Salt Lake Enjoys Cosmopolitan Face-Lift

Salt Lake City has matured considerably during the past few years, and travel writers are taking notice. AAA's Via magazine has this interesting article about our new "Bohemian" city. Below we give the article's title, subtitle and then excerpts.

Salt Lake City's Bohemian Rhapsody

Salt Lake City sings with a cosmopolitan face-lift, a hip arts scene, and trendy restaurants

Welcome to Saturday night in Salt Lake City—the new Salt Lake City. Not since the 2002 Winter Olympics has the state capital flared with such civic excitement. Downtown is in the midst of a $2 billion redevelopment project, and beneath the scaffolding and hard hats, streets are thrumming with activity that belies some of the city’s oldest stereotypes. Chain restaurants? They’re still here, but so are a growing number of bistros and high-concept kitchens. Megamalls? You could just as easily stroll through a dozen art galleries and mid-century furniture shops. Sleepy nightlife? In 2009 the state relaxed its liquor laws, giving rise to a host of new cocktail bars and brewpubs.

“People sometimes have this false perception of us as a bedroom community,” says Jason Mathis, director of the Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance. Mathis is among the new guard of bright-eyed hopefuls promoting the idea of Salt Lake as cosmopolitan, diverse, caffeinated. “Did you know we were rated one of the top 10 most bohemian cities in North America?”

I hadn’t. But sure enough, Salt Lake City is the seventh most bohemian metro area in the United States—one spot behind Nashville, two ahead of San Francisco—according to Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class.

The article mentions several bistros, pubs and galleries that have impressed the writer. We encourage you to read the entire article.