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Axios
17-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
When Salt Lake had domed movie theaters known as "The Boobs"
I recently noticed a cool old sign — one of many that adorn the streets of Salt Lake — and soon learned of a famous landmark of yore: The Boobs. This is Old News, where we fumble each week with the bra clasps of Utah's history. Catch up quick: If you bounce up 3300 South, you'll see three yellow balls atop a neglected sign east of the Cinemark Century Salt Lake 16. Turns out the movie theaters that used to be there were a bit ... perkier. Flashback: The first dome opened as the Century 21 cinema in 1967, when movie theaters mostly had one screen per building, with auditorium-like seating capacity. Two years later, the theater expanded with a second dome nearby, named Century 22. We probably don't need to explain the resultant branding issue. The bottom line: The theaters were there until 1998, when the domes were demolished to make way for the parking lot next to the current theater, according to the website Cinema Treasures. 📬 Tell us: Where are your favorite vintage signs in Salt Lake? Previously in Old News Utah's naked hot-tubbing ovation Meet James Beckwourth, the Black mountain man long ignored by history Amid Trump tariffs, the econ lesson Ferris Bueller missed When Alta was "the jaws of death" The Fort Utah Massacre: Murder, execution and decapitation
Axios
11-02-2025
- Climate
- Axios
When a winter at Alta meant living in the "jaws of death"
On Valentine's Day 140 years ago, terrible news began to trickle down to Salt Lake City: A massive avalanche had killed 16 people and wiped out almost the entire town of Alta. This is Old News, where we tiptoe onto the cornices of Utah's past. The big picture: Avalanches were so common at Alta during the late 1800s that the catastrophe was described as almost an inevitability for the few dozen people who spent winters in the mining camp. The Salt Lake Tribune called Alta a " death trap," while the Evening Chronicle called it a " doomed place." The Deseret News described a winter at Alta as "living almost in the jaws of death." "The same old story from Alta is told again this morning," the Herald-Republican reported. The intrigue: Salt Lake's newspapers reported anger and judgment was growing in the city against the "foolhardy" people who lived at Alta year-round — right after almost a third of them were killed. What they said:"The poor men and women who have been ruthlessly stricken down were not in Alta because they preferred the isolation, the discomforts and dangers of the snow bound camp to the pleasures and safety of city homes. … They were there for the bread that they must have," the Herald-Republican argued. "It is necessity that takes them there," the Deseret News agreed. "It is not the lack of sense, nor perhaps a want of appreciation of the presence of a great danger … which has probably brought untimely death to 100 persons within a comparatively few years." Yes, but: Five children and one woman were among the victims; even the miners' defenders said they should have found accommodations in the city for their families. By the numbers: All but seven of Alta's buildings were swept away in the Feb. 13, 1885 avalanche — about three-fourths of the town, the Evening Chronicle estimated. Previously in Old News: The Fort Utah Massacre: Murder, execution and decapitation The most popular baby in SLC A vigilante killing in Hell's Hollow Donny Osmond's debut Utah's first Thanksgiving
