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Jeremy Pugh

Jeremy Pugh is Salt Lake magazine's Editor. He covers culture, history, the outdoors and whatever needs a look. Jeremy is also the author of the book "100 Things to Do in Salt Lake City Before You Die" and the co-author of the history, culture and urban legend guidebook "Secret Salt Lake."

Oct 23
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Editor’s Note: Seasonal Vertigo

By Community
Executive Editor Jeremy Pugh. Photo by Chris Pearson, Ski Utah

Every year, this particular issue gives us, the magic elves who make Salt Lake Magazine, seasonal vertigo. This is our holiday issue, but we started putting this together in August, when it’s 95 degrees out and you haven’t even thought about starting your holiday shopping. But for us, Christmas comes early and right now, as I write this, in October, we’re already having, as Clark Griswold famously shrieked, “the hap, hap, happiest Christmas!”

We’re setting holiday tables and lighting the candles with designer Leslie Schofield, who talked with us about all the ingredients that go into setting the perfect holiday table (“Home for the Holidays”) and found out what kind of “tree person” Leslie is (spoiler: real). And to fill those gorgeous place settings, we’re sharing a list of over-the-top delivery services that can deliver gourmet delights to your door (“A Luxe Holiday Feast”).  

As goes the holidays, so comes the winter. We get into a snowy state of mind with outdoors writer Melissa Fields. In this issue, Melissa takes us on a high-mountain backcountry skiing adventure in the Uintas and explores a newly launched guided trail system that links a series of cozy huts (and even a sauna) at each stop (“Snowy Solitude Found”). 

We introduce you to the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas and invite you to take the Sacred Oath of Santas (“Bearded Brotherhood”). And with the major league baseball playoffs on in the background, I’m musing about my fond memories of childhood visits to see the lights at Temple Square (“The Lights”) See what I mean about seasonal vertigo? But you are in the future, as you read this, it’s November and you still haven’t done any of your holiday shopping. Better get on that. 

Happy Holidays from the elves at Salt Lake magazine.


Read more stories like this and all of our Community coverage. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

Oct 16
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Utah Lore: The Chicago Trunk Murder Mystery

By Utah Lore

In 1893, a large wooden crate marked “Household Goods” arrived at an address in Chicago. No one at the address knew what it was, and other than the vague description, it was unlabeled, so they refused the delivery. Three years later, in 1896, the crate resurfaced in an unclaimed freight auction (think: Storage Wars). 

This was a blind auction, meaning bids were made without any inspection of contents. The two Chicago businessmen who purchased the unopened box, which was heavy, speculated it could contain a cast iron stove and put in the winning bid for just under $15. However, after prying open the wooden shipping crate, they found a zinc metal box, which accounted for the crate’s weight. It was sealed with spot welds and measured 32 x 22 x 18 inches. Inside, they found a desiccated body with a thick rope tightly binding its knees to its chest and pulling its head down into the body. It was a snug fit and, very clearly, bones had been broken to make the squeeze. 

Courtroom illustrations of the two men, Carl Haas (left) and Frank Ahlgrim (right), who purchased the trunk at
a storage auction. Illustrations and clipping courtesy of Chicago Chronicle/newspapers.com

The discovery made national headlines and the ensuing investigation determined the box had been shipped from Salt Lake City. No return address, of course. 

Which leads us to Franklin Avenue, the original name of a mid-block street connecting 200 South and 300 South in SLC (renamed Edison Street in 1906). According to the blogger Rachel Quist (Rachel’s SLC History, slchistory.org), when Franklin Avenue was at its heyday (the late 1880s and 1890s), it was home to the majority of African Americans in Salt Lake. Like other midblock alleys in the downtown area—Commercial Street and Plumb Alley—Franklin Avenue was considered a Tenderloin district. There were brothels and saloons on Franklin but also a multi-racial community living in boarding houses, as well as many businesses owned by people of color. 


