Where are the Utah places? -Why local culture is traded for chain stores

The American Place -Why local culture is traded for chain stores [this article is a work in progress, any comments, observations or conclusions are greatly appreciated. Send to Richard@utahstories.com. The final story will be done in the next three weeks with video, photographs and interviews]

Largely absent today in especially Utah cities, are shopping centers and city commons offering unique local businesses and architecture. Just about every place looks pretty much the same as every other place, especially in the suburbs and quickly growing towns in Davis County.

Distinctive architecture reminds us where we have come from and local businesses remind us of culture and tradition unique to the place we inhabit. These two characteristics, which define place better than anything else are deemed by city leaders not important enough if preservation efforts threaten to diminish revenue headed for city coffers.

Instead the common practice is demolish a relic and erect a plaque, saying "this is where this used to be." As if words etched on metal are an adequate reminder.

This trend is caused by a lack of master planning efforts. A true master plan functions somewhat like a city identity constitution. Defining the characteristics that will end up defining each city or district. Without master planning efforts local businesses rarely thrive and cities end up competing against each other for national chain stores where city tax revenue is are the prizes that the chains and only national chains are capable of handing out.

Case-in-point: The Sandy Wal-Mart closed in 2001 because Wal-Mart built a 70,000 square foot Super Center in nearby Draper and no longer had a need for the smaller store on State Street.

The result: Draper had a Wal-Mart and Sandy didn't. In order for Sandy to not lose out on the huge tax revenue Wal-Mart provided, the Sandy city Council decided to see what they could do to attract Wal-Mart back to their city. Then the Boyer Company (of Gateway notoriety) came to the rescue. Quarry Bend was the recently abandoned Sandy Gravel Quarry slated to become a nature park. Instead Sandy City offered the land to Boyer to develop a Wal-Mart, Lowes and condos. Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan and the Sandy City Council approved of the plan. Save Our Communities, fought against the planned Wal-Mart, however their meager funds were no match for the giant P.R campaign Wal-Mart initiated. In the end Wal-Mart won Communities lost. However, it seems everyone loves the new store, it is built using bricks, which is a rather new building material for Wal-Mart. (full story)

I've been pondering the above story. Isn't there something missing in this growth model? What then defines a place like Sandy? The beautiful Wal-Mart at quarry bend? Are cheap consumer products always king in America? Cheap products are great, Wal-Mart is the most efficient company in America but I tend to think America and our cities are about more than this.

Ideally a city should be living timeline where the old is incorporated and preserved along side of the new. The Living history ideal is not a new idea. The idea that people should be surrounded by their own history is one of the highest priorities in Western Europe because they recognize that old buildings are worth more than the stone and cement they are constructed from. Places tell stories and connect everyone to a common heritage and serve as everyday reminders that our lives exceed the boundaries of our homes and personal success. In essence buildings and period architecture define a place and help us to appreciate and be involved in the place where we live.

Walking down a street that offers "place" could be narrated by a tour guide pointing out the significant architectural details, sculptures and relics that mark history and events that shaped the street scape. Instead we must to refer to photographs and history books, telling us things like where the Shilo Inn is today was once the location of Salt Lake City's second oldest most historic hotel.

Any noteworthy building that might demonstrate something less than the glory of God has largely been deemed unworthy of preservation or reminder.

The common practice is to instead preserve only the very most significant buildings, such as those on the temple grounds and other old beautiful churches around the Salt Lake Valley. Any noteworthy building that might demonstrate something less than the glory of God has largely been deemed unworthy of preservation or reminder.

The Former Salt Lake City Prison: Do you know where it was located?

