Is Salt Lake City becoming America’s trendiest destination?

– February 22, 2011Posted in: Destinations, Food, Shopping, Street Art

With a booming ski industry, artistic neighborhoods and a growing local food scene, is Salt Lake City becoming America’s trendiest destination?

Not quite – but it has improved a lot over the last decade.

As a Utah native who lived in the “Beehive State” until the late 1990’s, I have noticed gradual improvements during my annual Christmas visits. Despite it’s reputation as a strange city with non-alcoholic dance parties, 3% beer, and polygamists roaming the streets, Salt Lake City is actually becoming hip!

Expert advice

Since I haven’t lived in Salt Lake City for a while, I turned to an expert for advice on the local hangouts.

My wife (and Downtown Traveler editor) Leslie stopped by the office of Ski Utah this winter to speak with spokesperson Jessica Kunzer. An avid skier and Utah transplant, Jessica recommended three trendy areas for dining and shopping.

Salt Lake City’s streets are laid out on a grid system, branching out in all four directions from Temple Square along Main Street. Oddly enough, the trendy neighborhoods all sit at the intersection of “matching” avenues (for example, 900 South and 900 East).

With Jessica’s suggestions in hand, we set out in a borrowed car to explore Salt Lake City’s coolest neighborhoods. This is what we found.

900 South & 900 East

This area is marked by banners and a sculpture, and is right next my old high school. When I was a student, there was nothing more than an old movie theater and a bakery in this part of town.

Both the movie theater and the bakery, Great Harvest Bread Company, still remain, but are now accompanied by a swarm of restaurants and yoga studios.

Mazza Café, a great middle eastern restaurant, is my favorite of the new additions. They have tasty and cheap falafel sandwiches and kebabs. As you’ll see in a moment, the opening of a Mazza Café indicates that a neighborhood has “arrived”!

I even spotted street art in this neighborhood– a rarity for the most part in Salt Lake. I’m still not sure what this guerilla/Virgin Mary print means, but it’s a good sign.

1500 East & 1500 South

When growing up, this area wasn’t even on my radar; to my knowledge, it was nothing more than a quiet residential street like those surrounding it. Now it is a tiny hub of restaurants, coffee shops, galleries, and book stores.

On the corner is the Paris Bistro, a fancy French restaurant where my family has gone for the last few Christmas Eve’s. It’s a little pricey but if my mom is treating, I’m there!

The streets are decorated with sculptures, like this red bicycle. Leslie tried unsuccessfully to hide behind the artwork.

Across the street was a gallery and yet another Mazza Café (I’m noticing a trend here.)

300 East & 300 South

This area is just a few blocks from Temple Square and is right in the downtown area. It is home to a funky cafés, antique stores and a magic shop.

One thrift shop, Jitterbug Antiques, is overflowing with merchandise and has taken over a portion of the sidewalk. If you need an antique whiskey jug or Raggedy Ann doll, you’re in luck!

300 East and 300 South isn’t quite as scenic as the other two areas. Like much of the downtown area, it’s home to a handful of homeless people talking to themselves.

House of Chuckles is the local magic shop. We didn’t feel up to venturing in so it’s anyone’s guess as to what exactly is going on inside.

Hipster alert!

Our final stop on our trendy tour of Salt Lake City was an industrial area packed with office parks and factories. We were there to visit Vertical Diner, a vegan lunch spot with glowing Yelp reviews.

It ended up being quite a scene; punks with mohawks mixed comfortably with fleece-wearing couples. It wasn’t quite Brooklyn, but it resembled Portland (as shown in the IFC series Portlandia, anyway). The food wasn’t stellar, but it was refreshing to see a hipster hangout in my hometown.

I enjoyed seeing how much Salt Lake City has changed since I was a teenager; it’s actually becoming a bit trendy and hip. Hopefully it will keep heading in this direction and there will be some new places to check out the next time I visit.

***

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Tags: art, food, outdoors, photos, shopping, travel, USA

About Jake Semmel

I'm a blogger and round the world traveler. I'm always on the lookout for new places to scuba dive, hike and ski.

