Current Challenges and Developments in a Post-Industrial Neighborhood: Part Two

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Thirty-Fourby Brad Westwood The Pioneer Park neighborhood has always been a contested space. Initially, the area was owned by Native Americans until Mormon (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Pioneers colonized the land. Since 1847, the region has been in constant transition as new and old residents and business interests …

Growing Up Latinx in Utah: A Conversation with Lee Martinez and Maria Garciaz

Date: February 6, 2023 (Season 5, Episode 9: 40 minutes long). Click here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click here. The episode was co-produced by Brad Westwood and Chelsey Zamir, with sound engineering and post-production editing by Jason T. Powers, from the Utah State Library …

African Americans and Salt Lake City’s West Side: Part Two

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Twenty-fiveBy Brad Westwood and Cassandra Clark The above photo was taken in 1944 by Chinese American newspaper photographer Ray King, from the Salt Lake Tribune in Salt Lake City’s segregated USO Club for Black or African Americans. This post was updated and expanded in early September 2022 and in February 2023. African Americans contributed …

Utah & 1900 US Census with Cartographer Brandon Plewe

Date: March 7, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 7: 59 min. & 28 sec. long). Click Here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. The above photo is of two Chinese American men standing in SLC’s Plum Alley, circa 1907. Plum Alley (between 1st & 2nd So. and Main & State Streets) is one of the immigrant neighborhoods …

The Legacy of Salt Lake City’s Pioneer Fort

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Sevenby Brad Westwood Above photo caption: Utah’s Hall of Relics, built as a small Parthenon replica. Note above the pediment is a smaller replica of Ralph Ramsey’s flying eagle sculpture (the original atop Brigham Young’s Eagle Gate). The hall, constructed of plaster and jute fiber over a wooden frame, was built for the 1897 …

Returning Home: Diné Poetry, Essays, Art & Journalism from Utah’s Intermountain Indian School (1950-1983, Brigham City)

Date: November 29, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 14: 102 minutes long). Click Here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. The above illustration is a cropped image of the cover of Drs. King, Taylor and Swensen’s book Returning Home: Diné Creative Works From The Intermountain Indian School (2021). The art featured is by Diné artist Robert Chee …

“Soul of God” – the Life & Works of Utah Raised Mexican Muralist Pablo O’Higgins – A Conversation with Susan Vogel, Fanny Guadalupe Blauer and Catherine Aviles

Date: February 28, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 5: 73 minutes (1 hr 13 min.). Click here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. The above image is an untitled work by Pablo O’Higgins. Not-for-profit use courtesy of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click here for more …

Bagley on the Value of History (reissued)

Date: November 4, 2019 (Season 1, Episode 1; 35:31). Click here for the Buzz Sprout version of this episode. The photo montage is courtesy of Will Bagley’s pubisher. Are you interested in other episodes of Speak Your Piece? Click here for more episodes. PODCAST CONTENT: Will Bagley was my first guest on this podcast, recorded on November 4, 2019. I …

Salt Lake City’s LGBTQ+ Communities and the Pioneer Park Neighborhood

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Thirty-Twoby Brad Westwood Although the LGBTQ+ community had many prior informal political and social gathering spots elsewhere in Salt Lake City, a number of bars and taverns located in the Pioneer Park neighborhood served as a place to gather for Salt Lake City’s emerging LGBTQ+ communities. In 1970, just one year after New York …

Introducing Salt Lake West Side Stories

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post OneBy Brad Westwood Welcome to this serialized and illustrated history of Salt Lake City’s old west side. This blog consists of over thirty posts and scores of images, all presented online to tell the story of a very unique area of downtown Salt Lake City. This series consists of short, quick-to-read segments. Expect to …

Utah’s Expanding Railroads and Salt Lake’s West Side

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Nineby Brad Westwood The completion of the world’s first transcontinental railroad in 1869 dramatically affected the social, political, economic, and cultural life of Salt Lake City (SLC), the Territory of Utah, and the American West. Transportation was one aspect that contributed to changes in the West. The railroad cut travel time from the Pacific …

Continued Transformations: Industrialization and Salt Lake City’s West Side

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Thirteenby Brad Westwood Salt Lake’s west side underwent massive and constant changes during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.  What began as a fort where Mormon pioneers sought shelter, transformed into a transportation, industrial and manufacturing hub, and by the late nineteenth century experienced dramatic social and environmental consequences as a result. For …