Crystal Palace Market Ghost Sign

The Crystal Palace Market ghost sign appeared briefly at 240 S 1300 E SLC.  I took this photo last night (4/15/2025) and by tonight (4/16/2025) it was covered with plywood.

The Crystal Palace Market ghost sign at 240 South 1300 East Salt Lake City

The building was constructed in 1935 and opened as Sewells United Stores, a grocery chain originating in Nevada and operating in the intermountain west.

The Crystal Palace markets were a competing chain in SLC.

In 1937 Sewells acquired 3 Crystal Palace markets and, along with their 2 other SLC Sewell stores (including this one), merged them under the name Sewells Crystal Palace.

In May 1938, Sewells sold their 5 SLC stores to John Gerendas, a Greek immigrant who had co-established the Success Markets in Helper, Utah.

Gerendas changed the names of all 5 markets to Crystal Palace, with locations at:

• No. 1: 525 E 1700 South
• No. 2: 304 E 100 South
• No. 3: 216 E South Temple
• No. 4: 914 E 900 South
• No. 5: 240 S 1300 East

This location near the University of Utah at 240 S 1300 East was Crystal Palace Market No 5.

Gerendas expanded and eventually owned 9 Crystal Palace markets.

Gerendas became ill and died in 1942. Before his death, he sold most of his stores to his employees. His son, Greg, continued operations of some of the Crystal Palace markets.

Gerendas helped employees Bill Ward and Harold Robinson purchase this location. They put a Robinson & Ward sign in the window but kept the big Crystal Palace sign on the building.

The market served the University of Utah area until 1988. It was the longest serving and last Crystal Palace market to close.

The building was converted into a restaurant space and opened as Pancho Villa U in 1989. It changed hands several times in the 1990s including Hot Rod Hundley’s Sports Family Restaurant, China Star, and Einstein Bros Bagels. It was most recently Coffee & Tonic.

SLC building permit plans indicate the new space will be a restaurant (named Henry Baker?). The renovation project includes an interior remodel, restoration of existing brick, facade renovation, window replacement, addition of a front canopy, small rear addition with steel stairs, and changes to entry walls and landscaping.

Native beans! Indigenous food update from my garden

These unusually large beans are known commercially as “Fremont Beans,” and are reported to have been re-introduced by the Worden family of central Utah (and Colorado) from 40 beans taken from an ancient ceramic vessel within an ancient dwelling in the 1960s.

This event does not appear to have been documented and I can’t find a primary source for this story.

I purchased these beans last spring at Liberty Heights Fresh which are commercially distributed by 21st Century Bean (also available from Hells Backbone Grill, although my note about this at the end of my post.

I planted some of the beans last spring and cooked the others.

I have been unable to determine the factual history of the bean. The story about rejuvenation from an ancient archaeological context has been told many times for many varieties of corn, beans, melons, etc. It’s a common story but rarely verifiable.

A 1977 study points out that seed viability deteriorates rapidly for domesticated species as they have been selected for high germination rates following planting, generally within a few years of their harvest. Seed viability for domesticated species tends to be measured in decades, not centuries.

This same study recounts several stories of the rejuvenation of ancient native seeds from around the American Southwest, but all with dubious origin stories. More likely is that native agricultural plants have been curated by native peoples, possibly reintroduced into archaeological context through packrats or people leaving offerings. Maybe, who knows.

Regardless of the origin story, the Fremont Beans that I planted appear to be the same variety identified as P22-009, a Runner Bean (Phaseolus coccineus, Fabaceae), curated by Native Seeds/SEARCH seed bank. The identified origin of P22-009 is “Utah.”

I have sent Native Seeds/SEARCH  request for more information about the origin of P22-009.

I will be posting more of my pondering and experiences with this bean. #beangeek

The Four Corner’s potato

Alastair Lee Bitsóí, Diné, holds a harvest of Four Corners Potatoes in a Diné Basket at his farm in the Navajo Nation. Photo Credit: Alastair Bitsóí

Local Indigenous foods: the Four Corner’s potato (Solanum jamesii).

Most of the world’s potatoes are descendants of a single South American native potato species, Solanum tuberosum, but Utah’s native potato is a different species.

Within the last 100-150 years, the Four Corner’s potato has largely been forgotten with few people (Indigenous and Non-Indigenous) recalling its abundance and importance.

That has changed within the last few years; the Four Corner’s potato is being revived as a native food.

Researchers from the University of Utah, primarily headed by Lisbeth Louderback, identified potato starch residue preserved on 10,000-year-old artifacts in the Escalante region of Utah.

