkei) are familiar, with a Japanese diaspora in Peru leaving their mark on the local cuisine. Mixturas signature dishes include Peruvian-style sashimi and Lomo Saltado (steak, tomatoes and onions, stir-fried in soy sauce base).
845 N. 100 West, Ste. 103, Orem
Fav Bistro
Fav Bistro bills itself as a “Thai + Fuzion” experience. It has a wide menu of veggie and fruit-packed dishes that skew on the health-conscious side and are inspired by Thai, Vietnamese, European and North American culinary classics. This results in exciting specials like Steak Massaman Poutine and Seafood Pad Thai In A Blanket. Chef and owner Anny Sooksri is from Thailand, where her grandmother inspired her to cook, and behind the Thai restaurants Chabaar Beyond Thai and Tea Rose Diner.
1984 E. Murray Holladay Rd., Holladay
Yum Yum Food Truck Chicken Adobo (Courtesy World Famous Yum Yum Asian Food Truck)
Chang’s Food
Two brothers—King and Johnson Chang—with mixed Venezuelan and Chinese heritage opened the restaurant in 2020, pioneering a cuisine in Utah that has been a staple in Venezuela for some time. In their homeland, Chinese immigrants to Venezuela brought their culinary traditions, started families and opened up Chinese restaurants in Venezuela. Thus began the fusion of Chinese-centric cuisine cooked Venezuelan style.
The plates at Chang’s Food are served family style and meant to be shared. If you order nothing else on the Chang’s Food menu, get the fried rice. You can thank me later. The Venezuelan influence on the Chinese standard is subtle but savory and delicious. The Lumpias (egg rolls) are another standout, along with the Chinese Ribs. After you’ve stuffed yourself to the brim, do yourself another favor, ask for the pour-over Venezuelan coffee at the end of the meal.
3576 S. Redwood Rd., West Valley City
World Famous Yum Yum Asian Food Truck
At this point, we might acknowledge that Asian fusion could have an edge on other food fusions (it’s probably the egg rolls). And, you can get it without engaging in the traditional dine-in experience. Based in Layton (but by no means inhibited by city boundaries) the World Famous Yum Yum Asian Food Truck serves up Filipino-inspired Asian fusion cuisine. The food truck had a rough year in 2021 after it was the target of anti-Asian hate and experienced a fryer explosion, but now it has bounced back with the help of community support. Through special orders and catering, they’re back to offering up dishes like traditional Filipino Sisig both in a rice bowl or in a taco, Filipino Spaghetti (featuring Filipino hot dogs and banana ketchup) and, of course, Lumpias.
The ferry ride lasted a little more than 20 minutes after leaving Point Defiance, but the misty breeze had me feeling as though I was crossing an endless sea. Clearly, I’ve been a landlocked captive in Utah if the short crossing of Puget Sound’s south end had me feeling like I was Shackleton with a sextant, but I’m unashamed to admit how pleasant the ride was. After disembarking on Vashon Island, I hit the pavement and started turning the pedals aboard a moderately loaded bicycle with an ill-fitting frame bag and a cranky derailleur. The faintly rural vibe of the quiet tree-lined streets felt lightyears away from the relative metropolises of Tacoma and Seattle, buzzing with activity just across the sound.
I’d set out with few plans other than to cycle around Vashon, stopping intermittently at various locations around Maury Island—an island within an island connected to Vashon by a causeway—and Vashon’s downtown, which is comprised of a single four-way intersection with an unlikely concentration of delightful food and drink establishments. On the route I was immersed in the classically moody Pacific Northwest atmosphere with a moist haze—never really rain, but never not rain—that’s a refreshing respite from the, at times oppressive, aridity characterizing much of the Intermountain West.
Washington’s alchemy of natural beauty and distinct culture, defined by seemingly indulgent food and drink at every turn and an influential music scene that very much soundtracked my youth, overwhelms, inviting you to lean in, breathe deep and enjoy. Embrace it.
The Sound of Northwest History
Vashon Island was named for James Vashon, a Royal Navy Admiral who, as far as I can tell, never visited the area but served as superior officer to George Vancouver, who commanded the Pacific Northwest expedition in the 1790s. Vashon, it should be noted, went on to marry Sarah Rainier, the sister of his former shipmate Peter. One needn’t be a geography or history scholar to decode the region’s naming conventions while recognizing the absurdity of doling out monikers for people obliquely related to “great discoveries” made some 10,000 years after native inhabitants, including the Marpole, Salish and S’Homamish, called the land home.
After European settlement came some logging and then a 50-year stretch where Vashon became an island of endless strawberry fields, farmed primarily by Japanese Americans until the population was forcibly relocated to internment camps during WWII. Suburban development has squeezed the commercial farming out of Vashon, but the island is still home to many independent growers and an annual strawberry festival hosted each July. Like the other islands dotting the sounds throughout Washington’s coast, Vashon has a turbulent history but is nevertheless a stunning place. It’s a community and escape wholly distinct from the mainland just a short ferry ride away.
What To Do
Bike touring around Vashon Island requires a bike, obviously. If you’re not like me and didn’t bring a disheveled touring bike to ride around Vashon, you can stop in at Spider’s Ski and Sport(17624 Vashon Hwy., 206-408-7474) to rent a bike. If you are like me and brought a poorly maintained relic in need of some love, Vashon Bikes(9926 SW Bank Rd., 206-999-1551) will get your bike in tune.
