Still the place … Salt Lake City - Utah - includes related articles

Sunset, May, 1996 by Peter Fish

And so it is today. In the shadow of the Wasatch, Moroni blows his trumpet. Now the whole world is listening, and Salt Lake wonders who, and how many, will answer the call.

RELATED ARTICLE: SALT LAKE VISITOR'S GUIDE

* TEMPLE SQUARE

Most church-related attractions are free, and open morning through early evening Mondays through Saturdays, with shorter hours on Sundays. Unless indicated, the area code is 801.

Salt Lake Temple dominates the square, but it is closed to nonmembers, so you may have to be content to admire it from the outside. More accessible is the Mormon Tabernacle, famed for its 11,623-pipe organ, its choir and superb acoustics, and its free 1/2-hour organ recitals at 2 on Sundays, at noon on Mondays through Saturdays (also at 2 during summer months). Mormon Tabernacle Choir concerts begin at 9:30 on Sunday mornings; admission is free, but plan on arriving by 9 or so to get a seat. Or attend a choir rehearsal, held from 8 to 9:30 P.M. most Thursdays. Nearby is the graceful Gothic revival Assembly Hall, the site of summer concerts. For a schedule, call (800) 537-9703. And if you don't mind a bit of enthusiastic but benign proselytizing, you can join one of the church's 45-minute Temple Square tours.

Just west of Temple Square is that genealogical mecca, the Family History Library (35 N. West Temple St.; 240-2331). Next door is the Museum of Church History and Art (45 N. West Temple; 240-3310).

East of Temple Square is the former Hotel Utah, now the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (South Temple and Main; 240-4383). Its FamilySearch Center offers computer links to the church's genealogical files. Nearby, Brigham Young's first Salt Lake home, Beehive House (67 E. South Temple; 240-2671), is open for guided tours; Lion House, next door (63 E. South Temple; 363-5466), where Young's wives and children lived, serves lunch from 11 to 2 weekdays and dinner on Fridays and Saturdays in its Pantry Restaurant. Behind these historic homes rises the LDS Church Office Building (50 E. North Temple St.; 240-2452); take a free elevator ride to its 26th-floor observation deck for a 360 [degrees] view.

* AROUND TOWN

Downtown's major north-south streets are Main and State. Sam Weller's Book Store (254 S. Main; 328-2586) is one of the West's best. Gallivan Utah Center (36 East 200 South; 532-0459) is a new public plaza that offers regular noontime concerts through summer. Exchange Place's ornate office buildings, clustered between Main and State, served as Salt Lake's non-Mormon business district in the early part of this century.

The 1915 Renaissance revival State Capitol (on Capitol Hill; 538-3000) is well worth a walkthrough. Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum (300 N. Main; 538-1050) offers an interesting clutter of pioneer history exhibits.

Salt Lake's industrial district - west of the central business district between 200 and 400 West - is rapidly being renovated into a neighborhood of brew pubs and artists' studios. Gallery strolls are offered on the third Friday of every month; for information, call Salt Lake City Arts Council at 596-5000. The Utah State Historical Society (300 S. Rio Grande St.; 533-3500), housed in the old Denver-Rio Grande depot, has good exhibits on state history. To the north, the Second Empire Devereaux House (334 W. South Temple; 596-0990) now holds a Chart House Restaurant.