What is the “Best?” It’s a subjective term after all. But we know it when we see it. Each year, we create an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink list 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 dubbed Best of the Beehive. Here we present our favorite goofs, gaffs and overall fun in Utah.
Best place to practice your Cat pose with an adoptable kitty
Tinker’s Cat Café
Now offering Cats and Yoga specialty classes, feline lovers can drink ‘cat-puccinos’ and buy cat bow ties, all while nuzzling kitties who need a furrever home. Working with Salt Lake County Animal Services, Tinker’s Cat Café is a meetup (complete with scratching posts and jingle toys) for potential cat owners and adoptees. If you’re not looking for a pet, Tinker’s invites you to enjoy the therapeutic benefits of adorable cats. Reservations are required for the lounge and classes but anyone can stop in to enjoy bakery sweets or sip on ‘camomeow’ tea. 302 E. 900 South, SLC tinkerscatcafe.com
Best place to get a selfie with a Sphinx (with the face of Joseph Smith)
Gilgal Garden
Thirty years ago, the most dare-worthy spot in Salt Lake was a private backyard sanctuary sandwiched between Hire’s Big H and the Wonderbread factory. Hopping the fence, teens wandered in terrified fascination around eccentric sculptures ranging from an obelisk to a freaky-tall birdhouse to biblical stone slabs to, creepiest of all, a sphinx sculpture with the face of Mormon founder Joseph Smith. It turns out that the real mastermind behind the garden wasn’t a devil-worshipper as teens thought, but a sculptor named Thomas Battersby Child. A Mormon bishop, local businessman and stonemason who liked musing on the relationship between his religion and the ancient world, Child’s eccentric sculpture garden is now on public display. 749 E. 500 South, SLC gilgalgarden.org
Best Place to Nail a Jumping-Selfie
East High School
Wanna hunt down Sharpay’s pink locker (still there) or step into the actual gymnasium/sanctuary where The Wildcats sang “Getcha Head in the Game” (while dribbling basketballs)? Neither do we. But hundreds of people do. Every. Single. Day. While East High School allows self-guided interior tours (after school hours), the spot garnering the most attention from High School Musical fans is just outside the front doors. Watching a gaggle of fans try for that perfect jumping-selfie in front of the school? We might pay to watch that. 840 S. 1300 East, SLC
Best place to follow in Olivia Rodrigo’s footsteps
The “I love you, Say it Back” Mural
Provo-based Lonely Ghost streetwear isn’t housed on 9th South in Salt Lake City, but one of their famous taglines is. “I love you, say it back,” a phrase covering the back of many a teen’s hoodies these days, is essentially a commentary on the human condition (i.e., our vulnerability and the need for reciprocity). Now etched on a wall in big, bold letters, the phrase that “started it all” according to Lonely Ghost, serves as a backdrop for many a selfie, including one posted by celebrity Olivia Rodrigo. 774 E. 800 South, SLC
There’s more to love in the Beehive State!
Outdoors
Eat & Drink
Weird Utah
Shopping
2025 Wasatch Faults (and Faves)
Find all of this year’s Best of the Beehive coverage, and more “Bests” from past issues. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.