Starting from the southern end of Vashon, I headed northeast towards the causeway near Portage to Maury Island. Maury is named for an American naval officer on the 1841 Wilkes Expedition who later went on to raid Union ships on behalf of the confederacy, but don’t let that anecdote distract you from the gorgeous undeveloped shoreline. Locking up my bike at the Maury Island Marine Park, I hiked the Maury Island Viewpoint Trail, a leisurely two-mile jaunt through forest and wildflowers to the water. I saw neither bald eagles nor whales on the hike, but many are luckier than I. There’s an orca tracking website, orcanetwork.org, you can use to see if there have been recent orca sightings in the area, too.
Back in the saddle, I pedaled a short distance to the Point Robinson Lighthouse, an iconic 19th century structure on the easternmost point of the island overlooking the sound. The lighthouse, with its overtly New England aesthetics, sits on a 10-acre park and marine conservancy where the former keeper’s dwellings are offered as weekly rentals.
From there I settled in for a ride up towards Vashon’s main drag for a stop at the Vashon Maury Island Heritage Museum(10105 SW Bank Rd., Vashon, 206-463-7808). Inside, the island’s history, both its complex human machinations and fascinating natural origins, is explored in nuanced detail and depth. The extent of the riding combined with the alarming amount of food and drink I consumed—more on that later—meant I cut short my circumnavigation of Vashon and turned in for the evening. In the morning, I headed to the island’s North Terminal and took the Fauntleroy Ferry to West Seattle.
Any semblance of rural vibes evaporated as I rode to Alki Beach, which is a little slice of southern California beach life, replete with volleyball, rollerblading and the like. After soaking up a bit of Seattle semi-sun I rode around West Seattle, which is chock full of hipster-adjacent niceties you’d expect in Seattle from bohemian coffee shops to indie record stores.
Ruby Brink (Courtesy Ruby Brink)
Where to Eat and Drink
The coffee culture percolating through the Northwest is hardly a secret, and the birthplace of specialty coffee is located right in the center of Vashon Island. TheVashon Island Coffee Roasterie(19529 Vashon Hwy., 206-463-9800) serves some of the finest artisanal coffee you’ll ever taste in a historic building made of old growth island fir. The building was previously owned by Jim Stewart, who’s known as the grandfather of specialty coffee, for being the first person to roast artisan coffee in Seattle and for starting what would eventually become Seattle’s Best Coffee right from that building on Vashon. Though the SBC logo still adorns one side of the building, the roasting inside is unique and innovative as ever.
After a caffeine infusion to get going, head over to Snapdragon Bakery and Café for brunch (17817 Vashon Hwy., 206-463-1310). The pastries are incredible and massive, and the rotating menu of wonderful vegetarian cuisine changes daily with creative options like a spinach and arugula pesto omelet with a yogurt dill cucumber sauce or a beet Rueben with house made sauerkraut, roasted beets and gruyere on house focaccia.
For a different experience later in the day, try the Ruby Brink, a combination bar and whole animal butchery (17526 Vashon Hwy., 206-408-7795). Artisan meats and cocktails don’t get any better than this. The bar features a variety of local beers and craft cocktails to choose from. The oak-aged sour from Propolis Brewing Wild Ales is outstanding. The menu consists of delectable items like humbly named braised beef meat and noodle—which has beef, a soft boiled egg, noodles and local vegetables in a 24-hour bone broth—and house-made chicken liver mousse on toast. And yes, there is an outrageously good butcher shop on site for your home chef needs.
The Lodges on Vashon (Courtesy The Lodges on Vashon)
Where to Stay
Stay within striking distance of the water at the Burton Inn and Spa(24007 Vashon Hwy., 206-910-4520). The Inn, which is just a short walk from the Quartermaster Marina right on the sound, has a handful of charming rooms and even a glamping tent for those looking to dip their toes into experiencing the famous PNW weather. The Inn also has a spa and guitar lessons every Wednesday for people of all skill levels.
Crash a little closer to the action at TheLodges on Vashon(17205 Vashon Hwy., 206-641-4717). Chic, minimalist 570-square-foot lodges are scattered across the property which also features communal geodesic domes and an open-air pavilion. The Lodges are pet friendly and a stone’s throw from downtown Vashon’s restaurants, breweries and shops.
Once back on the mainland, enjoy a classic Seattle experience by staying at the Ace Hotel(2423 1st Ave., Seattle, 206-448-4721). Just a short distance up S.R. 99 from West Seattle and Alki Beach, The Ace Hotel has deluxe rooms as well as more economical shared bathroom options all featuring west coast bohemian-lite trappings like painted exposed brick and artwork from Shepard Fairey (the artist who designed the iconic Obama “Hope” image). It’s the perfect home base to explore Seattle’s historic Belltown neighborhood.
Hiking a crest on Crystal Mountain (Photo by Jason Hummel Photography / Courtesy Washington Tourism Alliance)
ROAD TRIP 1: MOUNT RAINIER MOUNTAIN ESCAPE
Mount Rainier is a fixture of the Pacific Northwest skyline, and the mammoth 14,411-foot active stratovolcano is the perfect centerpiece of adventure. Explore the outdoors on foot, on skis and from horseback, all while indulging in some local cuisine and culture along the way.
1/ Hike Pinnacle Peak Loop Trail
Kick off exploring the Rainier region with a hike on the Pinnacle Peak Loop Trail. The three-mile loop includes an observation tower providing remarkable views if the weather is cooperating. Even if it isn’t, the spring wildflowers won’t disappoint.
