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.

Historic Intermountain Casket Building at 276 W 100 South

Intermountain Casket Co. building, constructed by the Villadsen Brothers, 1920.
Located at 276 West 100 South, Salt Lake City. Image from USHS.

The historic Intermountain Casket Building (aka Struve Distribution Building) at 276 W 100 South, in Salt Lake's Japantown, was built in 1920.

As discussed in my previous post about the Midwest Casket Building, several casket manufacturers were in Salt Lake City during the 1910s and1920s and one of them was the Intermountain Casket Company.

Intermountain Casket Company building, 2024.
Located at 276 West 100 South, Salt Lake City. 

Intermountain Casket was founded in 1919 by Alma O. Taylor (son of “Pioneer Undertaker” Joseph E. Taylor) and Lafayette Holbrook (quite wealthy from mining and commercial endeavors, former mayor of Provo, and well-connected political and religious relationships).

Alma split from his brothers Samuel and Joseph W. Taylor’s Salt Lake Casket Company and formed his own competing operation. There must have been some Taylor family drama there, especially factoring in that "Pioneer Undertaker" Joseph E. Taylor practiced polygamy, which meant that Joseph W. was the first-born of the first wife and half-brother to Samuel and Alma who were both from the third wife.

As a new company, Intermountain Casket built a new and modern 3-story factory at the corner of 100 South and 300 West. Construction started in 1919 and it opened in January 1920. 

As an aside- The property of the Intermountain Casket Company building was purchased from Annette “Nettie” Eliza Amussen Evans, who inherited it from her father Carl Christian Amussen who was an early Mormon Pioneer, Utah’s first jeweler and wo built the Amussen Building originally located at 62 S Main Street in 1869. The facade of the Amussen Building was relocated during the construction of City Creek Center and is now within a pedestrian walkway south of Deseret Book at about 45 W South Temple.

 I mention this because I wondered why Intermountain Casket built in SLC's Japantown, which would have been very active in the 1920s and Intermountain Casket (unlike the Midwest Casket Co) seemed heavily affiliated with the LDS religion, so it seemed an odd choice of location. However, it seems as simple as it was a large lot with a small adobe home owned by a Mormon pioneer family; the adobe house was being rented out and, like today, a large lot was more valuable for building upon so it was available for purchase. The lot was split with the Intermountain Casket Co building on the west half at 276 W. 100 S. in 1920 and the Japanese Church of Christ building on east half at 268 W. 100 S. in 1924. 

Japanese Church of Christ adjacent to the Intermountain Casket Company (note sign).
Unknown date.  Image from USHS.

The 3-story Intermountain Casket building was constructed by the Villadsen Brothers, who had recently opened an office in Salt Lake City. The Villadsen Brothers were authorities on reinforced concrete and one of the biggest general contractors in the Western US. They also built the Ford Motor Company Service Building at 280 S. 400 West and the Continental Bank Building (Hotel Monaco) at 15 W 200 South, Salt Lake City. 

Villadsen Brothers advertisement. Deseret News 1920-07-12 p11.

The Intermountain Casket building is made of reinforced concrete frame and brick infill that was popular around the time of WWI. The insignia of the Intermountain Casket Company “cIc” can still be seen on the second level of the façade along 100 South.

Intermountain Casket Company insignia "cIc"

Intermountain was described as having “the finest casket display rooms west of Chicago.” They were a wholesale company supplying Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, and Nevada.

In 1924, Intermountain Casket supplied 120 caskets for the victims of the Castle Gate Mine Disaster near Price, Utah.

Mass burial services for some of the Greek immigrants killed during the Castle Gate Mine explosion in 1924. Held in a hall at Castle Gate. Caskets supplied by Intermountain Casket Company in Salt Lake City.  Image from USHS.

Intermountain Casket closed business in 1943 with the company’s president Alma O. Taylor saying that WWII wartime restrictions had become too severe to manufacture caskets as ordered. He was quoted as saying “production of metal caskets and handles were ordered stopped by the war production board, a 50% reduction on silk for trimming was ordered, then the length was reduced, then came the limitation of styles, and with no priorities what can one do?”

These wartime restrictions were ordered by the War Production Board and included an order that steel could not be used for caskets so manufacturers switched to wood and concrete. I also found reference to “Order L-34 (caskets, shipping cases, and burial vaults)” which mandated reduction of length of certain percentage of caskets.

Consolidated Amusement purchased the building in 1943 and in addition to its own offices it also provided office space to a variety of other businesses.  Consolidated Amusement was known for jukeboxes. 

Consolidated Amusement 1945. Interior of the Intermountain Casket building.
Image from USHS.

The building in 1945, when it was the Consolidated Amusement Company.
Located at 276 West 100 South, Salt Lake City. Image from USHS.

Intermountain Casket Company building, 2024.
Located at 276 West 100 South, Salt Lake City. 

Struve Distributing Company purchased the building in 1966. They were known for pool tables, billiard supplies, and other amusement and tavern equipment. They closed 2011.