One fascinating aspect of Salt Lake City history, that could not be recognized even with the most careful examination, is the site of the former city prison grounds. For nearly 70 years people were locked up in all sorts of manner, from ball-and-chain to ditch to dugouts to finally real iron bars with stone walls. This evolution in penalty for crime correlated with the development of respect for human rights and city progress, which is a fascinating history. However, today Sugar House Park offers no reminder or vestige of its former prison ground identity. Old photographs are all that remain showing the the beauty of this former prison. Constructed in Mission Style from granite blocks, the entry way and buildings were similar to the old Army barracks that are preserved at Fort Douglas. Anyone over seventy-five who grew up in Sugar House remembers how they would wave to the prisoners as they would drive past the prison on 2100 South. This building was razed after the city deemed it necessary to expand and to relocate the prison in the early 1950s (check). City leaders would leave no stone intact as a reminder that the park was once a prison. Merely a small portion of the prison building, entry way or former walls could suffice as a reminder. Instead leaders determined to show no vestige to the souls who served out their lengthy sentences there.

Celebrating Diversity is a crock

Mayor Rocky and others say that Salt Lake City is a city "celebrating diversity." (which in my estimation is the most vague, overused phrase of the 21st century. Pardon digression but, What is diversity? Ask ten people they would have ten different answers. How about we worry less about "celebrating diversity." and instead have city planners and city councils offer a simple nod at cultural identity. By nod I mean look at this place, it seems there are a lot of Vietnamese restaurants what can we do to show our support in helping their businesses rather than putting them under.

Welcome to Utah your home and your identity are welcome here, because we are constantly stripping ourselves of our own identity with practically every new development project...so can you please remind us what it means to have a culture.

Its a wonder how little we pay tribute in planning to the immigrants both former and present who have entered the valley. Salt Lake City was once very compartmentalized by ethnic groups in shopping districts. Greeks immigrants had several stores and many homes in the area around 200 South and 300 West, (where the Greek Orthodox Church is today). The Greek immigrant heritage is only display today at the Mad Greek and Crown Burger Restaurants. Plumb Alley was Salt Lake City's mini Japan Town, with small Japanese shops full of Japanese immigrants. A Buddhist temple West of the Salt Palace is all that remains. Silver miners who discovered their "mother load", built mansions on Brigham Street. (called South Temple today) Many of these great mansions have been razed to build far inferior structures.

History repeating itself

Today the trend of distinct cultural areas is somewhat reemerging. There are now Bosnian, Armenian, Chinese, Somali and Vietnamese and Italian areas of town that offer shops in somewhat distinctive areas. These immigrants offer their unique food, products and all have posters hanging in their stores of their countries most famous pop musicians. Rich cultural uniqueness is the most American aspect of America.

One thing we all have in common is everyone here came from somewhere else. Including the Native American Indians, they have just been here about 1200 years longer than everyone else. The best American cities all demonstrate the best traits of the diverse population inhabiting these places. The "melting pot" doesn't mean ditch your culture and start eating Big Macs and buying Sponge Bob Tee-shirts at Wal-Mart. It should mean instead, welcome to Utah your home and your identity are welcome here because we are constantly stripping ourselves of our own identity with practically every new development project, so can you please remind us what it means to have a real culture.

Salt Lake City Leaders have been very negligent in preserving "places." The trend is as real places emerge, not because of some great development company or a great marketing tactic or P. R. scheme. Rather by some strange sort of appeal small businesses and business owners come out of the woodwork becoming popular through word-of-mouth advertising and slow organic growth. Then more powerful business interests always come knocking and then these true places are razed and replaced by faceless national chain stores. We have seen this trend in downtown Salt Lake City and more recently on the Sugar House Granite Block.

There are tens of other great examples of the "places" that have been lost that had incredible history and value. Historian Alan Barnett has put together a book entitled "Seeing Salt Lake City." Barnett has collected some of the very best photographs from the Shippler Collection. The Shipplers were Father and son who had a photography studio on Main Street for close to 80 years. Together they preserved approximately 120 years of the best of Salt Lake City. The Shipplers captured some of the unique groups of people, such as the Newsies with their mascot dog named troubles. They captured the giant crowds of men listening to the World Series on the public radio on Main Street. They took beautiful photographs of the first and original Salt Palace, which incorporated salt in the real palatial structure. Today prints of Shippler's photographs hang in nearly every Salt Lake City building or business that is over 50 years old. The Shippler's performed a great service in reminding all future generations what is lost when City Planners place so little value in master planning and prioritize tax revenue over history and place.