Refuel with authentic Italian cuisine prepared by the Brancato family, which relocated to the Enumclaw from Italy in 1995. The Porcini Sacchetti is outstanding.
Mount up for a guided horseback ride through gorgeous timberlands surrounding Echo River Ranch. Guides will shower you with local naturalist knowledge, including on available foraging tours for wild mushrooms and berries.
4/Explore Federation Forest State Park
Boasting a landscape blanketed with old-growth Douglas fir, Sitka spruce and western hemlock, Federation Forest State Park’s hiking trails are the perfect place to lose yourself in the immense evergreen labyrinth that defines the region.
World-famous mountaineer Ed Viesturs—the only American to climb all 14 8,000-meter peaks—had his pick of the litter for outdoor gear, but chose only one hat, from Wapiti Woolies. Visit the home of the legendary headwear and leave with a unique hat of your own.
Turn in at the Alta Crystal Resort for a little rest amid adventure in the mountains. The resort is the closest lodging to Mt. Rainier National Park and has shuttle service to the lifts at Crystal Mountain. Enjoy the hot tubs and chalet-style suites you expect at a mountain retreat.
Arguably the best skiing and snowboarding in the Northwest is at Crystal Mountain. 2,600 acres of terrain and stunning views of Rainier are a recipe for great times on the slopes each spring.
North Head Lighthouse (Photo by Mark Downey, Lucid Images Gallery / Courtesy Washington Tourism Alliance)
Tokeland Hotel (Courtesy Tokeland Hotel)
ROAD TRIP 2: Uniquely Pacific County
Connect the dots with visits to iconic attractions down Washington’s coastal beaches. Hidden gems, roadside hits and quirky curiosities await on an evergreen journey through oceanside villages.
1/ Washaway Beach
Explore one of the fastest-eroding places in the Western Hemisphere at Washaway Beach. The beach, planned as a luxury destination in the 1800s, loses 150 feet per year to the ocean and had a clam cannery, a lighthouse and a Coast Guard Station, all of which fell into the sea. The ocean is relentless.
The oldest hotel in Washington, the Tokeland is a house of history. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and sits adjacent to the stunning Pacific seashore.
3/ Wildlife-Heritage Sculpture Corridor
When driving through the town of Raymond, the streets come to life, lined with silhouetted sculptures of deer, bears and other wildlife. Unexpecting drivers will do double takes, so best to take it slow and enjoy the art installations along the way.
4/ World’s Largest Oyster Shell/Oyster Capital of the World
South Bend, Washington, nicknamed the “Oyster Capital of the World,” is home to Willapa Bay where oysters are plentiful. It’s also home to a sculpture of the world’s largest oyster shell as well as plenty of wonderful oysters to dine on if you take the time to stop for a shuck.
The North Head Light was built in 1897 to aid mariners approaching Cape Disappointment from the North. Situated at the mouth of the Columbia River, the historic relic is managed as part of Cape Disappointment State Park where marshes and oceanside tidelands create a magnificent coastline.
6/ Waikiki Beach
The beach where Lewis and Clark actually reached the pacific was morbidly named for when a Hawaiian sailor’s body washed ashore after his ship wrecked trying to cross the Colombia River Bar. Today it’s a dramatic, rock-lined cove more suitable for picnics and swimming than shipwrecks.
Hiking Olympic National Park (Photo by Jason Hummel Photography / Courtesy Washington Tourism Alliance)
Ruby Beach
Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park
ROAD TRIP 3: Olympic Peninsula Paradise
Immerse yourself in the pristine scenery of remote mountains, lush rainforest and rugged ocean beaches on the Olympic Peninsula. Discover rich local culture and enjoy farm-to-table meals that are enthusiastically paired with local ciders and spirits.
The Lake Quinault Lodge is the perfect base camp to explore the Olympic Peninsula. Built in 1926, the rustic lodge’s grand scale is matched only by the natural wonders surrounding it. Immerse yourself in the surrounding lushly green forest on the 31-mile Quinault Rainforest Loop Drive around the lake.
2/ Olympic National Park
From glaciated peaks to old-growth forest to the pacific coastline, Olympic National Park is home to numerous iconic ecosystems to explore depending on your appetite.
3/ Ruby Beach
Dramatic sea stacks jut from the ocean on this coastal section of Olympic National Park. Piles of driftwood and a moody marine layer lend Ruby Beach a heavy northwest vibe.
4/ Hoh Rainforest
The Hoh Rainforest is the wettest forest in the contiguous United States. Since it’s situated within Olympic National Park, the forest surrounding the glacially created river is uniquely pristine and protected from commercial exploitation.
The story of non-native settlement in the Pacific Northwest is entwined with the timber industry. Forks was once known as the “Logging Capital of the World,” and today a museum housed in a log cabin tells the history of homesteading, farming and logging in the region.
6/ Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge
At nearly seven miles long, the natural sand spit at Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge is one of the world’s longest and narrowest. The refuge is a birder’s paradise, a migratory stop for myriad species of birds which breed from Alaska to South America. It’s also home to high concentrations of shellfish and harbor seals.
7/ Cider Tasting Route
The country’s best hard ciders are born on the Olympic Peninsula. Stop at a trio of tasting rooms near Port Townsend—Finnriver, Alpenfire and Eaglemount—to enjoy the amazing bounty from the local orchards.
8/ Ludlow Falls
Wash down the cider with a short hike to scenic Ludlow Falls in the nearby town of Ludlow. The well-maintained trail is lined with enormous cedar trees leading to falls.
