Hotel Utah Turns 100

"Its beautiful. Very, very beautiful." 

An Asian man stopped snapping photos as I walked past him and paused in front of the 24-hour Zions Bank jumbotron. I pulled out my camera and we shared a moment in the glow of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. 

It was midnight. I decided he must be in town for a multi-level marketing convention, taking last-minute photos before an early flight.  But that didn't explain me. I live two blocks away from the old Hotel Utah. I couldn't sleep, and had decided to take a walk. 

Down town Salt Lake is looking good these days. The mega redevelopment is nearing completion. But even without the retail-residential promised land scheduled to open in 2012, its starting to feel comfortable simply because residents are showing up in ever so gradually increasing numbers for late 

night strolls and bike rides. 

Walking inside the Hotel Utah is my first memory of Salt Lake City. I remember sophisticated-looking  people drinking alcohol in the lounge--a memorable experience for a kid who has never seen the stuff. I must have been four or five years old. 

This elegant hotel opened in 1911, as a joint venture between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and members of the Salt Lake Business community. As a hotel, it lived a colorful life, through two World Wars, Prohibition, The Great Depression, and the center of Salt Lake social life. 

Over the years I've run into several industry colleagues who got their start in the 1980s at the old hotel while Westin managed the property. 

The hotel closed in 1987, and was converted into a mixed-use building of offices, visitor center, reception rooms, and restaurants. In 2001 The Grand America Hotel, an undeniable reincarnation, opened down the street as Salt Lake's premier complexe hospitalier.

Through September 2011, a brief documentary showcasing the building's first 100 years is offered in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building's Legacy Theater.

"Hotel Utah, 100 years of history: from the Hotel Utah to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building." Deseret News, 7 June 2011.