Struve Distributing Company advertising home pool tables.
From The Salt Lake Tribune 1967-12-16 p35. 

Struve Distributing Company advertising Elton John's Capt. Fantastic pinball machine.

From Marketplace Issue July 04 1976 (from International Arcade Museum)

Some comments on my Instagram post made reference to Real Ride Skatepark using the interior of the building (and all that concrete!) as a (private?) skatepark.   

Interior of the Intermountain Casket Company building, from LoopNet.

Interior of the Intermountain Casket Company building, from LoopNet.

Interior of the Intermountain Casket Company building, from LoopNet.

Currently the building is available for lease. It is located just east of the Delta Center and although not specifically identified for redevelopment, it is within the general area of the Smith Entertainment Group (SEG) redevelopment project.

Location of the building relevant to Japantown and Delta Center.

Sources:

• Goodwins Weekly 1924-08-23 p30
• Salt Lake Herald 1919-07-13 p23
• Salt Lake Herald 1919-06-11 p14
• SL Herald 1916-06-12 p7
• Salt Lake Herald 1919-07-13 p29
• Salt Lake Telegram 1924-03-10 p3
• Salt Lake Tribune 1943-02-11 p12
• 276 W 100 S USHS file
• Various Sanborn maps and FamilySearch data

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

Salt Lake City History in the News, Dec 2022

The history of Salt Lake City, and other areas in Utah, have made the news recently. Here is a news roundup of some of those stories. Direct links are in the captions.

John Browning: The Ogden Man Who Revamped Firearms Technology

Ogden buys Union Station so it can ‘create its own destiny’ downtown

Conversations with Rachel Morot

Uniquely Utah: A town stuck in time

Haralambos Kambouris, an Immigrant's Tale: How an early member of Utah's Greek community rode waves of change to the mines of Bingham Canyon and beyond.  

Fleet Block Development Un-Paused After Public Engagement Push

Salt Lake west side residents voice opposition to I-15 expansion

Tribes Intervene in Lawsuit Restoring Two Utah National Monuments

New West High School in Salt Lake could improve security efforts

A Utah WWII veteran dies at age 101: Wallace Gatrell lived in Farmington, and witnessed a century’s worth of history

Belonging in Utah: U of U professor shares Black history story of Isaac Manning

Uniquely Utah: A town stuck in time

Update on the Ghost Sign at 1480 S State

The old Pappy's Pawn at 1480 S State as it is today, Dec 6 2021.

An update on the old ghost sign uncovered at the now-closed Pappy’s Pawn at 1480 SState, Salt Lake City.:

As of this morning (6 Dec 2021), the stucco has been repaired and painted red, meaning that the recently uncovered sign is now hidden again behind the stucco (see the previous post).

 

The old Pappy's Pawn at 1480 S State as it is today, Dec 6 2021.
Note the lack of seagull statues on top of the pawn sign.

Also note that the existing sign no longer has the seagulls, which we learned from @handysixdeuce that the seagulls were originally part of a massive art installation at the now-demolished Prudential Federal Savings building previously located at 115 S Main Street SLC and is now the site of the Eccles Theater. 

I'm not sure if Pappy took the seagulls with him or if the new owners have them. I just hope they didn't end up in the trash.

Here are some interesting articles about the art and architecture of the Prudential Building, the 2014 demolition of the building, and the promise of SLC to reincorporate the seagulls into the Eccles Theater - which has not happened.

• Salt Lake Tribune archive article about the removal of the seagull art installation: https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=57977106&itype=CMSID
• Mid-Century-Modern Daily's article on the Prudential Federal Savings building https://www.mcmdaily.com/salt-lake-city-prudential-building/ 

Of note, the Prudential Building was designed by architect William Pereira who is best known for designing San Francisco's iconic Transamerica Pyramid.

The seagull piece was named "The Gulls of Salt Lake City" and was created by California artist Tom Van Sant with the aid of master welder Timothy E. Smith. It consisted of 100 gulls attached to three stainless steel rods, 120 feet long, held in tension between the roof and a sunken garden below street level. A cricket was placed at the top of the sculpture.

Prudential building and seagull sculpture in the 1960s.
From Utah Division of State History site file.

Prudential building and seagull sculpture in the 1960s.
From Utah Division of State History site file.

Ghost Sign on State Street, Dec 2021

The other day I saw this historic painted sign being uncovered by workers at 1480 S State Street Salt Lake City, which is the recently closed Pappy’s Pawn shop. Pappy was of Greek heritage and a longtime resident of State Street. 

Detail of newly revealed painted sign, Dec 2021.

The workers said they were repairing the stucco when they found this older sign under it. The workers thought the older sign was incredibly cool and were carefully working to keep it intact.

Unfortunately, it will not be visible for long as the plans of the new owner are to cover it back up.

I did a little history digging and found that the building was constructed in 1938.

