Sugar House

The answer, from some of the oldest businesses in Sugar House, is that like a healthy forest, both the old and the new are critical for survival.

Gary Davis has been the proprietor of Fankhauser Jewelry since 1972 after he bought it from the Fankhauser family who opened at the same location 30 years earlier. Gary remembers when the neighbors were the Keith O’Brien clothing store (where Barnes and Noble is), Hygeia Ice Co., Red Wing shoes and Stevens-Brown sports store.

He remembers Sugar House as a locals place to shop where most of the people knew each other and the same customers would return to buy from him or to have their watches repaired by a real Swiss-trained watch repairman with a monocle and tiny tools.

For him, the big box stores and the soon-to-be-built Sugar House streetcar don’t enhance the neighborhood. He still does a good business among the people with whom he has been dealing for 39 years and who still appreciate local craftsmanship. Gary is about to retire, sell his shop, and he is certainly nostalgic for the character that Sugar House once had. Hygia Ice was part meat locker, part ice skating rink, and part swimming pool in the summer time. He remembers how hunters would dodge ice skaters as they crossed the rink on their way to store game in the lockers. The neighborhood has become less eclectic since then.

Sugar House Furniture has been in Sugar House for 25 Years.

Sugar House Furniture has been in business just down the street on Highland Drive for 25 years. Owner Jill Haskell raised her two sons while running the business and has always lived in the neighborhood. She was concerned when Whole Foods broke ground across the street and, for a while, the construction reduced business, but now, having more destination stores like Whole Foods and Barnes and Noble seems to have perked the area up.

Her concerns now mainly focus on business traffic being interrupted for two to three years while new housing and retail space are built along Highland Drive to fill the empty space on the corner of 21st South. She seems hopeful that the new residents in the area (much of the construction is housing) and several new businesses will enhance her customer base.

Fankhauser Jewelry has been in Sugar House for 70 years.

Fankhauser Jewelry and Sugar House Furniture, some of the “old-growth” do have a strong customer base already, but the “new saplings” should make for an interesting mix and a larger “neighborhood”. A forest needs new growth.

Utah Stories spoke with Craig Mecham about when he plans to break ground on the project. He says that all the plans have been sent to his attorney to hammer out the details with the RDA and Wells Fargo. While he won’t go so far as to say everything is 100% ready to move forward he says, “I’m very confident we will be breaking ground by June.” He is also excited to see the street car plans moving forward, which would possibly offer a station just east of his property.

Located in the Olympus Hills Shopping Center on Wasatch Boulevard and identified by the chicken with its wings on fire, Wing Coop offers chicken wings and 15 sauces to jazz them up. The challenge is if a diner can consume 11 wings in 11 minutes with 11 sauces, they receive a gift certificate and a T-shirt. But beware – the Santa tabasco sauce does everything to live up to its name!

The Wing Coop has recently been flying high. They won awards over three years at the National Buffalo Wings Festival: 1st place in 2007 for honey habenero in the creative category, 2nd place in 2009 for Santa tabasco in the traditional category and 3rd place for Tatanka BBQ in the traditional bbq category. In 2010, they won the City Weekly “Best of Utah” award.

Store hours are Monday to Saturday 11 am to 10 pm, Sunday noon to 8 pm.

Man’s Best Friend is also an important friend when survival is on the line.

“Avalanche!!”

It is a scary word for Utah backcountry enthusiasts, as well it should be. It takes only five seconds for an avalanche to reach a speed of 40 mph. The force of this cascading snow is crushing– pounding into a person’s pants, boots and even under their eyelids.

If there is any hope for survival, it results from quick action using both can be picked up by rescue searchers even when the victim is buried under tons of snow.

Cardinale got started in rescue work by first joining the ski patrol, and then further refining his rescue skills. “The mountains are awesome, but unfortunately people get into trouble. We try to educate folks and save them from bad situations.” In addition to 100 human volunteers,  modern technology and an ancient one–dogs.

Dean Cardinale works for Snowbird Ski Resort, is president of Wasatch Backcounty Rescue and has been involved in rescue work for 21 years. Aside from being aware of conditions and letting others know of one’s plans, the best advice Dean can give a skier or snowshoer is to wear a beacon. A beacon sends out a signal that there are 30 dogs that are also emergency trained which are owned by the ski resorts. Cardinale holds them in high regard, since each dog can search an area eight times faster than a person. “We love the dogs and they are important tools for us to use.”

For Cardinale, life and death are both possible outcomes of a search. “As rescuers, we are proud of the job we do. We learn from our experience  and get that much better the next time.”