That discovery prompted researchers to look for, and find, patches of wild Four Corner’s potato growing near the archaeolgocial site.

The Four Corners potato plant grows well in the high desert of New Mexico and it grows much more sparsely in Utah, often near archaeological sites; this, along with reduced genetic diversity measured within the Utah potato population, suggest that potatoes were brought to the Escalante region by ancient people- likely from what is now New Mexico.

In modern times, Indigenous farmers and researchers have been sharing their experiences with growing, harvesting, and preparing the native potato.

Cynthia Wilson and Alastair Lee Bitsóí, both Diné, have publicly discussed their revival work of the Four Corner’s potato.

Alastair is relearning how to grow the plant on his farm and he continues the practice of redistribution.

Cynthia has talked about her ancestors’ methods to prepare the food, including boiling the potato with bentonite clay- a traditional Diné method to reduce bitterness.

Researchers have called the Four Corner’s potato the “fourth sister” or “lost sister” as an indication of its importance as a native food. This is of course a reference to the three sisters- corn, beans, and squash.

Collaboration on the Four Corner’s potato continues.

External Links and Sources:

• Earliest Use of Wild Potato
• Ancient Trade Routes
• Indigenous Journalism
• Ancient Potato in a Changing Climate
• Repatriating the Four Corners Potato

The old Diamond Lil's Steakhouse

Diamond Lil's, April 2005. Note "Home Maid"

An old photo of Diamond Lil's. A steakhouse at 1528 W. North Temple. It was destroyed by fire in 2021. I took this photo in 2015.

Here is a short history excerpted from a 2009 Intermountain Catholic article:

In November 1969, Jim Pietramali and Garth Campbell opened Diamond Lil’s doors for business at 1528 West North Temple. The original building was a modest home, which was remodeled using old barn lumber and logs from pioneer cabins, some of which are 100 to 150 years old.

The seating capacity was 32 people in about 1,000 square feet. Today [2009] the seating capacity is 500. The original kitchen was about the size of a large walk-in closet.

Today [2009] Diamond Lil’s is owned by Pete Funaro. He started working at Diamond Lil’s in 1970 for his uncle, Jim Pietramali. Pietramali, 87, still works for Diamond Lil’s.

“A lot of customers kept coming back and we became the premier steak house in Salt Lake City,” said Funaro. “We are an independent Utah’s own company. The seating allows for parties that can seat as many as 275 people at one time.

In 1973, they started adding on to Diamond Lil’s. They used only logs from Utah cabins.

Funaro also has his own wholesale pasta business, Funaro’s Perfect Pasta. Diamond Lil’s serves Funaro’s pasta. All of his pasta was used during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Old Utah Tomato Varieties

Utah tomato varieties are my current historic interest!

Image from Stokes Seeds 112 Superb Varieties 1926

 
In prehistoric times, the tomato originated in South America and made its way north to the area that is now Mexico. Thus far, there is no evidence that the tomato made its way to North America until after the arrival of Euro-American settlers. Despite its once-feared reputation by Euro-Americans, by 1850 the tomato had made its way into most urban markets in North America.

The early Mormon pioneers also cultivated tomatoes in the Salt Lake Valley. In 1857, horticulturalist Edward Sayers was selling tomato seeds from varieties that he grew. And in 1859 he announced the creation of an experimental garden to determine what fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc would grow best in the Salt Lake Valley (I’ll need to investigate this further, fascinating!).

However, it is unclear what specific varieties were cultivated in these early days (as far as I can find, to date), beyond just a description of red and orange varieties. Tomatoes were primarily grown for home use.

A 1927 report titled Tomato Culture in Utah by A.L. Wilson, recounts a brief history of the tomato in Utah. The report emphasizes the Utah tomato canning industry, which started in Ogden in 1888 and continued to grow, primarily in northern Utah.

The 1927 report also mentions popular varieties being grown at that time, with notes about each variety:

1. Stone: best for canning. Dark red in color with firm flesh. Long to mature.
2. Norton: wilt-resistant. Good for shipping and canning. Not as productive as other varieties.
3. Greater Baltimore: Most popular variety in Utah for canning. Ripens earlier and larger yields. Not so well colored as the Stone.
4. Landreth: Increased in popularity, especially among Japanese growers. Larger yields with more frequent pickings. Inferior in color and firmness.
5. Other varieties: Ignotum, Red Head, Red Rock. New “potato-leaf” varieties are noted. A hybrid named “Utah Valley”

Image from Stokes Seeds 112 Superb Varieties 1926

Image from The Canning Trade 1917

Other varieties were developed after 1927, especially by Utah State University, such as the Hamson DX -52-12 which was developed by Dr. Alvin Hamson (1924-2009) for the Campbell Soup Company.

