It still looks the same. Picture perfect streets. Well manicured lawns. The big Mormon temple at the top of the city (that's it next door). But some things have really changed.
Even though we are staying at a hotel just two blocks from Temple Square, when we went out last night we ran in, seemingly at random, to the big counter culture scene. We stopped at a tapas bar called Eva where the gazpacho was made firey hot by the addition of jalepno and the sangria was definitely high octane. The three of us, all in our 50s, were definitely the oldest in the room by a good 20 years. It was 9 PM on a Thursday and the place was packed. All of our waitresses had more tattoos than I had seen anywhere in Washington DC. In short, this place looked and felt like Greenwich Village in New York. Quite surprising.
And then, on the way home we walked into, of all places, a piano bar. The two piano players were covering lots of 70s and 80s songs -- some well (New York State of Mind) and some incredibly badly (Meatloaf's Paradise by the Dashboard Light) but, again, just to find that place in SLC was really surprising.
I guess the place has changed!
Its a whole new Mormon generation, that's for certain. I've not been to SLC for a good 15 years, but the last time I was in Cedar, about 3 years ago, I also noticed the relaxing of cultural codes.
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