Salt Lake City, Utah (SLC) is one of the easiest places in the world to get around. Apart from the fact that the city is laid out in a grid much like a checkerboard, the streets are also wider than some counties in the eastern states. They may be wider than Rhode Island for that matter. City founders had the foresight to design the city for growth and anticipated the need for wide streets. Not only that, a city block in SLC seems much longer than in other cities as well. It feels more like a quarter of a mile than just one block. The address system is based on the coordinates of a compass with the center of it all being the LDS temple block in downtown. From there, all addresses can be found by their distance and direction from that center point. So if an address were 92 blocks south and 13 blocks east. The address would read 1300 East 9200 South—or, 13th East 92nd South. And you could easily make a mental map of that location prior to heading out.

The City of Salt Lake and Its Easy Going Style

There are exceptions to the rule of the grid system, but they are few. For example, The Avenues in the Northeast portion of the city just north and a little west of The University of Utah, you will find meandering streets of some of the most beautiful historical homes that can be found anywhere. Victorian and Craftsman Style homes with so much character and beauty they seem stuck in that time period. Speaking of compelling architecture, SLC has much to offer in spite of its relatively young age. And, I’m not speaking of only the LDS temple, which took 40 years to build from 1850 to 1890. It is a marvelous piece of architecture. Another compelling structure is the old city/county building on 400 South. This has all the elements of a European cathedral kept in perfect antiquity and it appears to be very well maintained as it has no signs of decay or deferred maintenance.

Utah being a conservative state, means you have some very conservative values in the community. As such, you can find lots of unique items that lend themselves to that lifestyle. One example is pretend makeup; for mothers who don’t want their daughters putting on real makeup before their time. Another example would be modest clothing for girls and women. Bucking the national trend of skimpy attire, this area offers shopping for modest clothing that cannot be equaled except for homemade patterns found in fabric stores or self designed. But don’t get me wrong. You can find all the usual suspects here also. There is more to this area than pretend makeup, modest clothing and compelling 19th century architecture. But you’ll have to find the rest out for yourself.