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SLC neighborhood guide: the Avenues
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A bird's eye view of the Avenues, courtesy of Google Earth.
This is the second edition in a multi-part series highlighting Salt Lake City neighborhoods. The goal of this series is to help people familiarize themselves with Salt Lake neighborhoods and learn what they can expect as a resident. Here’s the run-down of the neighborhoods that will be highlighted in the next week or so:
1. Sugar House
2. The Avenues - today
3. Downtown – July 1st
4. Emigration / Foothill / Bonneville – July 2nd
5. Federal Heights and the University of Utah – July 3rd
6. Rose Park – July 6th
7. Central and South Salt Lake – July 7th
For today, we will press ahead with a quick look at one of Salt Lake City’s oldest and most eclectic neighborhoods: The Avenues.
The lay of the land
Most people agree on the physical boundary of the Avenues. It’s easy to figure out. The Avenues start with A Street on the West and run up through the alphabet to include U Street. The neighborhood terminates on the east end at Virginia Street (get it, V for Virginia?). The southern bound of the neighborhood is South Temple Street, and the Northern bound is somewhere around 18th avenue. I consider any other housing up in the hills to be part of Federal Heights.
So basically, if you have watched a little Sesame Street as a kid you should be able to navigate the Avenues and find neighborhoods. I learned it while watching the Count add up his peanut butter sandwiches and thru several “letters of the day.”
Housing
The Avenues have a very interesting history. The neighborhood itself, north of South Temple Street, was developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s. As such, the early homes were a mix of Victorian style and bungalows. Although the neighborhood fell out of favor through the middle part of the past century, residents have been flooding back in to pick up a historic property to renovate. In early years the neighborhood was limited because of problems getting water to the homes. After City Creek was diverted, the neighborhood continued to develop. A brief history of the Avenues as well as Salt Lake City’s design standards for the neighborhood can be found here.
This neighborhood is just brimming with quality restorations of classic late 1800s Victorians and quaint early 1900s bungalows. The lots are typically narrow but can be fairly deep. Many homes feature large front porches that help to create a friendly neighborhood atmosphere.
On a per square foot basis, homes in the Avenues can be some of the most expensive in the Valley. A renovated and restored Victorian could run up to several hundred dollars per square foot. There are still a few un-renovated bargains in the area, but they are turning over quickly.
The neighborhood is also characterized by very hilly and narrow streets. From South Temple up to 18th Avenue there is an enormous elevation change. While it can be havoc on the average pedestrian, it is bliss for the residents who are able to take advantage of those stunning views. Many of the homes in the neighborhood have spectacular views of downtown Salt Lake up through the University of Utah and the scenic Wasatch Front.
To check for housing prices you can check the Wasatch Front Regional Multiple Listing Service and start hunting in the 84103 zip code.
Commercial
While the Avenues has a few local markets, the retail and office space in the neighborhood is extremely limited. You will find a Smith’s grocery store at 402 E. 6th Avenue. The neighborhood is also graced by the LDS Hospital at 8th Avenue and C Street. Other than that, there are very few commercial uses. With downtown Salt Lake City just a stone’s throw away, this community has been able to maintain itself as a residential neighborhood.
That doesn’t mean that residents of the Avenues lack for shopping options. Trolley Square, The Gateway , and the in-progress City Creek Center provide plenty of options for shopping. In addition, the 4th South corridor from about State Street through 9th East provides plenty of restaurants and other shopping options for residents of the Avenues.
Schools
Residents of the Avenues are blessed with a number of fine schools all located within Salt Lake City School District . While there are several elementary schools and one middle school Bryant Middle School (40 S. 800 E) in the neighborhood, the main dilemma facing most residents is where to send their kids for High School.
The Avenues presents the classic dilemma, with many residents choosing between East High School (800 S. 1300 E.) and West High School (300 N. 300 W.). The boundary for East High School technically cuts off on the south side of South Temple Street. This means that students in the Avenues should attend West High School.
West High School is a truly unique and diverse school, and one of the finest academic high schools in the State of Utah. West offers the International Baccalaureate program as well as a plethora of Advanced Placement courses offering college credit. Newsweek magazine ranked West High as the top High School in Utah in a recent publication.
West High also has excellent athletic and extracurricular programs. West High’s boy’s basketball team won the 4A State Championship earlier this year by defeating a heavily favored Provo High School team.