Canyon River Ranch
Yakima Valley wine country (Courtesy Yakima Valley Tourism)
ROAD TRIP 4: Yakima Canyon Scenic Byway
Load up one of those eponymous roof boxes and hit the road. Experience central Washington’s scenic lake and mountain vistas, dive into diverse recreation and taste the highlights of wine country along this scenic byway.
Stop in at Red’s for information, gear and guided trips to make the most of the world-famous fishing on the Yakima River. The riverside location and deep local knowledge are tough to beat.
Spend the night at Canyon River Ranch for luxurious accommodations right on the Yakima. In the morning head out for some more fly fishing, hike through the central Washington landscape and even try your hand at some whitewater rafting. It’s your home base for adventure on the river.
3/ Umtanum Creek Recreation Area
Springtime sees the basalt-lined canyons of the Umtanum Creek Recreation Area bursting with color as sunflowers, larkspur and geraniums come to life. A variety of trails to suit any ability level all feature incredible vistas.
Sample the fruits of the fertile Yakima Canyon by visiting the Ellensburg Canyon Winery. Riesling, Rose, Cabernet Franc du Blanc and Cab Franc and Malbec port style wines are all available for your tasting pleasure. Each glass comes with an incredible view.
Turn in at Hotel Windrow, a boutique hotel located in downtown historic Ellensburg. The building melds modern amenities and rustic charm right in the heart of town, making it a perfect launching point for everything from fine dining and nightlife to outdoor adventure.
Let’s talk about Batman. Specifically, let’s talk about The Batman. The latest film to adapt the DC Comic title takes place two years into Batman’s (Robert Pattinson) vigilante mission, and he’s the darkest and grittiest and My Chemical Romance-iest he’s ever been on screen. It’s also one of the more compelling and coherent adaptations—not that it has much (or any) competition in that latter category—but, as solid as it is for the first two-thirds of its nearly three-hour runtime, the film struggles, in the end, to address the implications it raises and loses the thread entirely in the third act. Fair warning, there are spoilers ahead.
The Batman begins with the brutal murder of the mayor of Gotham City and not Bruce Wayne’s parents getting shot in an alley (which has been done enough). And, just like that, I was ready to let this movie do whatever it wanted to me. Also setting the movie apart from its forebears, Pattinson’s Batman is all Batman, almost entirely eschewing the alter ego of rich playboy philanthropist Bruce Wayne. Batman also gets to be a detective in this one. Not quite the World’s Greatest Detective, but, with the help of butler/father figure Alfred (Andy Serkis), a young Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz) and not-yet-commissioner James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright), Batman unravels the mystery laid out by The Riddler (Paul Dano), who’s been given a modern update with some internet-troll-meets-viral-conspiracy-extremist flavor. The Penguin (Colin Farrell) is here, too, but mostly to remind you that he has an HBO Max series coming out.
Like his predecessors, Pattinson’s Batman utilizes his money and gadgets and trauma-fueled determination to fight crime and addresses its systemic causes by punching poor people in the face. The Batman calls this logic into question, having Catwoman go as far as to suspect that Batman must have grown up rich. We also know that, during his two years as Batman, crime has gone up, and the film draws a straight line to that from corrupt city officials who use city coffers to pad their own pockets and leave Gotham’s most destitute with no choice but to turn to crime (and eventually get punched by a billionaire in a bat suit and thrown in prison). And it’s not the Caped Crusader who discovers this corruption but the film’s main villain.
Dano’s Riddler casts himself as a vigilante bent on exposing corruption by violently murdering dirty cops and politicians and leaving riddles and ciphers for Batman at every crime scene. The film is at its best while Batman and friends follow Riddler’s trail of clues, exposing (sometimes inadvertently) the deeply rooted corruption in Gotham’s government and police. Alfred, Catwoman and Gordon serve various purposes throughout the film. Largely, Alfred reminds Batman of his humanity, Catwoman reminds Batman of other people’s humanity and Gordon reminds him that there are those within the system and city who are still trying to do what is right.
Where the film is not at its best (spoilers ahead) is in the third act when Riddler spontaneously stops obsessing about corruption and how the city had abandoned orphans like him and decides to murder a lot of poor people by flooding the city. At the end, The Batman swings wide with the large explosions and unexamined repercussions of an action movie, instead of staying focused on the moral murkiness and Se7en-inspired neo-noir storytelling. It also throws in a radical tonal-shifting Joker cameo that serves no purpose (other than to remind us that, much like Batman, we will never, ever be free of this character for good).
The Batman finds Batman doing both what he does best and what he does worst and abandons the very questions it raises about those things in favor of spectacle. It’s frustrating, given how much I enjoyed the first two hours of this movie, but The Batman is still worth a watch in theaters. Fans of David Fincher will find a lot to like here, as well as fans of the comics Batman: Year One (written by Frank Miller, art by David Mazzucchelli) and Batman: The Long Halloween (written by Jeph Loeb, art by Tim Sale) and Batman and adjacent titles by writers like Grant Morrison, Tom King, Scott Snyder and many others.
Highlights also include the casting—Serkis, Kravitz, Wright and Dano make for a strong supporting cast, along with my favorite Skarsgård brilliantly chewing the scenery as a skeezy DA, and Robert Pattinson knows how to play a brooding young man full of anger and self-loathing. Compared to Bats past, “Battinson” is closest to Christian Bale in approach, but he’s (thankfully) not nearly as growl-y. Now, I have watched every live-action adaptation of Batman (and probably close to every animated one as well). As far as where The Batman ranks compared to other Batman films, they’re honestly hard to compare (the Schumacher films had ice puns and bat-nipples, after all). It strikes a tone most similar to Nolan’s films, but, thanks to the cast and sensical plot, I think I’d rather watch The Batman.