18 Comments

Reply

Jeremy B

Posted February 22, 2011 at 2:43 PM

I am not sure I could ever think of Salt Lake City as hip. I haven’t really spent time there but I think it would be a battle to overcome stereotypes to become a big destination. As an outsider, the draw seems to be the winter activities. For others, the conservative lifestyle and cost of living could also be appealing. While it may be fun to visit, I don’t think it could ever become a hot and hip location for travelers but interesting to visit for sure.
Reply

Ashleigh

Posted February 22, 2011 at 3:45 PM

I’m from Salt Lake, and while I agree with Jeremy, it may never seem “Hip” to the outside world, it becomes our little secret that Salt Lake is growing up, cutting the apron strings (from the predominant religion) per se. So while the rest of the world struggles with overcoming Salt Lake’s typical stereotypes, I’ll enjoy the hipness of it before it becomes too widely known, and overrun 🙂 Jake, if your looking for some vegan/vegetarian friendly joints next time your here, try City Cakes or Oasis.
- Reply
  
  Jake Semmel
  
  Posted March 1, 2011 at 2:24 PM
  
  Thanks Ashleigh I’ll check those places out next time I make it out there.
  
  And I wouldn’t worry about SLC ever becoming too widely known and overrun given all the Mormon sterotypes 🙂
Reply

Aaron @ Aaron's Worldwide Adventures

Posted February 22, 2011 at 7:39 PM

I was in SLC in December on a trip I took on a whim thanks to a ridiculously cheap airfare. Only one of these neighborhoods I made it to was 9th & 9th and what a seriously cool place!

But yeah, definitely a place for hipster alerts!
Reply

Maria A

Posted February 22, 2011 at 10:37 PM

What a great overview. Had no idea all these places were there. I went to SLC with my family as a stop on a roadtrip out west. We foolishly visited the Mormon museum (because that’s what SLC is known for, right?) and they kept approaching us to try to convert us. My very Roman Catholic mom was not amused!
- Reply
  
  Leslie Koch
  
  Posted February 24, 2011 at 10:38 AM
  
  I had the same experience on my first trip to SLC to visit Jake’s family! We went to Temple Square and women in long skirts with name tags approached us offering to show us a free Joseph Smith video.
Reply

Alyson Smith

Posted February 23, 2011 at 9:15 AM

Great article makes me want to visit that thrift shop and hoard up on more antiques! Lots of great yummy places to eat!
Reply

santafetraveler

Posted February 23, 2011 at 10:48 PM

Last time I was in SL- it was right after the Olympics and the restaurant scene had definitely improved since the first time I was there about 5 years earlier. But, the trendiest city in the country? Don’t think it will ever get ther, but good to know it’s hipper.
Reply

ciki/@agentcikay

Posted February 24, 2011 at 3:40 AM

Not bad.. but the streets look so quiet! too quiet for me.. i think;)
- Reply
  
  Leslie Koch
  
  Posted February 24, 2011 at 10:39 AM
  
  Yeah, it’s a very low key city. The people are super friendly and the streets are impeccably clean, but it doesn’t have the thriving nightlife of NYC or KL. There are a lot of cool new restaurants and boutiques though 🙂
Reply

Juno

Posted February 24, 2011 at 3:40 AM

House of Chuckles ! What a good name for a shop! I dont want to go ‘dry’ club though. What’s the fun without drink? 😀 haha!
- Reply
  
  Leslie Koch
  
  Posted February 24, 2011 at 10:43 AM
  
  You’ve got me there! Dry and club don’t seem to go together…
Reply

Kathi Oakley

Posted February 25, 2011 at 1:02 PM

The 9th & 9th neighborhood in Salt Lake City is a fun place. You can look up this website for more cafes and shops in the area. http://ninthandninth.tripod.com
Reply

Ted Nelson

Posted February 26, 2011 at 1:47 AM

Hipness is in the mind and in the liver. A destination that has beer and adventure is hip. Salt Lake City fit the bill on both accounts.
- Reply
  
  Leslie Koch
  
  Posted February 28, 2011 at 10:23 AM
  
  They do have an amazing variety of craft beers in SLC! Polygamy Porter is among the most memorable 🙂
Reply

Sunny in FL

Posted February 26, 2011 at 2:13 PM

Next time we’re in SLC we will have to visit these locations! Great article!
Reply

ciki

Posted April 12, 2011 at 9:55 PM

re visiting this post.. ! hide and seek with art structures.. u’re funny girl! LOL 😛