Adam Swillinger and Woody

The same dedication holds true for the canines. Casey Robinson Manus has been working with her golden retriever, Uinta, for six years. She belongs to Rocky Mountain Rescue Dogs, which works with lost persons as well as snow victims. “Uinta is amazing. She has such a talent for rescue work,” Manus said. Dog and handler teams train one weekend a month. A recent session took place at the Lagoon Amusement Park. Teams dispersed to find “victims” hidden throughout the park. Dogs worked methodically, finding their quarry and alerting their handlers. For this reason, the group’s motto is “Fede Canem: Trust the Dog.”

This winter if there is abundant snow, there will again be the chance for tragedy to strike and put life in jeopardy. Rescue dog team member Dave Perks acknowledges this reality and the dedication it calls forth. “No matter how it turns out, I don’t like to leave anyone out there.” he said.

And yes, there is a Johnny Kolache who makes them. Johnny is originally from Texas. The town does not matter since his personality could fill the entire state, and if his last name was not Kolache on the birth certificate, it sure is now. He opened the restaurant three years ago after discovering to his amazement there were no kolaches in Utah. Back in his day as a car salesman, he prepared them as snacks for coworkers. One dozen led to another until now, as kolache king he has nearly 20 varieties to choose from, including pulled pork, cheeseburger and jalapeno steak kolaches.

Most small eateries would be happy to get one restaurant review. Johnny has a thousand posted in plain sight. The restaurant walls are filled with customers’ magic marker paeans to the kolache. Who can argue with one fan’s comment – “More please?”

Johnny Kolaches is open Monday to Friday 7am – 3 pm and Saturday 8 am – 2 pm.

Margrit Schneider opened the body shop 27 years ago. Walking into the building I was met with the logos for Ferrari, Maserati, Porsche, Audi and Volkswagen. While they have a slight preference for these brands, they work on any car. There were many technicians working but the workplace was remarkably free of pollutant smells, grease and dirt.

Margrit said the shop has worked on 312 Ferraris and 61 Maseratis, and has never had a bad review for her work on these or other cars. Pride in quality workmanship, making the customer happy and insuring that the needs of the customer come before the needs of insurance companies are items included in her business model.

Margrit herself is an interesting woman. She received a “green’ business certification from Salt Lake City.  The company recycles and observes energy conservation practices. She is also chairwoman of KRCL’s board of directors and favors the Local First movement.

Some of her principle goals are to educate the public to the fact that everyone has the right to choose who repairs their cars. She says that insurance companies tend to try to dictate who to use so that they can negotiate with companies to get discounted parts and labor. She emphasizes that her shop has no contracts with any insurance company, but maintains good relations with all.

The evidence of quality is in her shop. Inspections are done on every car repair. I spoke with a service representative who said she enjoys working there because the business ethics are remarkably high. She was proud to be a part of Schneider Auto.

Schneider Auto is located at 1180 South 400 West in Salt Lake City.

The majestic sound of a pipe organ is the perfect musical soundtrack for the Christmas season. It inspires and comforts, allowing listeners to feel they are part of life’s grandeur.

Utah is renowned for its organ culture. The BYU music program trains organists and the ML Bigelow Company in American Fork builds them. But the true joy comes from

hearing sacred and secular organs being played and meeting the artists who create the music.

Few sounds equal the 11,000 pipe Mormon Tabernacle organ. It can softly accompany the choir or trumpet resoundingly during daily recitals that have been held at the Tabernacle since 1903. The pipes are operated by five keyboards and foot pedals. “I feel so lucky that I sometimes have to pinch myself,” said organist Andrew Unsworth. “Organists come here from all over the world and I get to do this daily.”

Andrew started playing piano at four and by his teen years knew he had to learn the organ. The versatility is attractive. “There are so many possibilities you feel as if you are conducting an orchestra,” he said. And then there is the volume. Organists control massive blowers that feed air through the pipes. To feel this floor-shaking force is a rush. “If I wasn’t an organist I would have been a heavy metal guitarist,” he laughed.

Organist Scott Mills at the First United Methodist Church traces his organ teacher lineage back to J.S. Bach. The Methodist Church organ has been in place since 1905 and during its restoration craftsmen are incorporating pipes from the Salt Lake Masonic Temple organ. “Pipe organs last forever,” Mills said. “I fell in love with this one because it has such romantic sounds.” The church is seeking to raise $300,000 so that all the organ’s 2,500 pipes will function. The 1,100 that are currently used still allow Mills to create and compose pieces such as “Bring Forth the Breath of God,” which best summarizes the central role that Mills believes organs have in church services.

At the Cathedral of the Madeleine, organist Douglas O’Neill will be busier than Santa on Christmas Eve. O’Neill will play the church’s Irishmade organ at the midnight mass and the early morning worship services, trying to catch some sleep in the rectory between masses. He operates a keyboard that connects via levers to the pipes. For this reason he faces the organ and must watch all proceedings that are behind him on a small television screen. As a teenager, O’Neill knew he wanted to be an organist.