The case of the mummified remains was published in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 1898.

But back to that guy in the box. The body was (most likely) the origami remains of one Monsieur Prospier Chazal, a Frenchman who frequented saloons on Franklin Avenue. He was last seen flaunting large amounts of money and diamonds around town. And the trail ends there. 

No one knows how M. Chazal met his end or what possessed whoever did the killing to gruesomely stuff his body into a metal box, weld it shut and ship it COD to Chicago.  

Edison Street Today 

Today, Edison Street is a popular spot with restaurants, bars, a hip record shop and, let’s not forget, the brand new shiny Utah State Liquor Store. One of the bars, Franklin Avenue Cocktails + Kitchen, was named in remembrance of the street’s former name and its spicy history.

Discover more Utah Lore, and find all our Community coverage.  And while you’re here, why not subscribe and get six annual issues of Salt Lake magazine’s curated guide to the best of life in Utah?

Sep 11
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Cosmica New York Times

Cosmica makes the NYT Best Restaurants List

By Eat & Drink

As the editor of a magazine that writes a lot about how awesome Salt Lake’s dining scene is, I have cynically scoured the New York Times‘ annual list of America’s Best Restaurants each year, watching for a Utah anything to pop up among what they deem “America’s Best Restaurants.” 

Well, folks, chef and co-owner Zach Wade’s Cosmica finally turned the Gray Lady’s head beyond the newsflash that the Great Salt Lake is drying up. 

Ryan Lowder (Copper Common, Copper Onion) is a partner in the business, which he said is all Wade’s show. But that guy has been talking about Cosmica for years. For so long, in fact, that I thought he was lost in a fantasy. Then one day it appeared. And one day, soon after, I went there with some friends before a concert. 

I texted Lowder midway through the meal, “This is f***ing good.” He replied, “Right?” 

To get to that text and the NYT, Wade stripped down the early wild ideas (“Spaghetti Western on acid” was one such fantasia) and dialed in a restaurant that could be in Williamsburg or Silver Lake. But guess what, NYT? It’s here.   

The night I dined there, Cosmica was firing on all cylinders; whatever hiccups our food writer, Lydia Martinez, witnessed in an earlier visit seemed to have been staved off with an Underberg and a Tums. (And no doubt, some yelling from the kitchen). Servers were attentive but not too much so that you felt like they were rushing us along (a flaw in many Utah restaurants). We ordered the House Puffy Bread as an appetizer, a Caesar and an heirloom tomato salad, the eggplant parmigiana, cocktails (Beefeaters up with a twist) and the Spanish rosé. 

I went with the Spagetone, which made it through the rush of mad ideas and onto the menu. What struck me, which is something that will probably vex most Utahns, was that the portions were perfect. As in, they were not huge. I ordered the Spagettone and wondered if I’d get a giant Olive Garden-sized plate of pasta. I was going to a concert. I wasn’t going to carry around leftovers all night. To my delight, it was a perfect one-person portion: House-made pasta, a sharp tomato sauce, garlic and basil with Parmigiano. I practically licked the bowl.

Although the NYT touted its wood-fired pizzas, we just dipped our toes with the house puffy bread, a shareable pull-apart with a side of tomato sauce. It was cooked perfectly, with enough char from the oven to give us an idea of what a full pizza would offer when we next visit.

Congrats to Cosmica for making it from Central 9th to the pages of the paper of record.

When you go

See more stories like this and all of our Food and Drink coverage. And while you’re here, why not subscribe and get six annual issues of Salt Lake magazine’s curated guide to the best life in Utah?

Aug 27
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From 9th & 9th to Central 9th, 50 different eateries now stretch along the reimagined 900 South, turning the street into Salt Lake's hottest culinary district. Photo by Adam Finkle.

Editor’s Note: Mental Mapping

By Community

For us old Salt Lakers, the dizzying array of changes to Salt Lake City can be disorienting. I’m not talking about the actual map; the grid system still abides, as is written. No, I’m talking about the shifts to the cultural map, the ideas and concepts that orient us. The places and spaces that make any city a city have been changing, shifting around and evolving. 