Below is an incomplete list of businesses that have occupied the space:

• Crystal Laundry (1930s-1940s)
• Good Laundry and Dry Cleaning (1940s-1960s)
• European Auto Parts Inc (1960s-1970s)
• Jensen Distributing Co (1970s)
• Betty’s Collectables (1975-1976)
• Earl Shiel (1980s)
• Pappy’s Pawn (1990s-2020s)

The only letters clearly uncovered are “ING” so I’m not sure what the full word could be but my best guess is Good Laundry and Dry Cleaning which was operated by a Japanese-American family.

View of Pappys Pawn as it appeared in 2019, from Google Street View.

The Development of Block 64 into SLC's GreekTown

Block 64 (100-200 South and 500-600 West) is situated north of the TRAX Old GreekTown station. This post explores how Block 64 and the surrounding area transformed into Salt Lake's GreekTown.

When SLC was first platted in 1847 the 10-acre blocks were laid out in a grid pattern with Block 1 situated at SE corner of the city, at what is now 800-900 South and 200-300 East. Block 64 is located at what was then the western edge of the City.

Lots were divided among those early Mormons with the widow Nancy Baldwin’s family getting 2 lots on Block 64, the entire southwest quadrant of the block. When George W. Boyd married into the Baldwin family (he married 3 of Nancy’s daughters) those lots and others that he eventually purchased became known as the Boyd property.

For several decades Block 64 remained as much of the rest of SLC– sparsely spaced adobe homes with each house having room for gardens, orchards, and farm animals.

Street in Great Salt Lake City, about 1850s. From LOC.

The first railroad tracks were constructed to SLC in 1870 and in the next couple decades the railroad greatly expanded its operations and was a major employer on the west side of SLC. Even George Boyd, as an old man, worked for the railroad.

Bird's eye view of Salt Lake City, Utah Territory 1870. From LOC.

After more than 40 years of owning property on Block 64, George started selling his property to his children (and others) in the 1890s. William B. Boyd built tenements behind the adobe homes and named the area Boyd Court, which was later called Boyd Ave when the area became known as the Stockade.

Other property owners on Block 64 and surrounding areas were also building rental units and commercial spaces in the 1890s; notably A. R. Carter who built the large Carter Terrace on the north central side of Block 64 that was later converted to brothels (more on that later).

The 1890s also brought city utilities such as electricity, water lines, and sewer line to Block 64; paved streets came in 1902.

In the 1890s the property owners were still largely Mormon with about half of the buildings on Block 64 being older adobe homes. But some new elements, such as the Westminster Presbyterian Church, had started moving in and the neighborhood had begun its transformation.

Salt Lake City, Utah 1891. From LOC.

In 1900, there were only 3 Greek people recorded living in Utah. By 1910 there were 4,062 and they eventually became the largest labor force in the State. Poor conditions back in Greece encouraged immigration to America in the early 1900s.

Between 1900-1905 Block 64, and other surrounding areas, developed rapidly into a Greek enclave mostly due to Greek labor agents such as Leonidas Skliris and Nicholas Stathakos who brought in their countrymen to work the nearby mines and railroad.

In 1905 the Greek community had built its first church in SLC- the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church located at 439 W 400 South (now demolished), the precursor to today’s Holy Trinity Cathedral built in 1923 (279 S 300 West).

 

 The first Greek Orthodox Church located at 439 W 400 South (now demolished) in 1908. From UDSH.

Most of the Greek immigrants were male who sent money back their families in Greece. Only a few Greek Salt Lakers were able to send for their wife and children to join them in SLC. A fair number of Greeks were able to pay for the travel of brides picked by their family back home.

Greek wedding of Magna residents Angelo Heleotes
at SLC’s first Greek Orthodox Church, 1915. From UDSH.

 
By 1908 the west side of 200 South had become known as GreekTown and, not coincidentally, SLC leadership decided to move the Red-Light District to Block 64 to try and break up the enclave of “undesirable” Greeks congregating in that area (among other reasons). More on that later.

The 1910s and 1920s were the peak of SLC’s GreekTown. Much like the rest of SLC’s downtown and other ethnic neighborhoods of SLC, the 1950s and 1960 saw decline through the elimination of public transportation and the emphasis on building up the suburbs.

Open Heart Coffeehouse in SLC GreekTown at 548 W 200 South; Proprietor Michael J Katsanevas is standing, ca 1920. From UDSH.

A note on this image:
This photo shows the Citizens Investment Co Building when it was used as
a Greek coffeehouse (later the Café Orbit/Metro Bar) and soon to be demolished.
Thanks to a great-granddaughter of Katsanevas for updated and correct info! 

Sources:
-  For more about the first platting of SLC: Cartography and the Founding of Salt Lake City by Rick Grunder and Paul E. Cohen. UHQ V87 N3, 2019.
- For more about Greeks in Utah: Toil and Rage in a New Land: The Greek Immigrants in Utah by Helen Papanikolas, UHQ V38 N2, 1970.