Personal Blog 2

The Gateway is a private strip mall down town Salt Lake City. I was surprised at how many foreigners were there. For example, Hillary and I interviewed a couple from Australia, one man from Norway, and another man from Brazil. Gateway has diverse selection of nationalities mingling, but there were people who appeared to be from lower income backgrounds. Most everyone there appeared to have the financial position to make purchases there. Also, the people were primarily white. Although there were people from different countries, they tended to be mostly Caucasian.
Although Gateway has a public feel about it, it is private property. We were able to witness this fact when a teenager riding a skateboard was stopped and told to carry the skateboard by a security guard, within only seconds of riding the skateboard. I was especially surprised at how quickly a security guard saw him and stopped him! The security guards are hard to notice, but they are definitely lurking among the crowds.
While the Gateway largely attracts a middle and upper class customers, it does successfully attract a wide variety of ages. We saw kids there who appeared to be in middle school, as well as middle-aged and even elderly people. There also seemed to be an even number of male and female guests.
The Gateway has definite boundaries. The Gateway has clear beginings and endings. Within the Gateway, the side walks tend to be cobbled, the buildings are clean and free of graffiti, there are trees and grass (which is occasionally fake sod), and cars have difficulty driving through the streets because they are narrow and have a lot of pedestrian traffic. Outside the gateway, the streets have mostly automobile traffic, and there tends to be more graffiti and city grime. The atmosphere also changes significantly. It feels rather vacant outside the Gateway, and it can be scary to walk alone outside the confines of the Gateway.
The Gateway is a great example of a district. It has clear boundaries and a defining character, and most Salt Lake residents would probably include it in their map of Salt Lake City.