Every city has a Restaurant Row, that part of town, often an actual street, that occupies the collective mental map as the place to go to answer the eternal question, “where shall we eat?” In Salt Lake, this has been and continues to be downtown, but new possibilities have emerged in parts of town that weren’t previously places to
be considered. 

Our writer, Lydia Martinez, recently pointed this out. Nine-hundred South, specifically the intersection of 900 East and 900 South (9th and 9th), has long been a spot, a thing. A place we all regard as “cool.” And now the whale! But slowly, in fits and starts, the avenue of 900 South, AKA Harvey Milk Boulevard, has turned into what could be described as a Restaurant Row, albeit a very long one. We have big blocks in SLC. Hotspots dot the path west, drawing us beyond 9th and 9th proper. 

To the West is Central 9th, anchored by its initial pioneers, the cocktail wizards at Water Witch, but from the rubble, a new place for your mental maps now exists. The Pearl, Bar Nohm, Central Ninth Market and Scion Cider Bar make this place a place.

It was the in-between, however, that Lydia noted. Fine-dining stalwarts like Veneto and Manoli’s have been there, of course, but now there is more there, there. While we complained about orange traffic barrels and fledgling businesses struggled uphill, little by little, cohesion and a new bike and walking route (The Nine Line) connected the dots. Lake Sears is still a blight, but enough dots have filled in that we can proclaim that 900 South is a Restaurant Row. We point the way on in our feature “The New Foodie Hotspot.”

Read more stories like this and all of our Community coverage. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

Aug 07
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Utah Lore: How Sherlock Holmes Solved a Utah Mystery

By Utah Lore

Sherlock Holmes was created in 1887 by Arthur Conan Doyle, whose creation would eclipse his creator in world renown. Known for his fastidiousness, scientific methods and use of sharp deductive logic, Holmes, and his long-suffering assistant, Dr. John H. Watson, are among the most beloved characters in the English canon. Doyle’s creation spawned the entire mystery (or crime, as it’s known across the pond) genre. But did you know that his first novel, A Study in Scarlet, features a murder mystery that includes a villainous depiction of early LDS leader Brigham Young and a gang of his enforcers, known as the Danites?


A Study in Scarlet, originally published in 1887 introduced Sherlock Holmes to the world. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

A Study in Scarlet was originally published in 1887 without fanfare in Beeton’s Christmas Annual. Doyle’s detective, however, lived on in future stories published in The Strand, a penny magazine that dealt in salacious and gossipy tales. In the first story, Holmes and Watson solve a mystery that has its improbable roots in Salt Lake City after two murders are committed by a London cabbie. The cabbie turns out to be the betrothed of a woman who was forcibly married off to a Mormon man on the order of Brigham Young back in Utah and has died of a broken heart. The erstwhile groom has tracked this Mormon man and his partner in crime to London and kills them in revenge, writing the German word for revenge, “RACHE,” in scarlet blood at one of the crime scenes (which gives the novel its colorful name). Holmes and Watson solve the crime, naturally, but the book paints the early Mormon faith in a rapacious and derogatory light. This perspective was common in entertainment and fiction of the period, which often treated the allure of the far-off frontier with a combination of fear and romanticism.

Meanwhile, in actual Utah, the Danites were a real deal. They were members of a fraternal order of Mormon men who played a part as vigilantes in the 1838 Mormon War in Missouri, before the faith’s Exodus-like emigration to Utah. Here in the West in 1857, the territorial militia, The Nauvoo Legion, (with the aid of mercenary Southern Paiutes), perpetrated the Mountain Meadows Massacre—the mass murder of at least 120 members of the Baker-Fancher wagon train traveling the Old Spanish Trail bound for California. (The event figures prominently in the Netflix series American Primeval.)  


