destination
Soul
The
of s a lt lake city by roger toll
T
there ’ s much that brigham young would recognize . and much that he wouldn ’ t .
The sawtooth peaks of the Wasatch tenacity of the Range dominate the thousands who have followed. skyline east of the Salt Lake City InIt is these two elements—the ternational Airport. From out here, dramatic setting and the mission in this vast desert that mountain of its settlers—that lie at the heart man Jim Bridger warned the early of this wooded city between desert Mormon pioneers could produce and mountain. at best one crop a year, the view This month, the eyes of the world across the arid plain to the wall of will be turned to Salt Lake, and photos by roy zipstein mountains is otherworldly, even though the mountains will take desolate. A closer look, however, center stage, the city itself will reveals green trees cradled in the elbow of the play the ingenue. Like any young actress facing arid hills. Bridger had not reckoned with the ex- her first close-up, the city is both excited about traordinary purpose of those first settlers and the her future and just a little nervous.
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come blow your horn
The angel Moroni, atop the Salt Lake Temple, and a local high school marching band (opposite page) trumpet the arrival of the Games.
destination
I had flown to Salt Lake many times for the skiing, but like others, I had skirted downtown as I made my way from the airport to the beautiful ski resorts nestled in the Wasatch mountains only 45 minutes away. Salt Lake, I once thought, was just a big city with a small-town mind-set, strange liquor laws and a heavy-handed religion. As I met more locals over the years, I realized that I had mistaken the stereotype for reality. On the eve of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, I returned for a closer look and discovered warm people, civic dynamism, a unique history, an active cultural life and an enviable proximity to nature. Salt Lake City: “A Real Desire to Be Seen” never has there been such a practical location for the Winter Games. Salt Lake is the largest host city ever, and where else are there 10 major ski resorts within a short drive of so many hotel rooms? “God did a good job here geographically,” Salt Lake Organizing Committee of 2002 President and CEO Mitt Romney told me. “I was riding up to Park City the other day with Jean-Claude Killy,” Romney said of their trip to the nearby ski-resort town, “and he started shaking his head. ‘What’s the matter?’ I asked. He said he’d never before seen an eight-lane expressway going to a ski village!” Visitors had better get used to it. Salt Lake City has pulled out all the stops, and it has invested heavily in its own future by investing in the Games. In addition to the more than $530 million in federal and state funds to provide for improved transportation, health services and safety during the Games, the area also boasts revamped freeways and a new leg of the light rail system paid for with non-Olympic funds. By one estimate, a half-billion dollars has gone into the construction of Olympic venues and housing. Wasatch Range ski resorts have spent close to $75 million on new lodges, lifts and upgrades. Another $300 million has gone into hotel expansions or new hotels, including the
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magnificent Grand America Hotel. “This city has a history of hospitality, volunteerism and community pride, along with a real desire to be seen and recognized,” Romney said. When he put out a call for volunteers willing to
ready to play
Mitt Romney at Olympic Legacy Plaza. Opposite page (from top): The Salt Lake University Choir sings out; Olympic mascot “Copper” makes a new friend; and a table awaits you at the old Hotel Utah.
work for 17 straight days during the Games, he got 65,000 applications. “It’s unprecedented!” And when he started knocking on doors for donations, he could not believe the response: $50 million from private donors, and $159 million from sponsors and suppliers.