I've also seen reference to Utah tomato varieties such as Pink Pioneer, Big Hill, and Moscow.

More to come.

Mammy’s Chicken Inn, Salt Lake City

Mammy's Chicken Inn menu cover, Salt Lake City
Image adapted from worthpoint

Mammy’s Chicken Inn was located at 890 W 2100 South (now Flying J Travel Center parking lot). This is a new one for me.

The restaurant was owned by George Gerard-Theodoracopulos) (1891-1965) who was born in Crete, Greece, and came to SLC in 1910, and his wife Mary L. H. Gerard, originally from Grand Junction, Colorado, and came to SLC in 1917.

The Gerards (as they were commonly known) were associated with several restaurants throughout the years including Mammy’s Chicken Inn, Silver Slipper, Charlott Club, Streamliner, and Dahlia Inn. And many of these got into some trouble with the law regarding bootlegging, bribery, and gambling devices.

The Silver Slipper Inn operated about 1930-1941 and is notable for its location at 3100 Highland Drive, just down the street from another restaurant owned by a different family but also using racist icons, the Coon Chicken Inn at 2960 Highland Drive, which operated 1925-1957.

The Coon Chicken Inn featured an overembellished character of a bald Black man with a porter’s cap. I have posted about this in the past and there is a Wikipedia page on this one.

The Gerards opened Mammy’s Chicken Inn in 1947 at the corner of 900 West and 2100 South SLC. It used the Mammy caricature throughout its branding, including on menus and souvenirs. I could not find a photo of the restaurant but the illustration on the menu shows a large Mammy sign on top of the building’s entrance.

Mammy's Chicken Inn menu. Image adapted from worthpoint

 

Mammy's Chicken Inn menu. Image adapted from worthpoint

Mammy's Chicken Inn menu. Image adapted from worthpoint

Mammy's Chicken Inn advertisements, from the Salt Lake Tribune

The last reference I could find to Mammy’s Chicken Inn being operational was their New Year’s Eve advertisement in December 1960. By this time, the Coon Chicken Inn had already closed.

In SLC (and presumably elsewhere) the term “Mammy Chicken” was used to describe the style of fried chicken as well as to infer authenticity.

I found other references to the use of the term Mammy Chicken for Utah restaurants. A selection of those: 

• 1919: A “real colored mammy” Mammy Margette at Roselawn 4374 Highland Drive
• 1930: Delicious Mammy Fried Chicken, Cabaret Dancing after 9 pm, at Blue Moon Car Service, 3618 Highland Drive
• 1931: Mammy’s Friend Chicken at Glaus’ Coffee Shop, cooked by a different process, 169 S Main SLC
• 1937: Home Cooked Food, Mammy Fried Chicken at Sugar House Café 1058 E 2100 S
• 1941: Mammy Fried Chicken and J. Dean’s Rhythm Boys at Dixieland Tavern, Ogden Highway
• 1948: Mammy Fried Chicken, Home Cooked Meals, Ethel’s Café in Roy, Utah

For additional historical context:

• 1889: Aunt Jemima as a Mammy caricature
• 1909: NAACP founded in NYC
• 1919: Salt Lake Branch of the NAACP founded
• 1925: Lynching of Robert Marshall in Price, Utah
• 1954: Brown v. Board of Education
• 1955: Emmitt Till murder, Rosa Parks bus arrest
• 1960: MLK and others were arrested for a sit-in protest
• 1963: MLK’s I Have a Dream Speech and the March on Washington
• 1978: LDS Church Official Declaration 2 removed the racial restriction of priesthood

Great-Grandma Edna’s Fruit Cake

Great-Grandma Edna’s Fruit Cake

3 to 4 4-oz jars Glacé mixed fruit peeled
3 4- oz jars Glacé pineapple, cubed
2 to 3 Glacé jars of cherries (red and green), cut up
3 3/4 cups seedless golden raisins
3/4 cup currants
2 1/4 cups chopped pecans or walnuts
1/2 cup grape juice
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 pound butter (2 sticks)
5 eggs
1 tsp almond flavoring
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mace
1/4 tsp baking soda
Brandy

COMBINE the fruits and nuts with the grape juice, allow mixture to stand for 1 hour.