 Photo thought to be Bill Hickman, who was also known as a “Danite chief.” The photo has sometimes been incorrectly identified as Porter Rockwell.  Photo courtesy of Marriot Digital Library

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes, who was made famous in the novel A Study in Scarlet, which features a plot that originated in frontier Utah. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress

Old Port

While it is folklore that the Danites were a precursor to the Nauvoo Legion, it is not known if the group formally existed in the Utah Territory. However, one of the Danites’ most well-known members, Porter Rockwell, was a notorious and feared Luca Brasi to Brigham’s Michael Corleone. Rockwell, known as “The Destroying Angel of Mormondom,” was indicted but never formally charged with the attempted assassination of the Governor of Missouri. He was also Brigham Young’s bodyguard out west. Meanwhile, the Danites and “Old Port” remain an important part of early Mormon folklore and legend. 

Discover more Utah Lore, and find all our Community coverage.  And while you’re here, why not subscribe and get six annual issues of Salt Lake magazine’s curated guide to the best of life in Utah?

Jul 11
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Utah Field Guide: Jell-O

By Utah Lore

Utah is famously known for its per capita consumption of Jell-O—so much so that in 2001, the Utah State Legislature voted to name Jell-O its official state snack. 

But apart from Utahns’ hearty consumption of Jell-O, the roots of the connection are shrouded. Jell-O is among the most well-known consumer products in the United States, and it was one of the first to blaze the trail of modern target marketing and branding in the early portion of the 20th century. Jell-O marketers squished Jell-O onto dinner tables via (1) a catchy slogan (“There’s always room for Jell-O”); (2) a fleet of snappily dressed salesmen; and (3) a slew of free cookbooks and recipe placements in bless-this-house publications like Ladies’ Home Journal.

But how did Jell-O and Utah become such a great punchline—a state joke up there with fry sauce and multiple wives?

Theory: The main appeal of Jell-O lies in its famous 1964 slogan, one of the most honest slogans in the history of huckstering. Jell-O is light, goes down effortlessly and has a pleasant (but not sinfully pleasant) taste. It is not healthy; neither is it unhealthy. It just is. And it’s cheap. Let’s face it, for the better part of the 20th century, everyone was broke (and now we’re back). 

The modest, fruity kick of Jell-O brought a dash of color and life to tabletops laden with drab, gray meals. It slid its way into the tight budgets of America as easily as it slides down your throat. On grocery bills and in stomachs, there is indeed “always room.”

It stands to reason, then, that Utah’s moms, with their large families to feed, would find even more common cause with the bringer of color to the family dinner. I grew up amid large LDS families where there was a strong emphasis on buying in bulk, cooking in bulk and possessing larders the size of Carlsbad Caverns.

When you’re feeding 10 hungry mouths, Jell-O becomes a must-have foodstuff to fend off sweet-toothed mutiny. At the Willis compound (family of 10), there were always ice cube trays of red (is that a flavor?) Jell-O in the fridge during the summer. Hungry? Have a cube of Jell-O. It wasn’t luxury, but it sure tasted good after an afternoon of running through the sprinklers.

And thus, hunger for something lively amid dull—albeit fortifying—meals placed Jell-O firmly on the table at the ward picnic. And Utah moms and grandmoms, culinary Chuck Yeagers, have pushed Jell-O’s limitations past the sound barrier. Jell-O with mandarin oranges (yummy), carrots (erm) and whipped topping, even today, pay living testament to a time when a little bright, jiggling a dollop of gelatin and Red Dye No. 3 was cause for delight. Utah’s jiggling version of Proust’s Madeleine.

Discover more Utah Lore, and find all our Community coverage.  And while you’re here, why not subscribe and get six annual issues of Salt Lake magazine’s curated guide to the best of life in Utah?

Jun 27
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How To: Red Butte Outdoor Concerts

By Music

Step one on thriving at the Red Butte Outdoor Concerts? Get the Tommy Bahama chair.