The Batman opens in theaters March 4, 2022; directed by Matt Reeves; screenplay by Matt Reeves, Mattson Tomlin, Peter Craig; 2h 56m run time. Official synopsis: Batman ventures into Gotham City’s underworld when a sadistic killer leaves behind a trail of cryptic clues. As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator’s plans become clear, he must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued the metropolis.
Snowbird’s Aerial Tram—quite possibly the most iconic ski lift in the country—is getting a major upgrade. The resort is updating the venerable old boats with new tram cabins, after the originals have dutifully whisked 125 people at a time to the 11,000-foot summit of Hidden Peak in seven minutes since 1971. They’ve covered just shy of 800,000 miles over the half century, which is like going to from the earth to the moon and back again, so I suppose the red and blue cabins have earned a comfortable retirement. The new tram cars will cover the same 1.6-mile, 3,000-plus-vertical-foot span, just with sleek new boxes for an improved ride.
The new cabins, designed and built by Doppelmayer in Otten Switzerland, feature floor-to-ceiling windows for uninterrupted views of Little Cottonwood Canyon and the Bird’s famously craggy terrain. All the better for skiers and snowboarders to scout their lines and find the best snow on the way to summit.
The new trams were constructed by Doppelmayer Group in Switzerland
Summer passengers will have the unique opportunity to recreate the cable car fight between James Bond and Jaws from Moonraker while riding atop the new cabins on the 15-person balcony on the tram’s roof. Even indoor riders can opt for a bit of intentional vertigo by standing on one of the three-by-three-foot glass panels on floor to gaze at the mountain from above.
The rooftop balcony will provide riders with a unique view of Little Cottonwood.
Updating Snowbird’s tram cabins will help the lift keep pace with that other famous tram up in Jackson Hole, which received its own major update in 2008. Jackson’s has more vert, but the Bird’s wins out on capacity—125 to 100—and it’s no contest on snow quality.
The old cabins’ retirement signals the end of an era at Snowbird. When it comes to skiing in the Wasatch, things just ain’t like they used to be (other than while riding Alta’s beautifully unchanged Wildcat Chair) but it’s tough to find negatives in a more comfortable ride with better views to the best snow and terrain in the mountain range. The cabins are in transit to the Bird as we speak, with installation scheduled for April and May before a grand opening in late June 2022. So long, original tram cabins. Thanks for the ride.
At the beginning of the pandemic, some writers pointed out that Shakespeare wrote one of his most acclaimed plays, King Lear, in the middle of a plague. This led to speculation on what brilliant, era-defining work of art would come out of our modern plague. For writers, this was an unnecessary source of added pressure—in the middle of COVID, wasn’t surviving day-to-day enough of an achievement? I didn’t make an ill-advised attempt to write my next Great American Novel, but from a consumer’s perspective, I’m fine if we don’t get a coronavirus-era King Lear. Right now, escapist, joyful, well-crafted entertainment is more than enough. I need—to quote a lyric from Something Rotten!, which is now playing at Pioneer Theatre Company—“something more relaxing and less taxing on the brain.”
The cast of “Something Rotten!” at Pioneer Theatre Company (Courtesy Pioneer Theatre Company)
A proudly crowd-pleasing love letter to a proudly crowd-pleasing art form, Something Rotten! imagines a ridiculous alternate origin story to the classic musical. In 1590s England, William Shakespeare (Matthew Hydzik) is the most celebrated of the Renaissance playwrights, leaving other writers floundering in his shadow. Brothers Nick (Matt Farcher) and Nigel Bottom (Daniel Plimpton), who lead a struggling theater troupe, need to produce a hit play quickly before losing their patronage. While Nick’s ahead-of-his-time wife Bea (Galyana Castillo) wants to find work and ease the family’s financial burdens, Nick seeks advice from the soothsayer Nostradamus (Robert Anthony Jones) about his next play. Nostradamus gets a spotty vision about the future of theater—the Broadway musical. Though the Elizabethans are initially confused by the concept, Nick and Nigel forge ahead, believing it to be their perfect chance to one-up Shakespeare. Meanwhile, Nigel begins a passionate romance with Portia (Lexi Rabadi), the daughter of a Puritan (Kevin B. McGlynn) who opposes all theater and poetry.
If it’s not clear already, at least 80% of the plot is just an excuse for endless puns and references to both Shakespeare and popular musicals—some obvious, some niche and some in between. Something Rotten! has a throw-everything-at-the-wall approach to comedy. The jokes are all over the place, from genuinely clever to stupid funny to just plain stupid—the cast, though, fully commits to the absurdity, and, sometimes through sheer force of will, most of the bits land.
The universally strong cast, all of whom are clearly having a lot of fun with the material, makes the material succeed. Farcher, a strong singer and dancer in a cast full of them, makes Nick relatable and sympathetic even when the Bottom brother spends a lot of the play acting like, well, an ass. As the sensitive, talented poet of the brother duo, Plimpton is totally charming, providing just enough human-sized emotion to ground the ridiculous farce. Though her character is sometimes underused, Castillo is also willing, completely selling her solo song “Right Hand Man” and providing a necessary female perspective. (In Shakespeare’s lifetime, women weren’t allowed on stage, even to play female characters.) Hydzik may have the most challenging task of all—partly because the role’s originator, Christian Borle, left a signature mark and won a Tony Award for the part and partly because the show’s glammy, leather-clad Shakespeare requires a rock-stars charisma. Luckily, Hydzik makes his own mark as the charming egomaniac who gets under Nick’s skin.
