The Salt Lake City Public Library

 The Salt Lake City Public Library is a neat building located in downtown Salt Lake City. It was opened in 2003, and replaced the old SLC Public Library that was located in what is now was The Leonardo. It holds over 500,000 books, a subscription to over 60 newspapers and magazines, and expansive digital library, and 163 computers with access to the internet.

This is a small collection of photos I have taken over the years, and sadly doesn’t contain any indoor shots. Next time I am here I will definitely try to get some.

Quick Details:

Length: How ever much you want to wander.
Trail Type: Get out and see.
Difficulty: DR1, Get out and see.
Elevation Gain: NA
Restroom: Inside
Dogs? No. 
Other Info:

To Get Here:

Take i15 to 600 S head east for about 1.2 miles. Turn left onto 200 E. Go about 2 blocks and it will be on the right. There is a parking garage underneath accessed from 400 South.

The Adventure:

This fascinating architecturally unique building was designed by the firm Moshe Safdie and Associates partnered with a local architecture firm, VCBO Architecture.

Moshe Safdie and Associates have built quite a few famous, unique buildings around the world. It’s kind of crazy to think we have a building designed by them here in little ol Salt Lake.

The City County Building across the street in Washington Square. It housed the first and original Salt Lake City Public Library on the top floor. from 1898 to 1905.

The front.

Then the library was moved into the old Hansen Planetarium building until 1964.

Then it was moved into what is now was the Leonardo building until 2003. 

Sadly, the Leonardo announced they were closing permanently in September this year. Fox13 Article (outside link).

The new building at night. As I mentioned, it officially moved here in February of 2003.

The building is 5 stories tall and is wedge shaped.

The block that the library now resides on is referred to as Library Square. Additional buildings were planned to fill in the rest of the block, but Mayor Rocky Anderson asked for them to be left out in favor of creating a public park. Thank you Mr. Anderson!

Other notable features of the building include:

• Fireplaces on four of the floors and were designed to resemble a column of fire when viewed from 200 East and 400 South. (I was not aware of this, and now need to see if I can see it for myself!)

            Image from Google Maps. Unfortunately there are no night shots. So.. it is now on my list!

• A "lens" on the south side of the building, which helps to warm the building during the winter, and saves on heating costs.
• A gallery displaying works of local artists.
• A coffee shop with a private staircase providing direct access to the "Canteena," an area which contains the young adult section.
• A children's library that is visible from all floors and has special areas for children to read and for baby care.
• A spiral staircase and three glass elevators.
• A rooftop garden

The neat archway.

In 2013 a traveling band of acrobats called Bandaloop performed along the 5 story tall window during the Utah Arts Festival.

Additional images from the Arts Festival.

It proved to be a great back drop for troops to perform in front of.

Australia's Strange Fruit performing in at the 2014 Utah Arts Festival.

For being such a new building (Anything built in my lifetime feels new to me hah) it has seen quite a few tragedies.

• in 2005, a woman jumped from the roof to her death.
• in 2006, a small bomb exploded on the 3rd floor.
• in 2011, a woman jumped from the 4th floor inside and died.
• in 2012, a man jumped from the balcony inside to his death.
• in 2013, a man jumped from the roof to his death.
• in 2013, a man jumped from the roof, and survived the fall.

Well, that my quick little bit on the Salt Lake Public Library. I might come back and add some additional pictures over the years. It is a super neat building and has been the backdrop of Pride, as well as many other festivals in the city. 10 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, it can be a get and and see: DR1, or walk around the city path a bit: DR2.

 

Dogs are allowed in city parks, leashed. But not in the building, or when there is a big festival.

Salt Lake City Union Pacific Depot

 The Salt Lake City Union Pacific Depot in downtown Salt Lake City is a historic building built in 1908-09. It was built jointly by San Pedro, Las Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, and the Oregon Short Line. Both later owned by Union Pacific. In1971 Amtrak took over passenger services at the station. But when Rio Grand joined, they moved all train service to their station, 3 blocks south. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

For some reason, I never put together that it was attached to the Gateway Mall. I have been wanting to come check it out for a while, and it just never happened. But, after our adventure at the Museum of Illusions, my friend brought me over to explore. I am not sure if I want to count this as my official exploration of the neat historic building, but, I can say it is my first.

The building was donated to the State of Utah in 1989. In 1999 they subsequently sold it to the developer who built The Gateway which opened in 2001. In January 2006, part of the Union Pacific Depot was repurposed into restaurant and music venue known as the depot. In 2016, the Gateway was acquired by Oaktree Capital Management and Vestar. which announced plans in 2018 to open a hotel. Covid slowed that down a little bit.

