Date: March 1, 2021 (Season 2, Episode 14; 63:00 minutes). Click here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. The above photo is of an early 1950s “singalong,” a daily event where seasonal employees sang their goodbyes to “the dudes” before they were loaded on to the buses for Lund, Utah, to catch a Union Pacific train …
Date: March 22, 2021 (Season 2, Episode 16; 62:00 minutes). Click here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. The above photograph is of the three different cover designs for the Pulitzer Prize-nominated best-seller Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders. Courtesy of Allen Roberts. Podcast Content: The Netflix documentary Murder Among the Mormons (released March …
Score a piece of the state’s literary history — for just a quarter — at the Utah Arts Festival. As part of Thrive125, Utah’s statehood celebration, 125 writers considered the idea of our state in writing 125-word essays and poems. That collection, Utah@125, is being published as a digital literary chapbook. But this weekend, arts lovers can buy original literary …
Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Thirty-fiveBy Dr. Mariya Shcheglovitova, Emma Jones, Catherine Aviles, and Brad Westwood Unlike other areas that received a grade (A to D) from the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (a federal corporation created during the Great Depression), the Pioneer Park neighborhood was designated “Industrial,” implying it was nonresidential. However, woven between the railroad yards and spurs, …
Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Thirty-Twoby Brad Westwood Although the LGBTQ+ community had many prior informal political and social gathering spots elsewhere in Salt Lake City, a number of bars and taverns located in the Pioneer Park neighborhood served as a place to gather for Salt Lake City’s emerging LGBTQ+ communities. In 1970, just one year after New York …
Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post OneBy Brad Westwood Welcome to this serialized and illustrated history of Salt Lake City’s old west side. This blog consists of over thirty posts and scores of images, all presented online to tell the story of a very unique area of downtown Salt Lake City. This series consists of short, quick-to-read segments. Expect to …
April 12, 2021 (Season 2, Episode 18: 53:46 minutes). Click here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. Image above is the cover of Utah’s Story. Courtesy of the Salt Lake Tribune. Podcast Content: In celebration of the Salt Lake Tribune’s 150th anniversary (1870-2020) as continuous newspaper published in Salt Lake City the “Trib” published in 2020, …
Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Fiveby Brad Westwood Above Illustration: “Fort on the Great Salt Lake,” researched and rendered by Kirk Henrichsen, circa 1995; used with permission of the artist. In 1847, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) decided to organize an exodus to the West in search of a new homeland where …
Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Twenty-TwoBy Brad Westwood Many of the west side’s earliest immigrants found employment in mining, transportation and smelter industries. Others bought and sold goods essential to frontier life. This segment speaks to the Cornish, Irish and Jewish American Communities who lived and worshiped on the west side. Many immigrants left their homelands because of famine …
June 28, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 6: 59 minutes). Click here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. The above image is of a Mormon grader camp in Echo Canyon, Summit County, circa 1869, captured by photographer Charles R. Savage. The Union Pacific Railway contracted with Brigham Young, who then established contractor companies, who then hired thousands …
Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Nineby Brad Westwood The completion of the world’s first transcontinental railroad in 1869 dramatically affected the social, political, economic, and cultural life of Salt Lake City (SLC), the Territory of Utah, and the American West. Transportation was one aspect that contributed to changes in the West. The railroad cut travel time from the Pacific …
June 14, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 4; 72 minutes long – 1 hour and 12 minutes). The above image is of the Sands Motel’s neon sign, on the St. George (Utah) Boulevard. Image courtesy of Arbyreed (Flickr). Click here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. The main title for this episode is based on historian Susan …