Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Those Were The Days
Posted By Babs De Lay on June 27, 2018, 10:00 AM
I was showing a warehouse the other day and while the buyer and seller were talking, I found a copy of The Salt Lake Tribune's "Centennial Edition" from Sunday, April 11, 1971, in a color newsprint magazine format.
It marked teh 100th anniversary of the daily newspaper. The relic was yellowed from time and offered a glimpse into our world almost 50 years ago, a year after I moved to Utah. Thumbing through it, I smiled at the fashion ads that were so late Madmen style, but more so at the simple fact that virtually none of the stores advertised exist here anymore. That centennial year of 1971 was when the Salt Palace Convention Center was a sparkly 19-month-old architectural drum of an arena seating, 14,000 concert goers and rodeo fans.
The Tribune Building at 143 S. Main was purchased several years ago by the late developer Vasilios Priskos and now is home of the Neumont College of Computer Science. The original structure was called the Ezra Thompson Building and was home to a hotel of sorts for riders of the short-lived Pony Express. Advertisers in the special edition included: Arents, a South Temple shop specializing in the sales of animal fur stoles and coats, which closed in 1990, and Commercial Security Bank, which merged in 1978 to become KeyBank, and First Security Bank.
There was a page dedicated to Dee Smith of Smith's Management Corp., which at the time owned Smith's Food King (first founded in Brigham City in 1911 and then acquired by Kroger in 1999), Warshaw Markets and Mark-it Foods (both gone), and another page for "America's No. 1 Color TV, the Zenith Chromacolor." There were ads for Walker Bank, which is gone except for the historic sign that still sits atop the building. Other ads included Mertlich's Tivoli Garden on Highland Drive, Granite National Bank, Continental Bank, ZCMI stores, Castleton's and Makeoff's—all gone. I spotted another for South East Furniture and its neon "sputnik" sign. The sign survived but the store didn't. Next, I saw an ad for Cottonwood Mall, which has been a dirt lot since the Great Recession but soon will see development of homes and stores. Another page had ads for Broadway Shoe Repair, Brown Floral and O. C. Tanner, all still in operation. Also, an ad for Circus Circus casino in Las Vegas offered low winter room rates of $8.80 for a single and $10.90 for a double. Oh, those were the days! Let's see who's still around in 20 years or so when City Weekly turns 50?
About The Author
Babs De Lay
A full-time broker/owner of Urban Utah Homes and Estates, Babs De Lay serves on the Salt Lake City Historic Landmark Commission. A writer and golfer, you'll find them working as a staff guardian at the Temple at Burning Man each year.
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