You’ve survived your first Utah winter. That thing with UtahisRad83 fizzled, but at least you had a snuggle buddy. Time to get out into the Utah summer, which, duh is all about the shows at Red Butte. Red Butte Garden’s Outdoor Concert Series kicked off in May and you’re probably wondering what all the fuss is about. Here’s our guide to Red Butte with pizzazz.  

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What is it? 

An expensive way to drink in the park with 3,000 of your close, personal friends. Plus, a live band!

How do I get tickets? 

It’s a simple 25-step process. Buy a membership to Red Butte Garden (wait, you didn’t do that?). This will allow you to wander the gardens any time you want. You will never do this. But it’s nice to think about. “No Mom. I have to buy the membership to get my Pat Benatar tickets before everyone else. I can go to the garden whenever I want—and it’s SO pretty there. Can I get Dad’s credit card?” 

But really, how do I get tickets? 

Painstakingly review the season announcement. Then, membership card in hand, log in and keep hitting refresh. Be advised: Red Butte people are the same ones who get up at 3 a.m. to go to Alta on a powder day. 

How much? 

A lot. First. There’s that membership to the garden you won’t use to get in line for early ticket sales with every old head from 1995. Then, well who knows? $70+ a show? Oh, also, your wine-cracker-hummus-olive-cheese-and-wine budget is blown.

So what happens there? 

The people-watching at Red Butte is très magnifique. You’ve got the Botox set dancing like no one’s watching and their silverback venture capitalist man friends in fedoras and Tommy Bahama gear, pretending they like to dance. Then there’s you. Just drink your Barefoot Merlot, dear, and wonder why you didn’t major in finance or whatever it is these people do.

What about the line?

Yeah, that’s a thing. There are all these people ostensibly without jobs who show up at like 10 a.m. to just kick it. By the time you take your dog out to pee after your barista shift, you’ll be way, way back. When the gates open and line snakes down, you’ll emerge into the amphitheater to find a sea of giant space-hogging blankets. Stand there forlornly with your massive cooler, Costco chair and chickpea dip and just wade in.

How drunk are these people?

Larry is a little wobbly and isn’t respecting the sovereign nation of YOUR BLANKET. Yeah, he’s going to stumble into your cheese plate. 

What’s the band? 

Who cares? Red Butte shows become a blur of cheap wine and hummus.

But for real. Red Butte Garden Shows are a mainstay of summer in Salt Lake. To find out what you’re missing visit redbuttegarden.org.

Top Shows to See

June 22 — Tash Sultana. A singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, engineer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. This “one-person band” is not like anything you’ve seen before.

July 27 — Christone “Kingfish” Ingram + Samantha Fish. The blues duo have teamed up for their “Gone Fishin’ Tour.” Expect some searing guitar solos and genre-blending blues, rock and soul.

Sept. 14 — OK GO. Known for their elaborate live video performance format, this four-member power group is an act you don’t want to miss.

Read more of our music coverage and get the latest on the arts and culture scene in and around Utah. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

Jun 26
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Editor’s Note: Best of the Beehive

By Community

Many publications do “best of” issues (which sometimes are pay-to-play, FYI). But we take a different approach. Every year, we create Salt Lake magazine’s Best of the Beehive Issue by assembling our little coterie of writers and folks we know about town to talk about the things that tickle us, surprise us, and inspire us and just say, “yep, that’s the best” all around.

Salt Lake magazine Editor Jeremy Pugh. Photo by Natalie Simpson.

Because how is anything “The Best?” It’s a subjective term after all. But we know it when we see it. And the goal here is to pack this issue with a list of, well, stuff, to tickle your intellect, fill your belly, spark your imagination and inspire ideas for exploring the place where you live. We reflect on the talk of the town—newsmakers and civic upheavals—that inspired both cheers and jeers. We pile it all together into an always-incomplete list to create a snapshot of life in the Beehive in the Year 2025.