The cast of “Something Rotten!” at Pioneer Theatre Company (Courtesy Pioneer Theatre Company)
Director and choreographer Karen Azenberg leads the talented ensemble, who effectively parody musicals while adeptly performing some classic musical trademarks, from energetic tap breaks to Fosse-style jazz hands to high-kicking chorus lines. In one inspired touch, an inappropriately chipper song about the Black Death includes subtle nods to our current deadly plague. Set designer George Maxwell builds a storybook version of Elizabethan England that perfectly fits the musical’s daffy alternate reality. Unfortunately, whether it was the sound design or the diction of the performers, it could be difficult to hear some of the music and dialogue. I was familiar with the soundtrack coming in, but newcomers may miss a lot of the best jokes in the show’s fast pacing.
The score, by Karey and Wayne Patrick, fills fairly conventional Broadway-pop compositions to the brim with in-jokes and clever lines. In “A Musical,” an eight-minute song and the play’s highlight, Nostradamus predicts the entire future of musical theater. Jones’ brash, more-is-more performance is exactly what the musical calls for—he steals the show anytime he’s on stage. With callouts to a laundry list of musical favorites, from Les Misérables to A Chorus Line to Rent, the song captures the musical’s tone: a self-aware but loving sendup of the art form, targeted at devotees. In these moments, Something Rotten! both spoofs and delivers the genre’s simple pleasures.
Something Rotten! will be at Pioneer Theatre Company through March 12. For tickets and more information, visit their website. Read more on Salt Lake City theater.
Our bartender in San Diego scrunched up her face with an incredulous look and asked, “Oceanside? Why are you going there?” This was a common sentiment among citified southern Californians who still hold images of an Oceanside with a reputation for brawling Marines, low-rent car dealerships and sprawling train yards. Human memory is persistent but not always accurate. Oceanside, one hour by train from San Diego, has changed a lot since our bartender last visited. Yes. Oceanside still maintains some of its grit and, unlike other California beach destinations, it has no plans to sand it off. That’s a good thing.
AHEAD, THEN BEHIND
Photos Provided by Visit Oceanside
In the days before Southern California was connected and clogged with its vast network of four-lane concrete arteries, there was one road—Highway One. Early car travelers ventured south from Los Angeles, often headed to Mexico for liquor during Prohibition. To make the trip, they would cross the large un-serviced Rancho Santa Margarita before arriving in Oceanside. The little town became an ideal spot to stop and stay in one of the nation’s first “travelers hotels,” or Motels. When WWII broke out, the U.S. Department of the Navy commandeered Rancho Margarita to build Camp Pendleton. Thousands of raw Marine recruits arrived in town along with builders and their families who followed the work to carve out Pendleton. Oceanside boomed. The post-war ascendance of the automobile made Oceanside a destination for car buyers and the town’s new dealerships became the place for the Greatest Generation to buy its shiny Cadillacs, Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Fords.
But then, bust. California sprawl and cheaper land elsewhere saw the big dealers move closer to the metro areas, leaving the husks of giant showrooms behind. These shells were occupied by down-market used car dealers. Meanwhile, the rise of malls and megaplexes in the ’60s and ’70s gutted Oceanside’s once-bustling town center. It didn’t help that one of the state’s largest railroad switchyards, built during the war, was a giant eyesore in the middle of town. (The switchyard was moved in the ’90s onto Camp Pendleton, much to town boosters’ relief.)
But these downsides became upsides, says Oceanside historian Kristi Hawthorne. “We were largely overlooked and while everyone else was tearing down old buildings, neighborhoods and architectural treasures, we were left alone.”
THE ONCE- GREAT BECOMES NEXT-GREAT
Hawthorne and her colleagues at the Oceanside Historical Society lead free two-hour walking tours (visitoceanside.org, 760-722-4786) that highlight this “lucky” preservation. She points to neighborhoods filled with charming, stick-built bungalows including, famously, the “Top Gun House,” where Tom Cruise’s Maverick famously bedded Kelly McGillis’ Charlie Blackwood in the 1986 film, and palatial movie theaters featuring beautifully garish neon signs. For example, the Star Theater (402 N. Coast Hwy, startheatreco.com) with its space-age marquee, now bills local musical theater performances. Some of the old car showrooms are being gutted to become restaurants and craft breweries like the Bagby Beer Company (601 S. Coast Highway, bagbybeer. com). The works of architect Irving Gill, the minimalist modern architect who designed with subtle North African flair, are also a point of town pride—see The Americanization School (1210 Division St.), the still operational Fire Station No. 1 (714 Pier View Way), The Blade Tribune Building (401 Seagaze Dr.) and the original City Hall (300 N. Coast Hwy.).