The Mormon Church: “A Strong Spine” such largess is not surprising in a community that learned early to circle the wagons when the need arose. Salt Lake City is the Mormon Zion, the “gathering place” for the 11 million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world. The LDS had its beginnings in 1820 when Joseph Smith had a divine vision to found a religion that would “restore
the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Ten years later, he and a small group published the Book of Mormon and launched the Mormon Church. After persecutions of Mormons in the Midwest and the mob murder of Smith in 1844, Brigham Young became the second prophet and, as president
with perspective. “This is a community that sets goals and achieves them,” he said. “It has made us progressive, which is a tremendous virtue. The Mormon hierarchy set the pattern early on, and they continue to be valid organizing principles. There is no way we could have got the Winter Games without that. “The church can be very power-
“The Mormon Church has given this community a strong spine: strong families, dedication to clean values, hard work,” says former Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson. of the church, led a westward migration to the promised land. In 1847, after emerging from the Wasatch mountains and a grueling journey of 1,300 largely uncharted miles, he looked down on a shelf between the peaks and the Great Salt Lake and proclaimed, “This is the place.” With the enterprising zeal that has colored the community’s personality ever since, he set about creating the Mormon utopia of Deseret—a word from the Book of Mormon meaning “honeybee” and indicative of the industriousness of those early settlers. “The Mormon Church has given this community a strong spine: strong families, dedication to clean values, hard work,” Ted Wilson told me during my visit. “These things permeate life here.” Wilson, mayor of Salt Lake City from 1976 to 1985 and now director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah, is a Democrat and a Mormon, which some local wags might call a contradiction in terms. A practicing LDS member with years of political experience straddling the unique fault lines of what he brands government with theocratic elements, he speaks
ful, but it doesn’t choose to exercise it formally very often,” Wilson continued. Though it maintains strict stands on certain issues, including alcohol and gambling, it has recently been wary of associating with overly conservative issues and has urged its members to vote their conscience. In a community whose dominant culture is woven into all aspects of life, the church does not need to speak out forcefully on most issues to be heard. One morning over coffee, I was brought up short by a headline in The Salt Lake Tribune: “Don’t Call Us Weird: We’re Really Nuts.” The column was written by Robert Kirby, an active Mormon, who delights in poking fun at local idiosyncrasies. It was a funny, satiric take on a Newsweek cover article on the Mormon Church. I tracked him down at his office. “Utah can be a huge culture shock, even for Mormons,” said Kirby, who moved to Salt Lake with his Mormon parents when he was 17. “Nothing in the world prepares you for a world where everyone marches, mentally, in
destination
cultural kaleidoscope
Clockwise from top left: Karl Malone going for two for the NBA’s Utah Jazz, the LDS Conference Center glowing at dusk, the west side’s Red Rock Brewing Company offering microbrews and artist/city planner Stephen Goldsmith contemplating the future. Opposite page: Jonas Kåge surrounding himself with talent at Ballet West.
The arts were such a part of local culture that the nation’s first arts council was founded in Salt Lake in 1899. Sky February 2002
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destination diverse dining
Baci Trattoria is one lively dining choice; waitstaff at The Market Street Grill (opposite page) serve at another.
The revitalized west side of town has attracted lively restaurants, art galleries, brew pubs, new residential lofts carved from old warehouses and an enormously popular farmers’ market. lock step with an organization. Anytime there is a group of people who believe, think, talk, act and even look alike, there is a group mind-set. It’s just the
Thirst Quenchers In the past year leading up to the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, no Mormon Church–influenced issue has drawn as much attention in the international press as Utah’s liquor laws. But, truth be told, after the two weeks of dining and wining I spent in Salt Lake City, it seems to me a nonissue for visitors unless they want to work on two drinks at once (illegal), order a beer with a higher alcohol content than usual in the United States (illegal) or buy booze in a liquor store after 10 p.m. (they’re closed). “We may have some weird liquor laws, but you can certainly buy a drink here,” says Robert Kirby, a Mormon and a columnist for The Salt Lake Tribune. One of the pillars of Mormon belief, he explains, is the Word of Wisdom, a basic tenet that forbids alcohol, tobacco, and hot caffeinated drinks like coffee and tea. “But we drink Diet Coke like it’s going out of style,” he says. “We have to get our buzz somewhere.”—R.T.
