Gateway District - Individual Post

Our group's walk about from this week was to The Gateway and the surrounding areas. This was the first time that I had ever explored that area of town by foot. Look at the map of our route below!


What surprised me the most about the area was the amount of historical sites. I have been to the Old Greek Town Trax station before to go to concerts at In The Venue, but I had never taken the time to look at the other buildings in that area. On the north side of 200 S, across from In The Venue, we saw the Central Warehouse Building. In its prime the building was used for storage while the railroad district of Salt Lake City was still being developed. Now, it is just a decrepit old building with a plaque, nevertheless it was still very interesting. I learned that the area that we explored used to be the railroad hub of Salt Lake. It was also very interesting to see what was left of Old Greek Town because there definitely is no evidence that Greeks used to live there besides the name of the Trax Station. We had a similar experience when we went to Japan Town. The only thing left was a Japanese Church of Christ and a Buddhist Temple.

The space was mostly used by commercial businesses. In the past, the area may have been used for agricultural business and transportation, but now it s definitely a place for entertainment. In one condensed area there is The Gateway Mall, Energy Solutions Arena, several smaller concert venues and Abravanel Hall. The area encouraged human interaction because there were several places where people could gather and have fun. It isn't necessarily a place where you go to meet new people, but it is a place where you go to have fun with a group of people you already know.

In this district there were definitely examples of nodes, edges, pathways and landmarks. Some examples of nodes were The Gateway Mall and Pioneer Park. They are examples of nodes because they are areas that serve a functional purpose. The mall is an area of entertainment and business and the park is a place of relaxation and recreation. There were several physical barriers that acted as edges. I-15 was a giant freeway that made a distinct edge. Other major streets that acted as edges were North Temple and 400 S. The edge to the east was actually a building. The Salt Lake Convention Center was so large that it pretty impeded my vision of anything else that was east. The pathways we took were the sidewalks and streets. Some interesting landmarks of the area were the Union Pacific sign, Greek Orthodox Church and the Rio Grande water tower and sign.

Overall, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this area. Before this trip I was used to just driving to The Gateway, parking and going shopping. I had never really taken the time to see the surrounding areas or see the restaurant district just east of The Gateway.