Salt Lake City, Utah, owes much to its Mormon pioneer heritage. Evidence of its religious roots can be found everywhere, from the spires of the granite temple at the center of downtown to the statues and monuments dedicated to the city's founding fathers. But Salt Lake City is far more than a city of history. With a highly educated, multilingual population, this small city attracts high-tech companies, entrepreneurial start-ups, and world-class athletes and Olympian hopefuls. Salt Lake City is clean and beautiful, a jewel set against a backdrop of majestic mountains and endless sky, with wide streets and friendly residents. Visitors from around the world went to Salt Lake City for the 2002 Winter Olympics, and from all accounts, they loved what they saw.
In Salt Lake City, you'll find an abundance of historic buildings, good museums, some world-class restaurants and plenty of recreational activities at nearby mountain resorts. There's even nightlife (though you must become a member to get a drink and will find few options after 1 am).
Salt Lake City strongly reflects the presence and priorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Churches are everywhere, Sunday afternoons can be quiet, and many of the top tourist attractions are related to Mormon history.
Sights—Temple Square; the Beehive House; This Is the Place Heritage Park; Kennecott's Bingham Canyon Copper Mine; Utah Olympic Park; a Sunday morning performance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Museums—Salt Lake Art Center; Utah Museum of Fine Arts; Utah Museum of Natural History; the Museum of Church History and Art.
Memorable Meals—Rack of lamb at La Caille; broiled lamb medallions at Faustina; broiled trout at Franck's; wild mushroom ragout at Metropolitan; the prime rib—and the view—at The Roof; the mole negro at Red Iguana; classic filet mignon at The New Yorker.
Late Night—Live Jazz on Friday and Saturday at The Bayou; drinks and dancing at Port o' Call; dueling pianos at The Tavernacle; live jazz and blues at Zanzibar; diverse atmosphere and VIP-treatment options at The Hotel Bar & Nightclub.
Walks—Exploring the historic Marmalade District; strolling through Liberty Park for a look at the Tracy Aviary; a gentle summer hike at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon at the Solitude Mountain Resort; a historic and peaceful walk through Memory Grove Park.
Especially for Kids—Hogle Zoo; Discovery Gateway; activities at Wheeler Historic Farm; Liberty Park and its summer water playground; a ski lesson at Park City Mountain Resort with some of the world's best instructors; the City Library.
This north-central Utah community and its suburbs sprawl across the Salt Lake Valley. It's bordered by the Great Salt Lake on the northwest, the Oquirrh Mountains on the west and the Wasatch Mountains on the east. The towering mountains provide an imposing backdrop for Utah's largest metropolitan area.
City streets, laid out in a rigid grid, are numbered in a pattern that begins at the intersection of Main and South Temple streets (the southeast corner of historic Temple Square). These two streets form a point from which all streets in the valley are named and numbered. Quite logically, all streets labeled West are west of Main Street; all streets labeled East are east of Main Street. In the same way, all streets labeled South are south of South Temple Street, and all streets labeled North are north of South Temple Street. City blocks are 660 ft/240 m long (eight blocks to a mile) and are numbered in increments of 100. Using this street-numbering and distancing system, you can easily locate most destinations by address and estimate their distance from downtown. Salt Lake City residents often use shorthand and refer to 100 South as First South or 300 West as Third West. Those unfamiliar with the city should ask for the full street address of their destination.
On the northeastern rim of the city along the East Bench (so called because it marks the eastern boundary of prehistoric Lake Bonneville), you'll find the University of Utah, Hogle Zoo, This Is the Place Heritage Park and Sugarhouse Park. Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons (of interest to skiers, climbers, bikers and hikers) are among several canyons branching into the Wasatch Mountains from the East Bench.
Salt Lake City's origins can be traced to the other side of the nation—the eastern U.S. From its official organization in New York state in 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often referred to as the Mormons) faced opposition, much of it violent. Led by Joseph Smith, the Mormons were forced to relocate several times—to Ohio, then Missouri, then Illinois. In each state they were eventually driven from the communities they founded. In 1846, following Smith's murder at the hands of a mob, the majority of Mormons traveled by handcart and covered wagon to unsettled areas in the western U.S., hoping to finally escape persecution. They were led by Smith's successor, Brigham Young. In July 1847, Young proclaimed the Salt Lake Valley "the right place" for the new home of the Latter-day Saints.
The pioneers set to work making the Salt Lake Valley their home. They plowed farms and fields, laid out streets and irrigation canals, and set the foundation for a temple in the center of the city. More Mormons followed, and other towns were established in the region. In the 1870s, after the completion of the transcontinental railroad, large numbers of non-Mormons began arriving, as well. Some went to work in the area's silver and copper mines. By the turn of the 20th century, the Latter-day Saints were no longer a majority in the city, but the city still serves as headquarters for the 13-million-member church.
Salt Lake City grew only moderately during the first half of the 1900s because of the Great Depression and drought. In the latter half of the century, however, the city—along with neighboring metro areas in the western U.S.—expanded rapidly. Today, it continues to boom, spurred by the presence of technology-related businesses.
Salt Lake City has a thriving counterculture that includes a lively punk-rock music scene. The city also has a large gay community, which garnered the city a "Heartland Award" from San Francisco-based online media outlet PlanetOut. The award acknowledges those places that have "solid gay-family travel values." Salt Lake City's annual Gay Pride parade draws more than 15,000 participants—second only to Salt Lake's Days of '47 Parade, which commemorates the Mormons' arrival in the Salt Lake Valley.
The best works of Terry Tempest Williams and Pulitzer Prize-winner Wallace Stegner, among other literary luminaries, feature Salt Lake City. Williams' Refuge deals with her mother's struggle with cancer and the Great Salt Lake's tumultuous water, and Stegner's Mormon Country and Recapitulation are set in Utah.
Utah is a popular alternative to Hollywood these days. Several films and TV shows have been filmed in Utah, such as Touched By An Angel and Everwood. HBO's hit series Big Love is a drama about a polygamist family—one husband, three wives and seven children—that lives in neighboring houses in Sandy, Utah, a growing suburb south of downtown Salt Lake.
The Salt Lake Acting Company puts on a spoof of life in Mormon country every summer called Saturday's Voyeur. It takes a bit of a tutorial on life in Salt Lake to appreciate it, but the show is a perennial hit.
Norman Mailer's epic Executioner's Song is set in Salt Lake County and Utah County to the south, depicting the crimes and subsequent execution of murderer Gary Gilmore.
Former child star of the classic sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, Gary Coleman now calls Santaquin, Utah (65 mi/104 km south of Salt Lake City) home after filming Church Ball there and falling in love with the quaint, small-town life.
During his research for his best-selling and controversial novel The DaVinci Code, author Dan Brown spent time in Salt Lake City to research the religious symbols on several historic buildings, including the Salt Lake Mormon Temple and the Salt Lake Masonic Temple.