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way people are.” In seven years, he has never felt any heat from the church leadership, which he said actually wants greater diversity in Salt Lake. “I do get complaints from some regular folk who are arrogant enough to think that making fun of them is the same as making fun of God,” he said. “But by and large, the attitude of most people is healthy: ‘Hey, we’re Mormons. Get over it.’” The spiritual center of the Mormon Church is Temple Square, the city’s leading tourist attraction. In addition to Brigham Young’s two homes and the historic old Hotel Utah (immaculately renovated by the church and renamed the Joseph Smith Memorial Building), the area in and around the square is home to the colossal LDS Conference Center, the Tabernacle, the church’s 26-story office tower and, of course, the Salt Lake Temple. During the Games, the temple—along with the entire downtown skyline—will play a luminous role as a backdrop to the medals ceremony each evening. The downtown area will be a festive scene following the day’s sporting events, with bands playing on stages stretched out along nearly a mile of Main Street. The official ceremony at the Olympic Medals Plaza, two blocks from Temple Square, will start daily at 7 p.m., followed by a concert and a huge fireworks display.
Dance, Music, Culture: “Add Fire to Your Spirits” brigham young once said, to encourage the early pioneers, “add fire to your spirits” by dancing, studying
music, attending the theater and reading widely. Consequently, the arts were such a part of local culture that the nation’s first arts council was founded in Salt Lake in 1899. Today, with a major ballet corps and at least four other dance companies, four large theater companies, a symphony orchestra, and an opera company, it may be the most dynamic arts center between Chicago and San Francisco. Jonas Kåge, a former principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, is the artistic director of Ballet West. Swedish-born, he brings a world vision to his mission of sculpting Ballet West, already 38 years old, into a progressive ballet company with international appeal. His passion for his job does not entirely hide his occasional frustrations. Though the company still stages the big, classical ballets—its bread and butter—he has been trying to stretch his audience’s tastes by presenting more innovative works. “Because the arts are a reflection of the society they’re in, your audience needs to be vibrant,” Kåge said. “Ballet should lead and provoke the audience and take it into new feelings.” As part of the 2002 Cultural Olympiad that will spotlight Salt Lake’s artistic persona, Kåge is staging “Masterworks,” selections from great choreographers like Jerome Robbins, Hans van Manen and George Balanchine. “When I think big, I am not sure everyone is with me,” Kåge told me. “Perhaps they are a little more cautious here in Salt Lake. The family unit is the basis of so much here, and that is positive. But it can also be a little limiting.
There are progressive people, but they are still scattered and you can’t live on them yet. Our city has the potential for something more interesting, and I want to stimulate that.” Evidence of that potential is the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, the newest performance venue in town. An exciting 500-seat space with a number of studios for rehearsals and classes, it is home to the Repertory Dance Theatre and several other performing arts groups.
Dynamic Neighborhoods: “Full of Different Languages” the revitalized west side of town has attracted not only the new Performing Arts Center but also lively restaurants, art galleries, brew pubs, new residential lofts carved from old
warehouses and, in season, an enormously popular farmers’ market on Pioneer Square. Across the street from the farmers’ market is Tony Caputo’s Market and Deli, an upscale Italian shop that sells espresso machines, hand-painted plates, pastas, exotic cheeses and kalamata olives. “Business has been great,” Caputo told me. His Italian grandfather came to Utah in 1918 to work the coal mines and stayed on in the area. “The LDS does one thing that’s great for the city,” Caputo said. “It sends all these kids into the world on missions, and they see what’s out there. More than anything else, this has made the city more cosmopolitan.” He loves it when young missionaries, just back from Italy, come in with their parents in tow. “They point at everything, excited to tell
them about all the things they ate in Italy,” Caputo said. “When you send the kids overseas, they’re not going to come back the same. “I chose this corner of Salt Lake City because I wanted to be in a place that will develop a unique personality,” he continued. “Our biggest challenge is to keep this city livable and peoplefriendly, a place where you can walk or bike everywhere.” The Gateway, a huge shopping mall that opened in late 2001 just a few blocks from Pioneer Square, incurred the early scorn not only of Caputo, but also of liberal Dem-ocratic Mayor Rocky Anderson and other citizens who speak passionately of downtown’s traditional mom-and-pop neighborliness. But the sentiment from several city hall insiders is that if The Gateway is not successful, the entire downtown economic base will suffer. No one has been more outspoken on the subject of downtown than Stephen Goldsmith, a sculptor and artist who first transformed himself into a developer; in his present incarnation, he is the city’s planning director. Goldsmith’s odyssey began in 1979 when he couldn’t find affordable space for an apartment and studio. A few years later, he opened 35 studios on Pierpont Avenue in a 1910 warehouse, which he renamed Artspace; then he launched a second Artspace building with 53 studios and attached living spaces in the old California Tire and Rubber Company building on West 200 South. They became the nucleus of what today is a dynamic, Soho-like community. Goldsmith sees the Winter Games as an opportunity for residents to understand that a city less reliant on cars can be much more engaging. Washington Sky February 2002
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destination
mountains to climb
Julie Miller’s elementary school reflects the city’s changing demographics. Opposite page: the majestic mountains of the Wasatch Range.
