Classic Salt Lake City.

[Skyscrapers4Me]

Originally Posted by urbanboy

I don't think it was the Salt Palace we were supposed to be looking at...

My apologies. What were we supposed to be looking at?

[WASDEN]

Crazy to think this is what replaced Japan Town. Personally I think there should have been some kind of architectural moaratorium in the '60s and '70s . Does anybody have pictures of what Japan Town actually looked like?? We all clammor for its return, but I'd like to see it first.

[Future Mayor]

Originally Posted by Skyscrapers4Me

My apologies. What were we supposed to be looking at?

I think we were suppose to be looking at the building on the right side of the picture, were the Marriott now stands.

[urbanboy]

Oh yes, sorry to leave you hanging. Future Mayor and I are on the same page here, however, I think it is actually the corner that houses the nameless office building and parking garage on the corner of West Temple and 200 South.

[Future Mayor]

Yup, you're right. I took a second look and realized the angle better.

[Comrade]

I don't think Japantown was similar to Asian-oriented neighborhoods you see today. The architecture was mostly just old warehouses and buildings, but no real Asian influenced designs, from what I've seen looking at older photos.

This is one photo I found, not sure the exact location.

[Future Mayor]

Not really sure I miss any of the buildings pictured except the two story one in the middle and perhaps the one just outside the picture on the left.

Does the building on the left look the remodeled building on 3rd S next to Penney's to anyone else or is it just me? Which would make the building on the right the now vacant Zephy/Sigfrieds Deli building.

[urbanboy]

If it is, then the photo would not be Japan Town, which was located on 100 South between West temple and 300 West.

[Comrade]

No, it isn't you, because they look very similar, however, this is much smaller than that building. Plus, the distance between that current building and where the old Zephyr Club is is far wider than the distance between that building on the left and the smaller one-story building on the right.

[jmonkey]

Originally Posted by Skyscrapers4Me

It doesn't seem like it was that long ago that they tore it down ! I had to do a little searching to find a decent pic, which is kind of amusing, because it used to be in all the standard "Salt Lake City skyline" pics, years after it was demolished.

Skyscrapers4Me is exactly right--It was the Salt Palace I was pointing out. Funny that one could feel nostalgic for such a big, ugly building, especially one that caused the destruction of a once vibrant neighborhood. But the arena did do a lot of good for the city--without it, would we even have the Utah Jazz? It was also the home of the Golden Eagles, and hosted numerous concerts and events.

I used to have a poster of the skyline taken in the late 80's from the west. The Salt Palace was a prominent part of the skyline. It was well lit at night, and really stood out more than the current home of the Jazz. Funny that you can't find a picture of it anywhere now. I'll have to try to dig up that old poster...

[Comrade]

Yes, the Salt Palace was a risk that paid off. How many cities our size back then had a 15,000 seat arena right in the heart of downtown? I can't think of many, especially for a city that didn't even have a pro team yet (I believe the Utah Stars moved here a couple years after it opened).

It was a risky move that I'm sure many Utahns didn't support, but without the Salt Palace, there would have never been the Utah Stars and without the Stars, there is no chance of landing the Utah Jazz. If I remember correctly, when the ABA and NBA merged in the late 70s, Salt Lake City was barely left off the list. The plans had originally called for Utah and St. Louis to merge, locate the team to Utah and change the name to the Utah Rockies.

When the Jazz were looking to relocate, the only reason they chose Salt Lake (outside of the fact Sam Battistone was LDS) was because they had an NBA-ready arena and a past history of supporting basketball. I don't even think they expected to stay in Salt Lake long, as the move was seen as only temporary until a bigger city could be found. But the team slowly built a solid fanbase and by the mid-80s, the Salt Palace was THE place to be in the Salt Lake area.

[wrendog]

15k? Salt Palace? Nah, it was closer to 11k.

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by wrendog

15k? Salt Palace? Nah, it was closer to 11k.

11,000,15,000 not much difference.

It was still a fairly sizable arena for a city our size.

[Skyscrapers4Me]

My memories:

The Salt Palace Arena "formally" seated just under 11,000...although they messed around with seating arrangements to move capacity up to 12,700. At least according to Hot Rod Hundley...lol.