PLAY
Photos Provided by Visit Oceanside
At its heart, Oceanside is a beach town and thus home of the California Surf Museum (312 Pier View Way, 760-721-6876). The highlight is the shark-bit surfboard and the accompanying story of pro surfer Bethany Hamilton who lost her arm but ultimately survived an encounter with a tiger shark off the coast of Kauai. Good news: There are no tiger sharks off the coast of Oceanside—its beachfront is a wide, perfectly sandy stretch, marked midway by the state’s longest wooden pier (home of an irascible pelican named Charlie). On either side of the pier, the reliable break brings a daily line-up of surfers waiting for sets. Before you paddle out on your own consider a lesson. The family-owned shop Surf Ride (1909 S. Coast Hwy., Oceanside, 760-433-4020, surfride.com) offers lessons three times a week as well as gear rental. Or rent a rod and reel from the pier’s bait shop or a bike or 4-person surrey and cruise the strand.
DINE
Surf towns require breakfast. Oceanside’s go-to is Petite Madeline (223 N. Coast Hwy., 760-231-7300, petitemadelinebakery.com) with house-made pastries and heartier options. But then there is toast. How good can toast be? Find out at Camp Coffee (101 N. Cleveland St., 442-266-2504, campcoffeecompany.com) where cutsey coffee drinks (think S’mores) are served with hearty slices of “camp toast” a panini-style hunk of wonder.
Start a night out with a flight of Santa Barbara wine from Coomber Craft Wines (611 Mission Ave., 760-231-8022, coomberwines.com) on a fantastically chill patio. Up the block is Mission Ave Bar and Grill (711 Mission Ave., 760-637-2222, missionavebarandgrill.com), a whiskey-forward joint (more than 200 tipples in the library) with a meticulously blended Eternal Pour bottle behind the bar.
The phrase “let’s go out for Balinese” is not a thing, yet. But Dija Mara (232 S. Coast Hwy., 760-231-5376, dijamara.com) is well on its way to making it so. For the big meal of your trip, try Master’s Kitchen & Cocktail (208 S. Coast Hwy., 760-231-6278, mastersoceanside.com) where 28-year-old wunderkind Chef Andre Clark has unstuffified the menu. Clark got his start here, left for apprenticeship in some of San Diego’s finest kitchens and has returned with whiz-bang energy. For starters he’s got a thing for albacore. Yes. Ahi’s canned cousin, Clark points out, is caught locally, “Why am I serving tuna from Hawaii when I’m a chef in California?” Why indeed.
STAY:
Photos Provided by Visit Oceanside
Part of Oceanside’s rejuvenation has been the renovation of the old traveler hotels like The Fin Boutique Hotel (133 S. Coast Hwy., 760-279-6300, thefinhotel.com). com). Originally opened as the Keisker Hotel in 1927, The Fin preserves the mosaic tile lobby floor, the original grand wooden-rail staircase and the Tiffany windows, but, thankfully, updates the rest. (read: ensuite water closets). OK, it’s a chain but the Oceanside Springhill Suites boasts a rooftop pool with ocean views and is steps from the waterfront. Beachfront Only (beachfrontonly.com) is a vacation rental service offering, as the name says, a selection of on-the-beach properties from cozy cottages to 10-bedroom redoubts for the big reunion (friends, family, whatever).
This article originally appeared in the 2020 January/February edition of Salt Lake magazine and was originally published on saltlakemagazine.com on March 22, 2020
The cinematic Western landscapes and cowboy protagonists of Billy Schenck’s art aren’t just a fantasy—it’s in his DNA. The artist, who spent part of his childhood riding horses and farming cattle in Wyoming, is known as, in his words, one of the “granddaddies” of Western pop art. Though he spent part of his early career in New York City, Schenck, who now lives in New Mexico, fully embraces the Western lifestyle he depicts. In the mid ‘70s, he took the cowboy way of life one step further when a ranch manager taught him to ride bareback and saddle bronc. The only problem? “I was terrible,” he says. “I was getting just nearly killed, falling off one horse after another after another. It was really frustrating because rodeo was in my blood.”
Later in life, Schenck got back on the horse—literally. With the encouragement of a local rancher, he began team penning and ranch sorting. This time, he found much more success: he even won a ranch sorting world championship in 2009. He still ranch sorts in local shows, and is proud to say he had 10 perfect runs in one day. (In ranch sorting, a rider attempts to move ten cattle from one pen to another, in numerical order. A perfect run requires herding the cattle in sequence in 60 seconds.) Schenck, now in his 70s, says, “I take great pride in the fact that I can be that old and still be competitive and just knock the socks off of people on occasions.”
Schenck’s genuine love for the American West—its culture, its iconography, its landscapes—is on full display in his two simultaneous Utah exhibitions: Schenck’s Utah: A Land Less Traveled at Modern West and Billy Schenck: Myth of the West at the Southern Utah Museum of Art.
“A Land Less Traveled” by Billy Schenck (Courtesy Modern West)
Schenck’s Utah is the first show of his career to focus entirely on landscape art. In the first decades of his career, landscapes were solely in the background of his figurative and caption paintings. The dramatic red rock mesas of southern Utah, though, have always been integral to Schenck’s work—he says he’s been “inspired by the Utah landscape since almost day one, which would be 52 years ago.” In the early 2000s, he began working on landscapes without figures. Why? “Just to see if I could do it,” he says. Shalee Cooper, Gallery Director of Modern West, was drawn to Schenck’s distinctive interpretations of Utah geography and encouraged Schenck to display his landscape works for this exhibition.
The paintings and serigraphs in Schenck’s Utah feature dramatic shadows and lonely, beautiful expanses of quiet desert. The scenes are quintessentially Utah, but up close, the sharp divisions between colors and shapes feel more surreal—in “Caution Hot Cows,” for example, spindly black tree branches contrast with white clouds, jagged like puzzle pieces. Some works, like “Late Day Monsoons,” feature moody shades of brown and gray; others bring an unexpected vibrancy to stretches of barren land.