“I’m still hooked,” he said. These are but a few of the locations in Salt Lake where a person can hear classical organ music.

You can also hear organists ringing cowbells and whistling police sirens. Theater organs, which were a mainstay of silent movie houses, still entertain audiences at Peery’s Egyptian Theater in Ogden and the Organ Loft, 3331 S. Edison Street in Salt Lake, where organist Blaine Gale holds court.

He sits at a mighty Wurlitzer Organ with five keyboards, 14 foot pedals and 2,400 pipes that produce sound effects such as train whistles and aauugah horns. The organ is directly below the movie screen, and Gale is actually part of the movie. He does not play from a score, but constantly improvises based on the movie action and crowd reaction. “Since the audience is different, each performance is different. The organ is the master and I am its servant,” he said.

Gale is a retired military officer and a self-taught organist. At age 78 he still finds it a joy to perform. After playing music for a lifetime, he surely must have a special song? “A lot of people ask me that question. I simply answer, ‘I’ll tell you my favorite piece of music if you tell me what was your favorite breath.’”

Lala’s spirit is Lala’s work is Lala’s life. There is no compartmentalization of activities for this passionate muse who beautifully embodies the idea of artist well. Though unconventional in her natural expression it is through the convention we call dedication that she has arrived at the creative expanse in which she now flourishes.

Her craft in designing and creating unique fabric and leather clothing has evolved through years of engaging with life. When Lala was younger she says she “got sick of clothes” and began restructuring second-hand clothing to create her own fashion. An interested Park City store owner helped Lala realize that making clothing was a viable way for her to express her creativity and generate income. A concurrent venture in the performance arts as a stilter motivated Lala to create costumes which segued into fashioning festival wear after she attended her first Burning Man event. A joint business adventure transformed into a solo business journey and Lala’s career has been reborn as 3rd Phoenix West.

“People are informed by what activities they engage in, what music they listen to, what people they surround themselves with. A lot of the things I make are utilitarian because when you’re out there on the playa at Burning Man you have to survive.”

This holiday season, inspired by both her attraction to the styles of the 20s and 30s and her penchant for functionality, Lala is debuting a new line of exquisite and seriously crafted clothing. Her Urban Jedi wear embodies her own style values of comfort, utilitarianism and elegance. Think glamorous in a Mad Max kind of way. The hooded, cropped Jedi jacket Lala has created is a reversible masterpiece of harmoniously-balanced brocade and denim fabrics on one side and rich, patterned velvet pieces on the other, accented with dark brown leather detailing. The jacket arms are corseted and snapped to allow for individual fit and detach to become a vest (for when you need to bust out some Jedi moves).

No stray threads or wonky stitches are visible as Lala constructs the pieces with her Capricornian compulsion for perfection. Wear a Jedi jacket and “you’ll look different, and you’ll look elegant.”

Lala is unabashedly proud of her creations, only because she feels like she is simply a channel through which creativity flows. “I open up,” she explains when describing her process. “It uses my hands. Everything I make wows me because I don’t feel like I made it. The work that I do is simply an expression of spirit. I’m just a part of it, and it keeps getting better. ”

As a non-compartmentalized, integrated and active participant in her community, Lala attributes a measure of her creative inspiration to the connections she has with a vibrant circle of artists she calls family. “There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t talk to another artist and we say, ‘Hey, isn’t this a great idea?’ I’m infused with art constantly and, as a Utah community, this is a really special group of people.

While all the prestige associated with Cambridge was certainly a draw, the deciding factor for me was the beer. England is famous for its ancient pubs offering cask ales such as those our forefathers drank. While  Golda can pursue her passion for asking questions such as: “How do electrons behave both like a particle and a wave, ” I will explore my curiosities of finding the perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness in ales and IPAs.

As a preamble: I’ve never been much into sightseeing, nor am I searching my Lonely Planet Guide for the “must see” clubs or attractions. Nor do I don’t want to report on the Royal Family, (unless they invite us for dinner). More like Mark Twain, I am interested in experiencing the people and the culture through my own particular lens. I am biased, I believe I come from one of the best places on earth, and I bring Utah with me in my back pocket. But as a humble observer my hope is I can share some basic insight into a different lifestyle. I am a Utah Yankee, residing in Prince William’s Court. (For those who don’t know: Prince William was recently crowned Duke of Cambridgeshire by Queen Elizabeth after his marriage to Kate.)

Mark Twain wrote a book called “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” His protagonist suffered a blow to the head and travelled back England of yore. While I didn’t suffer a blow to my head that had me travel back in time to early medieval England, I certainly sometimes feel like I’m living in another time and era.

