The city of Sugarhouse (which, in some places, is spelled Sugar House) was established in 1853. It is named after an unsuccessful sugar mill that was located in the city. Sugarhouse is the former home of the Utah State Prison, which has since moved to Draper, and has changed a lot in its history. For example, there are times in Sugarhouse history noted for the splendid shopping and furniture stores, while others are remembered for crime, drugs, graffiti, and gangs. Few historic buildings remain in the area, but one notable historic landmark is he Sugarhouse obelisk. This object is at the intersection of 11th East and 1200 South. It was built in 1934 by Millard Fillmore Malin (a man with a strange collection of famous Utah names) as a “courageous venture” which he hoped would characterize the community. I find that very odd and pointless.
Today Sugarhouse is one of many suburbs of Salt Lake Cit. Its split almost evenly between men and women, population-wise, most of whom are in their early thirties. Sugarhouse covers a vast area of land, seven zip codes in all, and incomes range from $34,448 to $93,280 in these areas. The average household has about 2.39 people (a married couple and a partially developed fetus, I guess). Sugarhouse is also notable for its curiously high crime rates, especially in the rape, property crime, and larceny categories. Physically speaking, Sugarhouse is situated at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains, and is very hilly because of this. The boundaries of the city are 500 and 2100 E, and 1300 and 2700 S. Sugarhouse is mainly a residential area, but there are a few areas where you can shop at large corporate entities. There is also a famously large park, Sugarhouse Park, and a college that thinks it looks like Hogwarts (Westminster College).
A major source of tension in Sugarhouse in recent years is “Sugar Hole” scandal. This scandal revolves around a man named Craig Mecham who used to own a number of old building in an area called Granite Block. Granite Block was well known for its locally owned shops and restaurants, and was a major feature of Sugarhouse. Mr. Mecham, however, felt that the businesses weren’t making enough money and that the buildings themselves were old and dangerous. In their place, Mecham decided to build a large condo development, hoping to capitalize on the high real estate value in Sugarhouse. His plan went sour when the recession hit and he could no longer afford his planned development. Unlucky for him, he had already torn the buildings down, and what was left was an empty hole in the ground: the Sugar Hole. Many people are still very angry over this situation, and feel that Sugarhouse has lost some of its cultural health.
As part of this project, we asked members of the Sugarhouse community a few questions about their feeling on Granite Block. All who responded were aware of the situation, and most felt unhappy about the situation. Some had speculations about the future of the property, but none were sure. As an interesting side note, the members of our group who performed the interviews noted that the businesses around Granite Block that still remain looked empty (though they weren’t) and most were free of customers.
The Granit Block issue is an important one because it showcases a lot about imageability. Imageability is the property of something that makes it evoke a certain image or idea. While Granite Block was still there, Sugarhouse made people think of the cool, independent shops and the alternative, hipster environment. Without them, though, there isn’t any particular image that stands out. All of the shopping is now big and commercial, nothing out of the ordinary. What’s left then is the neighborhood itself. However, Sugarhouse is just another suburb of Salt Lake City, not much different than any other suburb East of I-15. The image of Sugarhouse is now different, worse even, and this could have significant consequences in the future.
Sugarhouse is in need of an image makeover. It needs to become unique again. I say needs because Sugarhouse reminds me a lot of my hometown, Ogden. Ogden used to be a cool city, full of independently owned shops and cool houses. Property values were high and the city was prosperous. Then, things changed. The economy got bigger, more corporate. Soon there was a mall, and people started to flock elsewhere to spend their money. Historical buildings were abandoned, and as people started spending money outside of Ogden; Ogden stopped being cool. It stopped evoking a unique image in the minds of people, and it went downhill from there. Now, downtown Ogden is 80% renter occupied, and it’s a bad part of town. The same thing could happen to Sugarhouse. If it doesn’t become unique, if it doesn’t separate itself from the dozens of other suburbs of Ogden, then it will lose money and people won’t want to live there anymore.