To create his paintings, Schenck starts with a road trip—to Monument Valley, Arches National Park or other locations in the southern Utah desert that catch his eye. He photographs rock formations and landscapes and then returns to the studio, where he uses a slide projector to review images for inspiration. “I go through the carousels until I find a group—maybe three, five, 10 slides—and just see how they’ll match up,” he says. He starts with the foreground—usually a dramatic rock formation or sand dune—moves to the middle ground, then the background and finishes with his dramatic skyscapes, developing the color palette as he goes. This process—partly a composite of real locations, partly an exploration of his own imagination—explains the familiar yet otherworldly quality of his work.
“A Tree in the Desert” by Billy Schenck (Courtesy Modern West)
At Southern Utah Museum of Art, Billy Schenck: Myth of the West is a career-spanning retrospective that includes works from various points of Schenck’s more than four decades-long career. The exhibition, which includes 25 paintings and three serigraphs, illustrates some of Schenck’s trademarks: a striking, colorful reductivist style, offbeat humor and surprising interpretations of classic Western iconography.
Myth of the West ties Schenck to his varied influences. His idiosyncratic style comes from several directions—the marriage of text and image of Roy Lichtenstein’s caption paintings, the methodology of the photorealists in the 1960s and 70s and even the subject matter of classic Spaghetti Westerns. (After first seeing Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, Schenck thought to himself, “I need to try to do in paintings what this guy has done in film.”) At SUMA, Schenck’s work is paired with one of his key influences—Andy Warhol. Warhol’s Cowboys & Indians includes 10 prints and four trial proofs from Warhol’s last project in the 1980s. For Schenck, this exhibition is a full circle moment—he even worked with Warhol and The Velvet Underground for a brief period in 1966, when Schenck learned from pop art pioneers in New York City. Michael Duchemin, director of the Briscoe Museum in San Antonio, first paired Schenck with Warhol, linking Western artists with the larger pop art tradition. (“I thought it was great for my career. It isn’t gonna affect Andy too much one way or the other,” Schenck quips.)
For Schenck, Myth of the West has been a chance to track the evolution of his work over the decades. This recollection, though, hasn’t slowed him down—in fact, it’s only led to more inspiration.“I’ve got ideas coming out of my ears,” he says. “I can’t even begin to catch up with them at this point.”
For more information on these exhibitions, visit Modern West and SUMA’s websites. Subscribe to Salt Lake magazine for more on life in Utah.
Ben Weiss invited some musician friends he knew, Zach Downes and Andrew Nelson, to jam at a party for a few hours with a musician he’d never really played with, Katia Racine. “Three hours flew by,” Weiss says, “So at the end, we all looked at each other and said ‘Well, we should start a band.’” And that’s how the Salt Lake-based band Pixie and the Partygrass Boys was born four years ago.
Since being joined by Amanda Grapes on fiddle, the band has been an important part of the Salt Lake music scene. On any given night you might find Pixie and the Partygrass Boys as the opener at The Commonwealth Room, playing a regular gig at the Hog Wallow or at their once-weekly bluegrass jam at Gracie’s.
Part of the band’s popularity is their genre-busting style—Weiss describes the band as “non-traditional bluegrass with heavy jazz and funk influences. “The crossover of playing Stevie Wonder with a bluegrass band seemed like a no-brainer for us,” says Weiss. “People who love bluegrass get to see something they might not usually see at a bluegrass show, and people who don’t normally like bluegrass might find something that they do like because we’re playing something familiar with a bluegrass style.”
And while the band started with a lot of covers, these days they play more and more of their own music. “Every member of the band is a composer,” says Weiss, “We all write songs then get together as a band to arrange them.” The fans are happy with the transition, too, he says, “It’s a really special thing to watch our fans come because we are fun and we play songs we write and now they come and sing along to songs we’ve written.”
Ultimately, Weiss says the goal of the group has always been the same, “When we started this band we wanted to have fun. We wanted to play music people could dance to and we wanted to have a creative outlet to express ourselves freely. We always try to have the most fun in the room, and you know, sometimes we do. It’s not traditional but we always keep it ’grassy.” —Christie Marcey
It may be a little unfair to other states that “The Great Outdoors” is actually synonymous with the Moab area, but we aren’t saying we feel bad about it. Actually, quite the opposite, we love it so much it’s on our license plates, people. Moab is a destination unlike any other, so why not experience it in a unique way? You don’t have to take the same vacation photos as the millions Moab visitors, right?
Don’t worry, it’s not a mirage, it’s an actual luxury in the desert surrounded by some of the world’s most famous, scenic red rock landscapes. Oliver Gibbons, general manager of Sorrel River Ranch, says the ranch allows guests to immerse in nature, and enjoy activities you can’t usually get in Moab. “You’re not doing the typical tourist experience,” Gibbons says.
World-class dining, private excursions, it’s all at your fingertips and the best part, Utahns? It’s family-friendly. When can you find luxury that the kids can also enjoy? Sorrel River boasts a petting zoo on top of an endless list of activities for junior ranch wranglers including equestrian adventures. If all of the hiking, biking, and outdoor beauty seems overwhelming, then just get off the grid. Garden and cooking demos are also offered on the ranch but squeeze those in between a little rest and relaxation while enjoying views for days. “We go beyond luxury and create unforgettable experiences. At Sorrel River Ranch, you are on an expedition, you really are an adventurer.”