The student body at West High is one of the most diverse in the state. If you examine the boundary you find kids from the Avenues and Federal Heights neighborhood mixing with kids from Rose Park and the central west side. In other words, you have a unique mix of racial, ethnic, and socio-economic diversity. Some of the wealthiest kids in the state, as well as some of the poorest, attend West. West High has significant populations of Asian, Hispanic, African American, Pacific Islander, and Caucasian students.
In addition to High Schools, the University of Utah sits on the southeast corner of the neighborhood, well within walking distance. BYU’s Salt Lake campus and the LDS Business College are also located downtown, well within the reach of Avenues residents.
Transit
The Avenues neighborhood is well served by UTA withbus lines that traverse South Temple, 3rd Avenue, Virginia Street, 11th Avenue, and the E Street, 9th Avenue, B street loop to service LDS Hospital. Although residents of the neighborhood would prefer even better service, these lines are effective and give the Avenues some of the best bus coverage UTA offers. In addition, many of the bus lines terminate near State Street and/or the downtown TRAX line offering additional mobility to residents.
Cultural
Like Sugar House, the Avenues is a green/blue neighborhood. Avenues residents are typically environmentally conscious, recyclers, bicyclers, and heavy users of public transit. Politically, the neighborhood is one of the other bastions of the Democratic Party.
In addition to the factors above, the neighborhood also has a unique identity. The Avenues have a very open feel, and residents seem very friendly. The topography and design of the homes helps facilitate this interaction, but ultimately it’s the friendly residents of the Avenues that make this a great place to live.
Religious
The Avenues sit just to the northeast of the headquarters of the LDS Church . As you might expect, the neighborhood has a long and vibrant Mormon tradition. Although many Latter-day Saints have been leaving the neighborhood in recent years, the community still boasts several LDS congregations in part of two stakes, as well as the residence of several prominent Church leaders.
The Avenues of today, however, is as religiously diverse as it has ever been. Most of the world’s major denominations have facilities in or near the neighborhood with the rest within range of a 20 minutes bus ride.
Here is a run-down of a few of the major congregations in or near the area:
• Baptist – Calvary Baptist is a short jaunt downtown to 1090 South State Street
• Catholic – The Cathedral of the Madeleine located at 331 E. South Temple Street, with Msgr Joseph Mayo, Pastor
• Episcopal – St. Paul’s located at 261 South 900 East
• Jewish – a short bus ride gets you to Chabad located at 1100 East 1760 South in Sugar House
• Methodist – First United Methodist Church located at 203 South 200 East
• Muslim – again, a short jaunt to Masjid Al-Noor located at 740 South 700 East; or a short car trip to 1019 W. Parkway Avenue and Khadeeja Masjid
• Non-Denominational Christian – Salt Lake Christian Church located at 423 West 300 South
• Non-Denominational – Big Mind Western Zen Center located at 1268 East South Temple
• Presbyterian – First Presbyterian located at 12 C Street
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) – 107 G Street, 589 18th Avenue, 135 A Street
If you notice any glaring omissions please contact me (blpace@gmail.com) so I have a more accurate listing to provide to readers.
Favorites
My personal favorite things in the Avenues are two-fold: the Cathedral of the Madeleine and Salt Lake City Cemetary.
The Madeleine is truly a Utah treasure. Built in 1909, it was fully updated and renovated in 1993. This edifice serves as headquarters for the Catholic Church in Utah, and is one of Salt Lake’s most recognizable landmarks outside of the LDS Temple. If you haven’t been to the Cathedral to check it out, I highly recommend hitting up a service, preferably an event with music.
Salt Lake City Cemetary is one of the most important repositories of Salt Lake History. The cemetery is impossible to miss, filling the northeast corner of the avenues neighborhood. Numerous famous residents of Salt Lake including political and religious leaders are buried there. In addition, thousands of veterans of the armed forces are also interned there. If you have never seen it, it’s worth taking an afternoon and scouting out some of the graves of great residents of the city. You will find Porter Rockwell, Joseph Fielding Smith, and the recently deceased Gordon B. Hinckley (President of the LDS Church) all buried there.
Contact me at blpace@gmail.com with comments. For more of my work, please see:
SLC neighborhood guide: Sugar House
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