Can Japantown come back? SLC’s Redevelopment Agency presents its plans for a redesigned street on 100 South

The Buddhist Temple in Salt Lake with the multi-ethnic senior housing project and a crane for the development of the West Quarter in the background. Photo by Luke Garrott.

Salt Lake City’s Japantown – a lively ethnic enclave in West Downtown from the 1910s to 1950s – was decimated by urban renewal in the mid-1960s. Where the Salt Palace Convention Center and the Utah Jazz Arena are now, all that remains of historic Japantown are two religious places of worship, above-ground parking, and an affordable high-rise.

The development is happening everywhere.

These two religious institutions have long been rooted in this block of 100 South between 200 and 300 West. Its buildings date back to 1925. The Salt Lake Buddhist Temple and the Japanese Church of Christ continue to host lively, well-attended cultural festivals on the street each summer.

Images courtesy of GSBS Architects and Luke Garrott.

What’s the next step for the future of the block? The Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency (RDA) is ready to present the results of a community engagement process with the city’s Japanese-American community.

The study to redesign the city’s driveway to 100 South was commissioned in 2018 with agency approval for the massive West Quarter project, which when completed will cover most of the 10 acre block to the south.

Local GSBS Architects led the process and produced the city’s report, which will be presented next week to the city council, the board of the redevelopment agency.

Does any semblance of Japantown have any chance of coming back? What role do city, district and state governments play in every attempt at resuscitation?

Salt Lake’s historic Japantown

The story of the local and state government that danced with federal dollars for the “slum clearance” of Japantown in the 1960s apparently has yet to be written. The year 1966, in which the wrecking ball came, is agreed.

Historical photos courtesy of Mitsugi M. Kasai Memorial Japanese-American Archives in the Specialty Collections Division of the Marriott Library, University of Utah. 100 southern photos in 1965 shortly before the demolition. Contemporary church photo by Luke Garrott.

Haruko Terasawa Moriyasu described the removal of the neighborhood among Japanese Americans in Utah:

“The move to create the Salt Palace Convention Center decimated the two main blocks that were the center of Japanese-American residential and commercial activity. Many of the shops in the blocks between the South Temple and the Second South and West Temple and the 2nd West were permanently closed. Twelve Only – Sunrise Fish Market, Family Market, Aloha Cafe, California Market, Pagoda, Natl. The JACL Credit Union, Utah Nippo, Sage Farm Market, Amis Bookstore, Nisei Watch Shop, Uptown Service Station, and Pee Wee’s have all moved to other areas of the city. “

All had no choice but to leave the Utah neighborhood they’d made a home in West Downtown.

Photos courtesy of the Mitsugi M. Kasai Memorial Japanese-American Archives in the Specialty Collections Division of the University of Utah’s Marriott Library.

In the 1960s, Japantown had deep roots in this part of Salt Lake City. As early as 1907, there was a noticeable concentration of Japanese companies in the blocks between South Temple, State Street, 3rd South and 7th West.

Greektown and Little Italy on the west and north sides of Pioneer Park were apparently included in these boundaries.

Haruko Terasawa Moriyasu: “Within this place, noodle houses, hotels, bed and breakfasts, bath houses, variety stores, barber shops, pastry shops and tailors have been established for the convenience of the Issei [first-generation Japanese]. ”

Daily newspapers (later three times a week) in “slang Japanese”, Utah Nippo and Rocky Mountain Times, were distributed in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Idaho from the 1910s to the 1930s.

By 1925, the Intermountain Buddhist Church and the Japanese Church of Christ had dedicated their current buildings at 100 South.

The design of the Buddhist “temple” was a compromise to make the neighbors comfortable, ”says JT Hitaro, who grew up in Salt Lake and returned as a priest seven years ago. “People were more comfortable with the conventions of a Protestant church design,” the Salt Lake Tribune reported in 2003.

The advent and aftermath of World War II brought great disruption and upheaval for Japanese-Americans, including an influx of Japanese and organizations from California to Salt Lake City, some from the internment camp in Topaz, UT.

Japantown in Salt Lake City was demolished in 1966. In its place, the city received parking spaces and the original Salt Palace arena and conference center, which opened in 1969. It was operated by Salt Lake County and replaced by the present Salt Palace by Calvin Rampton Convention Center in 1995, which expanded west of 200 West in 2006.

Local government response

The RDA kicked off the $ 100,000 project in 2018 with consultants GSBS Architects to help mitigate the effects of the CRA tax hike development of Block 67, now known as the West Quarter.

Images courtesy of GSBS Architects and SLC RDA. Overhead photo from Google Earth.

The Japantown Design Strategy commissioned the temple, the church, and the Japanese Community Preservation Committee with a project that focused solely on public right of way. Therefore, the reconfiguration of the lanes, parking as well as the needs of the annual festivals and accessibility were in the foreground of the discussions. The report recommends numerous street art elements aimed at cultural recognition and remembrance.

The process also resulted in the creation of a local management group and decision making process for the Japantown community.

Funding for the redesign and rebuilding of the street is still pending. A portion of the tax hike generated by the Block 67 development will go to 100 South.

Images courtesy of GSBS Architects.

At this week’s RAC (Redevelopment Advisory Committee) meeting, Chairman Brian Doughty asked if the West Quarter would have a street exposure to the front of the project at 100 South.

The RDA’s Corinne Piazza responded that “the RDA has requested some design changes from the West Quarter development … so this section of development will require a setback and some outdoor activities such as retail seating” on the facade of Japantown Street.

Salt Lake County’s Salt Palace is currently engaged on Japantown Street and was expanded in 2006. Photos by Luke Garrott.

In addition, Piazza noted that the mid-block walkway built as part of the West Quarter can be connected to a future North-South Walkway if the religious organizations redevelop their above-ground parking spaces on the south side of the adjacent street The first phase of the West Quarter, which is currently is built.

Church or Temple renovation plans?

Doughty asked, “Do you have any plans to clean up these parking lots?”

Piazza from RDA staff replied, “The Salt Lake Buddhist Temple is interested … we met with them about options and different tools they can use, but overall I think … I’m not sure they are are exactly ready. “

It is true, she affirmed, “These parcels could really help activate Japantown Street. So if we improve public right of way, private owners could help too. I’d say it’s on the radar, but I don’t think it’s going to take a bit. And the church is getting used to the concept and ideas of what it wants to build, ”added Piazza.

“One of the ideas that the community is really excited about is the idea of ​​programming the road … and helping Japanese-owned companies and somehow getting them onto this road. That is why the management structure is so important. “

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