Square, home to the city and county building, will become a people’s park with huge screens televising all the athletic events and ceremonies from 10:30 a.m. until the wee hours of the next morning. A promenade will connect it to the festivities and bandstands along a pedestrians-only portion of Main Street to the Olympic Medals Plaza. Goldsmith hopes the community responds by asking, “Why don’t we have this all the time?” “The mayor’s motto for the Olympics is ‘Strength through diversity,’” Goldsmith said. “It is not lip service. It is his deep belief.” Salt Lake City has indeed been transformed into a more vibrant palette of colors. Fully 19 percent of the city is Hispanic, 4 percent is Asian and another 13 percent includes more than 50 nationalities from around the world.
and the social problems that often follow. Two miles west of downtown lies Edison Elementary School in Poplar Grove, a neighborhood heavily populated by recent immigrants. Julie Miller has been the principal at Edison Elementary for seven years, on the front lines of the city’s rapidly changing demographics.
Deserts and Mountains: “Primal Symbols” on my last day in salt lake, i called on Carolyn Tanner Irish, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah. She bears one of the more famous names in Utah, as her ancestors were among the first group of pioneer settlers and her father, Obert C. Tanner, became one of the most successful men in Salt Lake. In fact, the company he founded is producing the medals that will be awarded at the Winter Games. Bishop Irish was raised a Mormon but pulled away from the church during her college years and was drawn to the Episcopal Church’s liturgy and intellectualism. She first served as a minister in Washington, Michigan and Virginia, and then returned home to Salt Lake in 1995 when she was elected bishop. Irish has the rare vantage point of seeing her hometown from both the inside and the outside.
“Our streets are more dynamic, animated, and full of different languages, smells and warmth,” says Stephen Goldsmith, the city’s planning director. What’s more, the city’s population of about 180,000 people is slightly less than 50 percent Mormon. In contrast, the overall population of Utah (2.2 million) is 70 percent Mormon. “It is no longer the town I grew up in,” Goldsmith said. “Our streets are more dynamic, animated, and full of different languages, smells and warmth. We need to acknowledge and celebrate that.” Nearly everyone I talked with welcomes the city’s growing diversity, which has made it feel more international, more cosmopolitan, even if the flip side has meant more urban poor
“The challenges are daunting,” she said. “Eighty percent of our school is nonwhite. Fifty-six percent of that group is Hispanic, 12 percent are Pacific Islanders and 6 percent is African, mainly refugees from the Sudan, Somalia and Kenya. The balance is made up of political and war refugees from everywhere else: Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq, Pakistan. . . . My kindergarten teacher told me the other day that she is facing 14 different languages in her classroom right now, and the children have no understanding of each other’s cultures and traditions.”
When I asked her how she would describe the city’s soul, her face lit up. “Oh, have you ever seen anything as gorgeous as Utah?” Irish asked. “The lure of the great outdoors.” She had a faraway look in her eyes. “The soul of this place is in its landscapes, its deserts and its mountains,” she continued. “In the Scriptures, the mountains and deserts are the primal symbols of God’s revelation. Whether or not one is looking for that here, they are still powerful places. They express our soul, and they are a big part of why those funny people, my ancestors, decided to Sky February 2002
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