MIX: sugar, butter thoroughly in large bowl. Add the eggs, flour, almond flavor, cinnamon, mace, and baking soda. Turn the batter into a tube pan (or bread pans) lined with wax paper. Press down lightly.

BAKE at 275 degrees until firm and evenly browned, approximately 3 hours.

Remove from oven and cool for an hour. Remove from pan and cool thoroughly.

Wrap cake in brandy-soaked cheesecloth. Store in air-tight container for at least one week.

Chill before serving.


Grandma used to make this about Thanksgiving and bring out for Christmas...it was delicious.

100-year-old Salt Lake City recipes from the Sarah Daft Home

A collection of 100-year-old Salt Lake City recipes, for your consideration this holiday season.

These recipes are from the 1923 Sarah Daft Home Cook Book, as assembled by the Board of Directors.

The Sarah Daft Home, established in 1911, is one of the oldest nonprofit assisted living facilities in the USA and still utilizes its original Colonial Revival historic building at 737 S 1300 East SLC.

Many of the women who contributed to this cookbook were upper-middle-class club women; meaning, these women and their families were part of the professional working society (not millionaires) and likely cooked for their households rather than employing full-time servants. These women often hosted bridge parties, dinner parties, and holiday celebrations.

Many of these women were LDS but some were not and included here are some recipes with wine and spirits.

I tend to think of this collection as the 1923 version of “easy entertaining.” These recipes are economical, not complex, and are often quicker versions of traditional methods.

I chose not to highlight some of the more unusual recipes, such as “Fish Pudding” (described later as “a good use of sucker fish from Utah Lake.”)

Be assured, there are quite a few gelatin-based recipes, and certainly some similar to classic Utah Jello Salad creations.

Surprising to me was the inclusion of “pigs in a blanket” as I had assumed that was born in the 1950s.

Also fun is the term “alligator pear” which refers to avocados.

Of note, in 1923 Salt Lake, the avocado was fairly rare and expensive; so, the inclusion of an avocado salad recipe in this cookbook speaks to the higher social and economic status of these women.

In 1924 the Avocado Pear was described as the Thanksgiving season’s “freak food” and sold in a local store for 85 cents each… which equates to $15.20 in 2023 dollars.

I can see many of these recipes being well-suited for today’s holiday gatherings.

A tip from my Great-Grandmother: she always made her Fruit Cake around Thanksgiving and soaked it in Brandy until Christmas.

A Recap of the 2022 Sema Hadithi History Conference

What a weekend with the Sema Hadithi Foundation!

On Friday, we toured the Richmond Park area, a historically Black and multi-racial neighborhood in SLC, and talked about the lives of four remarkable women (Images 1-2).

Friday night was a remembrance celebration where I received an award for researching forgotten histories.

Some great food was provided by @papastewskitchen and entertainment with @pepper.rose.slc, @findafinley, @caribbean.nightingale. (Images 3-6)

And I learned about the cultural significance of red velvet cake (Image 7) and found that I really liked this Honey Lovin Hot Sauce from Papa Stew's Kitchen (Image 8).

Saturday was the history conference. I presented about H. H. Voss and Franklin Ave (now Edison Street). And I learned all about the importance of military bands and their relation to the 24th Infantry Buffalo Soldiers stationed at Fort Douglas, from @fiona_robinson.

A good, but busy, weekend.

Prehistoric Domestication of Turkeys and Their Complex Relationship with Their Keepers

Aztec illustration from the Florentine Codex featuring a turkey.

Turkeys were domesticated in 2 regions of the Americas more than 2,000 years ago.

The Ancestral Puebloan people of the American Southwest domesticated the Eastern and the Rio Grande subspecies of turkey. This Puebloan breed is now extinct.

The Aztecs and their predecessors in Mexico domesticated the Ocellated subspecies, a colorful turkey that is now endangered. It was the Aztec variety of domesticated turkey that the Spanish encountered and recorded in the Florentine Codex.

The Aztec turkeys were shipped to Spain in the early 1500s where they were then distributed throughout Europe and selectively bred to produce the domesticated varieties we know today. The original Aztec breed is thought to still exist and genetic studies to sort out its lineages are ongoing.

I keep 2 female Spanish Black Turkeys, a heritage breed said to be closely related to what the Spanish found in the Americas.

Adult female Spanish Black turkey, 2021.

Adult female Spanish Black turkey who likes to strut her stuff., 2021.

Adult female Spanish Black turkey, 2021.

The two female turkeys are side by side. They are the
same age and size, when not strutting. 2021.