I thought it was a real tragedy ( and travesty ) when the 25 year old arena was demolished. I seem to recall that a certain millionaire car dealership owner wanted to build a larger arena for his NBA team, AND, the Salt Palace Arena would be too competitive against his new arena in the off-season. Now...I love that team as much as anybody, but I voted against using public monies to help said team-owner, as did the majority. The Salt Palace was suddenly determined to NOT be earthquake-proof. It was particularly ironic when we suddenly had a need for a similarly sized arena, which ended up in West Valley, not Salt Lake. Sorry to wax political, but it is what it is...

The ABA was nothing to sniff at. The ABA teams would occasionally have exhibition games with the NBA teams...and win about 50% of those games.

The Utah Stars won the league championship their first year in Utah and it rocked ! The Stars were probably the reason we tolerated the Jazz during their first years in Utah ("the sucky years"...heh heh ).

Dr J, Julius Erving, played his best ball in the ABA. Some kid named Moses Malone was drafted ( right out of high school ! ) into the ABA.
Connie Hawkins, George Gervin...even Wilt Chamberlain, who played his final season with San Diego, if I remember right.

The ABA came up with the 3-point shot ( to increase scoring and open up the game ), the red white & blue ball, the slam dunk contest. They were pretty forward thinking. They just didn't play in big enough markets to be financially feasible.

I'm going to go listen to some 8-track tapes now...WrenDog can fill you in on the other details...lol...

[Skyscrapers4Me]

Oh, for Urbanboy, the "other" building on the corner of West Temple and 200 South was the St Nicholas Hotel. Here are a few pics of the old girl that I found on the Shipler collection:





The 175 S West Temple structure that always has a "for lease" sign in the window occupies the space now.

[Comrade]

That whole block was a gem.

Ugh.

[scottharding]

That last building (175 South West Temple) is a monstrosity. I loathe it. And if I could pick anywhere in SLC to build the convention center hotel, it would be this spot. Raze this thing (reducing office space a bit would help lease 222 South Main) and build a new tallest right there. Fill the gap in skyline, fill the need for the convention center hotel right across the street from the Salt Palace, and lose that terrible building.
I'm usually one for preserving existing buildings and building on surface lots, but in this case, I see it differently.

[jmonkey]

I have to disagree, scott. Kitty-corner across from that monstrosity is an even bigger one--the Shilo Inn. Both buildings are irredeemable, in my estimation. New cladding didn't make much of a difference on 175 S. West Temple, nor would it on the Shilo. The buildings just don't work. They don't relate to the street. Convention Hotel on either spot--I'm not picky which one.

We had blocks and blocks of the gems like those along 200 South. I try to appreciate what public opinion of the buildings was in the 60's and 70's--they were old and tattered. Stained by years of coal smoke. Remodeled so many times that they started to lose coherency. But the buildings related to the street well; they were very human friendly, and they had history. The St. Nicholas Hotel looks pretty run-down by 1971, but that could have been easily fixed. It's inexcusable what we replaced all those buildings with--gems such as the ZCMI Center, Crossroads Mall, The Salt Palace. If they were all such good replacements, they would have lasted more than 20-30 years.

And while I feel nostalgic for the drum-shaped arena of the Salt Palace, at street-level it was simply horrid. An unfriendly, putrid mess.

[Skyscrapers4Me]

I think the hotel idea ( a REAL hotel ) is a fantastic idea. And yes, the Salt Palace drum was ugly, albeit very utilitarian.

I remember Salt Lake being LOADED with all these buildings, with gargoyles, cornices, etc...just beautiful architecture. But like you say, the coal smoke and the years had left them stained and rundown looking. A lot of them were either vacant or flophouses. The years of running all the smelters in the valley, as well as the old smoke-belchers in Garfield (Kennecott) took their toll too. Also, the brickwork had started to separate, so I think that the owners would take a look at what they owned and decide that something "modern" would work a lot better, and be cheaper too. Unfortunately, that 1960's - 1980's boxy crap is what ended up here.

I wish someone would reclad the old University Club Building ( 136 East South Temple ), maybe art-deco ?? To me, it's part of the skyline, but not very nice to look at.

[SLC Projects]

Originally Posted by Skyscrapers4Me

This has to be one of the most ugliest buildings we have here in downtown. What kind of nut job thought it would be a good idea to built a parking garage with office space ontop of it?
If the parking was underground or behind the building that would of been a different story.