We are living in a suburb of Cambridge in the small village of Cambourne. On first inspection it seems to me Cambourne is like Draper. It’s about as old as Draper, has similar demographics (mostly twenty and thirtys-somethings with kids). Like much of Utah County, Cambourne was built over what were once mostly orchards 10 to 15 years ago. This was done to provide more affordable housing options for those who were willing to commute a greater distance to the city (eight miles). But the similarities end there.

The English don’t seem to find the 2,500 square foot stucco home on quarter-acre lot as a dream come true. Instead, the homes here are typically built on tiny lots with very little distance between them. There are some big houses, but square footage is achieved by building taller, rather than wider. This leaves no space for front porches or large gardens.

While some might cringe over the lack of personal property, there is a huge benefit to this building model: surrounding Cambourne is a vast nature preserve accessed via footpaths. These paths lead to ponds, community gardens, fields and neighboring towns, and while walking these paths there is no need to worry about getting hit by a car.

From a newcomer’s perspective it appears that the English don’t have the luxury of making the same poor design mistakes that we have in the West, sprawling our developments, and gobbling up land to create a car dependent culture. Instead they have designed their communities thoughtful of the tradition that we are capable of using our legs for walking to places. The store, post office, pubs and restaurants offer little parking but are not difficult to walk to from any part of Cambourne. Also, it is apparent that they must highly value the English country-side rural vast expanses. On Saturdays we can hear hounds barking in the distance. I learned that not too far from our town house fox hunting on horse back is still popular.

One afternoon my dogs and I were following a footpath out of Cambourne through lush farmlands. The path eventually came to a gate which opened to a small road that led to an entirely different town called Bourne, with its own pub, and entirely different beers on tap! In Bourne I found roof tops decoratively designed using thatching or straw. The town of Bourne looked like something out of a fairy tale. We met a man who’s proudly directing his daughter on her Arabian horse, “Yesterday she went fox hunting. She can fire a rifle from her horse, and she is only 16.” The fox hunters can follow the footpaths through fields owned by many different families. It seems it is this hunting tradition that has driven so much of the development with an eye towards preservation.

Here there aren’t giant, mega-developments, like we find in Utah, which require farmers to give up their property in the name of progress. Instead, they build their suburban “villages” in islands surrounded by farms and nature preserves. This way, suburbs and farms coexist. The farmers don’t seem afraid of suburbanites trampling their crops. Footpaths run not only through farms but through yards, down alleyways, and even tunnels under highways. Some paths are for pedestrians only; some allow bikes, and most allow horses. These pathways make walking through the English countryside very enjoyable, especially with our dogs, Keeks and Louie.

Here I am reminded that suburban life can consist of more than cars, traffic, and stress with the only escape to nature being traveling by car to the mountains.

Most of my ancestors came from England. Certainly they were attracted to the freedoms granted by our US Constitution, which over the years has translated into having the freedom to occupy thousands of square feet of living space and drive gas-guzzling machines in which to explore “the wilderness.” But here I am, six generations removed from my ancestors who left England, nostalgic for sense of community and history we are fast losing in the West.

During the heat of summer, crews are out positioning the gadjillion (one followed by a whole lotta zeroes) lights that dazzle the Salt Lake City night at this time of year. Overseeing this enterprise for the past seven years has been Eldon Cannon of Lehi. Cannon jokingly said that at home, his wife is in charge of holiday decorating. But at Temple Square, as manager of ground services, he is the person coordinating the fifty full-time employees and hundreds of volunteers who assist with the set-up. Cannon did not start life as a lighting wizard. He was trained in horticulture at BYU and his joy of being outdoors allowed him to evolve into his holiday calling.

The lights (mostly LED) one sees this year are an accumulation of decades of prior effort and a few “aha” moments, such as placing the nativity scene in the middle of the reflecting pool. One of Cannon’s great joys is to walk around at night and listen to peoples’ comments. He is especially heartened by the way families can come here and focus on what is important in life. “We do this display because we believe in the Message - just be brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors and be kind to each other.”

This is the true light of the Temple Square night!

Triple-certified and award-winning!

Logan’s Herald Journal reports that “Caffe Ibis has been selected as the state winner for the Green Business of the Year Award by an environmental education organization. Coffee shop owners Sally Sears and Randy Wirth were presented the award at the annual conference of the Utah Society for Environmental Education, a statewide umbrella organization and resource for K-12 schools, environmental educators and higher education to encourage environmental literacy.The Logan-based business that has been a fixture in downtown Logan since 1976 was recognized for its contributions to sustainability and environmental education.” Congrats to “one of the only coffee shops that specializes in triple-certified coffee, which means it’s certified organic, fair trade and Smithsonian bird-friendly.”