Turkeys were/are very important to Pueblo people and archaeological evidence indicates they were kept in pens but also allowed to free-range forage. They mostly ate maize as provided by their keepers, their eggs were collected for food, and their feathers were used in a multitude of ways. Many of the turkeys were eaten for food and their bones were used to make items such as awls and flutes but some turkeys were buried in a prepared grave indicating a special relationship.

Southern Utah’s Ancestral Puebloan people made blankets from turkey feathers wrapped around yucca cordage; a rarely preserved example is housed at Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum in Blanding and likely dates to the 1200s.  

Body feathers from turkeys have lots of fluffy down and these were collected from several turkeys to make the blanket. It is likely that the feathers were collected from live birds undergoing their seasonal molt, a time when the feathers can be removed without causing the bird to bleed.

A turkey body feather shed during molting.

This Thanksgiving, think of that relationship between those prehistoric turkeys and their keepers. A relationship that was/is memorialized in turkey genetics, an ancient codex, art, music, religion, and fluffy blankets.

Sources:

• Conrad, Cyler. Contextualizing Ancestral Pueblo Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo spp.) Management. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-021-09531-9
•  Lipe, William D. et al. Staying warm in the upland southwest: A “supply-side” view of turkey feather blanket production, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, Volume 34, Part B, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102604
• Smith, Joe. Tracing the Wild Origins of the Domestic Turkey. Cool Green Science. 2020. The Nature Conservancy. https://blog.nature.org/science/2017/11/20/tracing-the-wild-origins-of-the-domestic-turkey/

The Fremont Settlement of Block 49

More evidence of a Fremont-age village (and the first informal Mormon Pioneer Cemetery) was found in the 1980s during construction of the Palladio Apts at 360 S 200 West SLC, on the eastern half of Block 49- the block just east of Pioneer Park.

Now known as the Block 49 Site, the site has 2 main components: the lowest is the Fremont occupation while the upper are the historic burials (1847-1850s) and the historic occupation through the 1950s.

The cultural remains of the Fremont found at Block 49 could be an extension of the Fremont Village at South Temple (see previous post). Block 49 is also along an old channel of City Creek and the radiocarbon dates of 830-1240 AD are consistent with South Temple.

Many of the artifacts recovered from Block 49 show a similar lifeway as the Fremont at South Temple: They built homes, made pottery, repaired hunting gear, and traded for Olivella shell beads. They ate maize, beans, and wild foods- especially fish.

The remarkable aspect of Block 49 is the large amount of fishing gear such as bone harpoons, fishhooks, and fishhook blanks. Fish bone remains include Utah chub, Utah sucker, Cutthroat trout indicating fishing in both the colder fast-moving City Creek (trout) and the slower and warmer Jordan River (chub).

In addition, partial skeletal remains of 3 Fremont individuals were found. The most complete was that of a female in her 20s. Her remains were significantly impacted by construction and were retrieved from back dirt.

Block 49 was a salvage excavation focused on removing the pioneer skeletal remains so very little of the Fremont occupation was explored. Much of what was found had been intruded upon by the pioneer burials. It seems likely Fremont human remains have been partly/wholly exhumed throughout the historic period by the digging of graves and the construction of buildings.

Historic records indicate that the Pioneers deliberately chose their first informal cemetery to be located on an “Indian Mound” (remains of the Fremont culture) because the soil was softer and easier to dig. Fremont artifacts were most certainly unearthed when the Pioneers dug more than 30 graves.

Source:
BYU Museum of Peoples and Cultures Technical Series No 03-07. The Right Place- Fremont and Early Pioneer Archaeology in Salt Lake City. By Richard K. Talbot, Shane A Baker, and Lane D. Richens. 2004.  Images 2-6 are taken from this manuscript. 

The Palladio Apts (360 S 200 West) now located on top of Block 49 historic cemetery and a Fremont village. Nov 2021.

Looking west at the Block 49 site prior to archaeological excavation. Arrows point to exposed historic coffins. The prehistoric Fremont component is below the coffins.

Overview of the South Temple and Block 49 Fremont sites showing proximity to City Creek and the Jordan River.

Bone harpoons from Block 49.

Bone needles, fishhooks, awls, and pressure flaker from Block 49.

Selection of ceramic artifacts from Block 49.

Construction of Edison House (335 S 200 West) in the foreground and the Palladio Apts in the background, both on 200 West Street. If the Fremont site extended east from Block 49 then it has been significantly impacted by Edison House’s deep foundation. Nov 2021.