The back, with some fun stained glass windows.

It was repurposed in 2024 and is now the lobby for the Asher Adams Autograph Collection Hotel. It opened in October 2024.

Old mural. It looks very similar to the murals in the State Capitol. This one is “Emigrants Entering Salt Lake Valley” by John MacQuarrie and August C Wocker in 1909. The 1847 date above it is when that occurred.

Another on the other side.

It looks like there is a little bar area on this side. Aside from the hotel lobby, the historic structure also contains restaurants, function rooms, and 13 luxury suites. There is also a new building behind it that contains 212 additional rooms. The hotel also has 2 bars.

As I understand it, the Depot is still here, but has been condensed into the north end of the building. I don’t go to many concerts anymore, but I am still kind of surprised none of the bands I would go see ever performed here.

Closer. This one is called “Driving The Golden Spike” by John MacQuarrie in 1909.

1869. Wow! It took me a minute to figure out what that was for, since it predates the building. but it is for the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in, 1869. So, it goes with the mural as well. I initially thought it was something more significant to the building.

The front side, with the old time zone clocks.

The building is sandstone in a French Second Empire style. It includes a terrazzo floor, and stained glass windows.

I had to dig a little bit, but I found a couple pictures I took back in 2022 of the outside.

Super neat building! I love the old Union Pacific logo.

Closer. Hah, it says The Gateway right on the front. Yet I still never connected it to it.

Here is an Google Maps screengrab from Jul 2025. It looks like they took The Gateway sign off.

Oct 2021 to compare. I wonder what they did with the sign.

Meh, quick little visit, but it was neat. I am sad I didn't get to see it before they repurposed it, but I am happy to see they are doing something with the neat old building. 10 out of 10 squirrels.

As for difficulty, it is pretty flat and easy DR2.

Dogs are not allowed, so be sure to leave Fido home.

The Museum of Illusions

 The Museum of Illusions is a fun museum located in the Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City. It features a bunch of interactive exhibits that illustrate optical illusions and perspective trickery. It was actually pretty neat, and I am glad we decided to explore it.

After a day full of adventures, and a yummy dinner, my good friend decided we still needed another adventure for the day. After a few false leads, we eventually found this. So we both went in completely blind as to what to expect.

Guest Photographer: I took pictures of the exhibits, Miss Elise took the fun shots of us (plus a few that employees took with her phone). Her images will be a little smaller, and will have blue text.

Quick Details:

Length: As much exploring as you’d like. I would guess the main path is less than a half mile.
Trail Type: A guided meander.
Difficulty: DR2. Indoors, flat.
Elevation Gain: NA
Restroom: Oddly placed, but yes. It is about halfway through.
Dogs? No.
Other Info: Fee area. Starting at $28.68 per person.

To Get Here:

Take i15 N to 600 N Head east to 400 W. Take that about 1.2 miles to 100 South. Find parking (there are a couple underground parking areas).

It is approximately in the middle. Just south of 100 South.

The fountain/splash pad thingy in the Olympic Legacy Plaza.

Walking through the Gateway Mall. They are starting to decorate for the holidays.

Neat skybridge.

Fun angel wings mural.

The Adventure:

So, quick note. We found out the restrooms are about halfway through as we both needed to use them. One of the employees said if it was an emergency she could take us through going the reverse route. But then we would have to go backwards to the beginning, and then back through again. So.. this is not in 100% the correct order. Sorry about that.

Infinite dodecahedron.

Right outside the restroom.. so now we will work our way backwards to the front.

I forget what this one was called.

It looks cooler from the outside with a friend taking your pictures. Thanks Elise! 

I recommend coming as a group of at least 3, I don’t think any of them required more than that. 2 will get by though. We only had 1 illusion we felt the need to ask someone to take our picture.

I don’t know why I subjected myself to this. They always make me feel like I am going to fall over. I wish I had taken more pictures of the signs, not only for the name of the illusion, but they also had an explanation for how it works too.

The infinity room.

Again.

I believe this is a type of Anamorphosis. Again, I wish I had thought to take a picture of the sign. Anyway, we saw some of these at The Leonardo.

Come closer.

This one was fun. Very M.C Escher-esque

If I had thought about it I would have tried to reproduce a couple David Bowie poses.

This one, one of the nice employee’s helped us get a few shots of us as a mashup haha. I’m not sure if an employee always lingers around here for this, or if we just got lucky. But if not, this would be another one you need a 3rd party for.

