Murals don't always last, so catch these Salt Lake City sights before they disappear
On the Street
By Bryant Heath
One of my favorite pastimes I engage in while running around town is to map all of the exterior murals that I've happened upon. A project with humble origins has since ballooned to more than 500 entries and a quarter-million views, with no signs of slowing down any time soon.
Where sculptures and statues typically remain in place indefinitely, murals come and go just like the tenants in the buildings—or sometimes the buildings themselves—they adorn. In my two years of tracking, I've seen several dozen disappear for a variety of reasons, relegated to "whatever happened to..."-type conversations.
Granted, some were designed to be temporary in nature. The Hip-Hop Education and Resource Center on State Street and Whitlock Avenue—a place where youth can learn the art of mural making—contains a rotating wall that gets regularly painted over. The latest iterations were done by local artist duo Smock and Roll (above photo), but currently the wall is back to its natural blank state.
Demolitions are another common reason for vanishing murals, and developments in the Granary District alone have taken out several.
Where Slackwater Pizza now resides, there used to be an interesting patterned mural by Dave Doman and Josh Scheuerman and an iconic "Love This City: Salt Lake City"—part of a famed cross-country series by artists Pat Milbery and Pat McKinney—was removed to make room for Industry SLC's expansion off of 600 South and 500 West.
There are a few exceptions, though, that either through preservation efforts of sheer luck tend to last much longer. The "Utah Acme Co." mural—done in distinct Deseret font by artists Trent Call and Gailon Justus on a residence at 600 West and Girard Ave—still looks great even though it was painted over a decade ago (bottom left).
But hands down, the winner for mural longevity goes to the gigantic arch on 100 South and West Temple. This uniquely colored piece was painted in 1977 by Paul Fischer and Gyll Hugg (bottom right). A real-life Methuselah by mural standards.
Regardless of how long they stay up, wall murals are one of the things that make cities more interesting—so a big "thank you!" to any artist who has painted one!
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