Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Big in Japan
Posted By Babs De Lay on April 12, 2023, 4:00 AM
Long story short, a friend asked me to be a tour guide for a Japanese film crew here in the capital city to film a local business. They also needed additional footage of our fair city. They'd already been here once before and filmed in and around Temple Square, so I was responsible for suggesting places off the beaten path that a typical tourist might not know about.
It was easy since part of my job as a real estate broker is to show potential buyers the lay of the land. I'm also the volunteer chair of the Historic Landmarks Commission for Salt Lake City, so that gives me additional ideas.
I picked up the crew from their hotel, and, lucky for me, they spoke English. First stop: a drive downtown to Temple Square to explain the scaffolding surrounding the Latter-day Saints temple. Next was a photo stop at the Lion House (63 E. South Temple), built in 1856 by the "Lion of the Lord," aka Brigham Young, the second Latter-day Saints president. Young lived here with as many as 12 of his wives and a number of his 57 children.
Next, we drove up to the Capitol and then to the Avenues, past the grand old Victorian, Federalist and Craftsman homes up to the Mid-Mod area of Pill Hill, where we toured a home for sale with sweeping views of the valley and where I pointed out the geographical benches (foothills), the Rio Tinto mine, Mount Nebo (you can see its peak from the top of the Avenues).
Then, off to the ultimate oddity—Gilgal Sculpture Garden at 749 E. 500 South (free to visit). This little park is the legacy of Thomas Battersby Child Jr.'s desire to give physical form to his deeply felt religious beliefs. The garden contains 12 amazing stone sculptures and 70 stones engraved with scriptures, poems and philosophical tenets that rang true to his spiritual quest.
There, I guided them to "Mr. Brick Pants"—one of the largest sculptures in the garden—as much else was covered in snow. They oohed and awed and took lots of video before I shuffled them back in the car to drive them past Trolley Square (the original service barns of a long-gone, citywide trolley car system) and Liberty Park.
Then, on to our final destination: the world's first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise. Harland Sanders created his secret recipe for fried chicken in 1940. He met locals Pete and Arline Harman at a convention, and in 1952, they made a deal to franchise Sanders' signature chicken at what is now the flagship eatery at State and 3900 South in South Salt Lake. The host of the program informed me that, in Japan, it's tradition to order KFC as a Christmas Day treat, so they photographed the museum pieces and bought swag from there.
We ended up at the Sun Trapp tavern, as they wanted to shoot a gay bar in Utah. Fun was had by all, and the show should be released in Japan soon.
About The Author
Babs De Lay
A full-time broker/owner of Urban Utah Homes and Estates, Babs De Lay serves on the Salt Lake City Historic Landmark Commission. A writer and golfer, you'll find them working as a staff guardian at the Temple at Burning Man each year.
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