This one is kind of trippy.

Head on a platter.

Again.

With me.

We both could have tried a little harder to line up the illusion better, but meh. It’s still neat.

Fish hologram.

2 heads are better than 1.

Tilted room.

I didn’t quite get this one.

I have seen this illusion online before, but it is neat to see it in real life. The back of the hallways, are actually closer to me than the 'front'. Use the shadows below to confirm it.

The same sculpture from 2 different angles.

Yay! This is fun.

Hanging off the window.

My friend.

Hindsight being 2020 I have a couple more fun ideas we could have done here.

Resetting the giant pin thingy.

To recreate the Han Solo in Carbonite thingy.

Me on 2 sides of the same room. I got so small!

This is in the Ames Room.

Getting bigger.

Eyes that follow you. I wanna say, this is like, one of the oldest illusions ever.

It is also at the beginning. So, now we are going to go through the museum like normal. We mostly ignored what we already explored, but I may have taken a few extra shots.

Another fun perspective illusion.

We had to ask for help from another patron to get a shot, but, we both loved it. It looks like if I had taken 2 steps forward it would have been a little better, but meh.

Freaky.

Random fun illusions.

These are cool, but I think the video shows it much much better.

Quick videos.

The infinity Portal. Looking down made me a little queasy.

Looking up.

Infinity mirror. We saw something very similar to this at the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle.

All 4 of those images were from the same vantage. It changed based on the color of light shining on it at the time.

The other corner.

Poker table with alternate versions of you.

Playing poker with my 5 other personalities. Better taken from a friend.

This one reminds me of the meme…

Snort.

Concave mirror.

Another.

This one wigged me out for a hot minute.

Pyramids.

Cubes (reminds me of the Borg).

Transition. Neat.

Giant kaleidoscope. 

With me.

Inside.

Jane Austen.

Books from the other side.

I have implemented the use of this kind of illusion a few times in my life. Pro-tip: It is a great way to remind you of 2 different events. Such as if the dishes in the dishwasher are clean or dirty.

Tesla Coil.

Nikola Tesla from the other side.

I didn’t take a picture but there is a room full of interactive games to play with, and thankfully a sanitizer station near the exit.

No matter how you turn it, the arrow always points left. Fun.

This was super trippy. Watching my head spin around, but from the other way. o.O

Seemingly different colors match when aligned.

The final display. Another employee came around and helped us get some neat shots.

I must say, I am very pleased with our final shot.

Neat fountain. They had to add a sign to say “Drink with your eyes only” I can’t imagine ever thinking this is a place to grab a drink.

Then of course the exit was through the giftshop. Neither of us found anything we couldn’t live without.

Back out in the Gateway Mall.

Fun lighted sign.

Fun rainbow lighted tree.

We decided to stop by a bar for a beer.

Fun quote on the stairs.

The sky bridge again. It currently appears to lead to a private area.

From the side.

Under the gateway sign.

Looking up 100 South. You can see SLC’s newest tallest building, The Astra Tower.  It is showing purple for our air quality today. Purple is bad.

Then it switched to red. Which is also bad. So, yeah, our air is not so good right now.

The Gateway sign again.

Another.

After our beer, we decided we had a good night, and it was time to head back home. Particularly because there was a Jazz game tonight, and we were hoping to beat that traffic.

Heading back to the car.

It’s like.. 9ish on a Tuesday, and the mall is pretty empty. I mean, it is Utah, but still. I guess the mall was on the brink of collapse before changing the standard mall concept from the 90’s. As far as I know it is now thriving though.

They have sold quite a bit of space as office space.

Little mural.

Fun rainbow mural.

More decorated trees.

Uh oh! I see a lot of movement at the Delta Center. We need to get our butts in gear if we want to beat the crowd.

The Gateway Sign again (PSP).

We got stuck in the beginning of the sportsball traffic, but it wasn’t too bad at all. It took us maybe 5 minutes to get to the freeway. I have definitely experienced much worse, even recently.

Aside from the random small traffic jam, that was pretty neat! I am glad my friend found it for us to explore. There is another nearby experience room that I confused with his that I have been wanting to explore, but hey, next time. This was really neat though! mmmm… 8 out of 10 squirrels. It was a little pricey for what they offered. But, the employees really went out of their way to make it a neat experience.

As for difficulty, DR2. It’s flat and super easy. We took some stairs getting to it, but there are elevator alternates.

Dogs are not allowed, so be sure to leave Fido home for this.