I love the randomness of this issue. The idea that a little pie shop in Veyo or a Cat café in Salt Lake is the “best of” anything brings a smile to my face. Because, in this world of data-mined listicles and focused searches to find the “best” toaster, or whatever, the idea of merely browsing—just wandering down the bookstore aisle and waiting for something to catch your eye—seems like a lost art. Oftentimes, the things we cherish most in our lives are those very things that one day just caught our eye.

This idea is the basis of what we do at this magazine. We make a pretty paper book six times a year, designed for you to browse. And we’re certain that inside these pages are plenty of things that will catch your eye. 

Don’t blink. You just might miss the best thing you never knew you were looking for.

Jun 18
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Black Desert Rising: Patrick Manning’s Vision Comes into Focus

By Community

Anyone who has intermittently visited the greater St. George area throughout the past, say, 20 or so years knows it’s like seeing a distant child relative only periodically over the years, exclaiming every time, “Wow, you got big!” When you’re not paying day-to-day attention, growth sneaks up on you. This is how we felt on a tour last October of the newly finished Black Desert Resort in St. George on the eve of hosting its first stop on the PGA Tour. A fleet of workers and hotel staff worked in a flurry to finalize everything before the onslaught of professional golfers, their entourage and golf fans arrived at the front desk. It had that new hotel smell, down to the persistent scent of polishing oils and cleaner in the air as the final burnish was applied. 

But Rome was not built in a day, and neither was Black Desert. This project started nearly 20 years ago. And while there is a group of partners behind the effort, one man has been the face of the project since its inception. Mr. Patrick Manning. 

Black Desert Resort
Photo courtesy of Black Desert Resort.

“I started in Florida so this land that is Black Desert is different from anything I’d ever experienced,” Manning says of his first visits to Ivins. “The feelings I have about it are overwhelming.”

He was so enthusiastic about the idea that he moved his family to St. George  to lay the groundwork in 2005–2006. Manning and his partners knew it would take patience. 

However, if you’ve ever met Manning, “patience” might not seem the first quality you would ascribe to him. In the run-up to the PGA, Manning was seemingly everywhere. Out on the course greeting players for the event. Suddenly he’d be walking the hotel, saying hello to guests. Then bam, he’s in the restaurant buttonholing a builder about some detail. He is not a man who can sit still.  

“The PGA was not part of the planning,” he says. “We set out to design a world-class golf course, that was the goal. But then we got to the tour stop before the grass was even planted we moved into a fast and furious mode.” 

The tour stop was a success and this May, Black Desert hosted the LPGA Tour. 

“Everybody who knows me knows I believe everything is possible,” he says. “We are going to make a splash with the LPGA. We are going to show these players the love and respect they deserve.”

The LPGA has received criticism that the female players are not given the same level of treatment as the men on the PGA. To that end, Manning and his partners are flying the golfers in on private jets.  

“Black Desert will roll out the red carpet,” Manning says.

Black Desert Resort
Photo courtesy of Black Desert Resort.

Still, when you consider the project took nearly two decades of careful work, it simply must have taken patience to get here. “The first thing I understood was that this was going to take patience to do it right,” he says, “we became a partner with the community and this land. Looking out across the lava with the red sandstone cliffs and pine valleys, we knew that building something as big as Black Desert would require passion and patience to do it responsibly.” 

“Responsibility” is another word he uses often. The project built in sizeable conservation easements that would go to Santa Clara and Ivins and preserve open spaces. He is quick to point out that despite the rumors the Black Desert Golf Course will never be a private course and will continue to be open to public play. 

“This is is luxury meets you,” he says. “We’re the only spot in the country on the PGA and LPGA tour where you can go to a two-acre putting green with hot tubs and fire pits. Show up in swim trunks and flip-flops and putt around. Sometimes luxury is being able to putt with bare feet.”  

Read more stories like this and all of our Community coverage. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.