Exceptional article in Sunday's Washington Post, putting Ogden City in the national spotlight once again. Writer William Triplett delivers to his WaPo readers a well-rounded piece, 1) describing and contrasting the styles of Ogden's two world class ski resort gems, Snow Basin and Powder Mountain, 2) providing a glimpse into our city's "duelling cultural influences," 3) taking a quick side tour of in-town amenities and attractions and 4) giving one of our favorite restaurant/watering holes, the City Club, a very nice and well deserved plug.
What makes this article particularly exceptional, we think: Not a drop of ink devoted to Boss Godfrey or his hokey "recreation capitol" sloganeering. This is one promotional article, we believe, that didn't spring from the Godfrey propaganda mill.
The article's a danged informative and refreshing read; and we urge our readers to check it out:
• Peak ConditionsAnd what say our gentle readers about all this?
14 comments:
Rudi:
Thanks for the pointer. Interesting story, and very good ink for Ogden, as you note.
Interesting that he took Powder Mt. and Snow Basin as reflections of Ogden's historic past: high end big roll visitors on the one hand, and blue collar grease monkeys for the RR on the other.
Oversimplified, of course, but interesting none the less. And I confess, I have a soft spot for newspaper writers who appeal to history as a way to explain modern American cities and places. He's a little squishy on exactly where the Shooting Star is to be found, and I'm not sure I'd call it a part ofOgden's Manichean past [as he does], but still, an interesting piece overall.
To be fair, ought to note that
the accompanying on-line slide show does tout the "indoor adventures" to be had at the Salomon Center. He seems to like the variety offered there.
The article does suggest, though, that Ogden may be missing an opportunity by emphasizing its outdoors adventure connections to while not doing much, comparatively speaking, to advertise and promote its... a believe the acceptable euphemism is "colorful"... past and what remains of it in still sadly often buttoned up Ogden.
Sean Means wrote the SLTrib piece. William Triplett wrote the WaPo piece.
Thanks, Elder McConkie. Seems I cut/pasted from the wrong article. Oh my.
The contrast between Snowbasin and Powder Mountain is important if Ogden is going to attract visitors of all tastes and income levels. Unfortunately, we'll lose some of this diversity if the new owners of PM get their way and turn it into another luxury resort for high rollers.
I like the tone of the article and downtown 25th ST; "Ogden looks a lot like any other simple Western town: Banks and businesses line the streets; the skyline is relatively low and square."
Especially the low and square comment. It amazes me that easterners have a better respect for historic streets than those who actually live here. Maybe they can take look at what Ogden has to offer without losing the uniqueness of 25th street. Developers only see dollar signs and tear down rather than re-furbish and loose the feel for our historic districts.
Another good plug for the City Club, and mention of the restaurants and pubs. Also the membership requirements here in Utah that always makes visiors seem unwelcome.
Utah seems like an unwelcoming and strange place to the outside world, because it is. And has been since a theocracy was established.
Wishing it was not does not make it so, nor does it change anything.
Good article.
However, it was a bit bothersome to find the few errors. The funnest one is where he wrote that the whore houses were all shut down at the time of prohibition. Not true at all. When I was a kid in the fifties I sold newspapers on twenty fifth (yes in those days Ogden did actually have a real newspaper known at the Ogden Standard Examiner - RIP) . Two Bit Street was still ripping and roaring with endless bars and flop houses. There were also many whore houses still in full swing on the street. (My mother woulda freaked if she knew what I was doing and where I was doing it!) The North side of the street was all white and the far west block of the South side was all black. The street was totally segregated clear up into the 60's. One of my regular customers was the gal who ran the Rose room, perhaps Ogden's longest lasting and most famous cat house. She was very friendly and always tipped me a nickle for the nickle newspaper. I would buy the paper from the OSE print room on 24th and Kiesel for two and a half cents and sell them for a nickle plus tips to the drunks and whores on two bit street. Big dough for a ten year old kid! It was my first taste of capitalism and my introduction to the "keystone", a concept I still rather admire! I would knock on the door of the Rose Room and "Rose" would usually answer and buy the paper. She would never let me in though which was disappointing as I was always very curious why the place was always locked while every place else on the street wasn't. Once in a while one of the other working gals would answer the door which would usually end up with a lot of laughs from inside about the young age of the wanna be customer! They would usually make a big to-do over me, patting my head, pinching my cheeks and dispensing with advice about being a good boy. Those whores sure seemed to like young kids! However, they would never buy a paper although they usually would give me some candy. I have had a sweet spot for whores ever since!
I'm lovin' this thread ... Gadfly, might you be referring to the inconvenient fact that Ogden's mayor claims to be reviving downtown Ogden while imposing Prohibition and blue laws on businesses that would otherwise be leading the charge?
Ozboy: yummy yarn.
Very interesting article in today's NY Times dealing with the difficulty cities and their landmarks commissions have in balancing preservation on the one hand with development and new construction on the other. Headline is "Preservation and Development, Engaged In A Delicate Dance." Worth a read, I think. FYI.
“I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and myself and I hope we pass the audition”
- John Lennon ... after the last Beatles public performance on top of the Apple Building 1969 ...
Thanks for The City Club mention ...
Dan S. well put. The very thing that makes Ogden, Powder and Snow Basin great will be lost by their exposure.
This is truly like watching a person find a gold mine and then telling everybody in the village were it is.
By the time the fool realizes what he's done the gold will be gone and all he'll have is an empty hole.
all and all not a bad article.
judging by the comments to the article that appeared with the article there are plenty of people out there that read the article and that dont like mormons because of the churchs stance on prop 8. too bad ogden and utah in general gets toasted in the comment section by the timing of the article relative to the timing of the results from prop 8.
Great reads; thank you!
Oz:
Great stories, Oz. [And now we know where you began your slide down the slippery slope....]. Hope you're putting all these memories of Ogden's earlier days down somewhere. Or taping them. It's history, man.
[Kind of a kick in the head, isn't it, to realize things you remember as more or less "only yesterday" are now things appearing in history text books.... and not in the last chapter either.]
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