Individual #2- Sugarhouse

People new to Salt Lake City tend to think that Sugarhouse is only a park, a rather large park, but a park nonetheless. Sugarhouse, though, is comprised of a lot more than just green grass and little ponds.

Sugarhouse is one of Salt Lake’s oldest neighborhoods. Because of the cold, there weren’t very many people walking about, but judging from Lauren’s testimony and the condition of the houses, most of the people that live there are middle class and Caucasian. The houses tend to be small and quaint, but because of their prime location these houses tend to be more expensive than those in other neighborhoods. The architecture of these houses vary widely and we saw everything from the neoclassical style to Victorian, but it can easily be deduced that they were all older homes.

Sugarhouse is also a shopping district. When our group was there, we stopped at the local “B & R” (Baskin Robbins) and enjoyed delicious bowls of ice cream. While eating we also gazed upon some of the stores in Sugarhouse and realized that the neighborhood was almost entirely self-efficient. They had everything they needed. Unfortunately, many of the old family-owned shops and markets had closed down, only to be replaced by large chains such as Shopko and Barnes & Noble. According to old-timers, Sugarhouse had very distinctive “Sugarhouse” feel, but that feeling is slowly dissipating.

In 2007, Craig Mecham tore down an area of Sugarhouse known as Granite Block, which had housed several classic Sugarhouse buildings, some of which were over a hundred years old. His idea was to replace the buildings with new ones so he could ‘revamp’ the area. He had every legal right to do so, but he met tremendous resistance from the local populace when they heard about the plans because they felt that those buildings held historical value. The loss of Granite Block contributes to the dying Sugarhouse sensation.