Memory Moment: Oh, The Places You'll Go…on a Bus!

PHOTO: UTA Bus on Main Street, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1970s [SOURCE: UTA FACEBOOK PAGE]

I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah. Born and raised!

One of my best friends in my childhood was Dan. Dan and I spent many, many hours together. We maybe lived about a mile apart. We went to the same grade school, were in many of the same classes, and spent time together on weekends, and during the summer.

We would often find ourselves having adventures of one kind or another…in school, after school, on weekends and in the summer! Many of our adventures took us to downtown SLC…. this was the mid to late 1970s…. we were between 8 and 12 years old back then….and we adventured on our own! No adults to accompany us…no adults probably know where we were exactly. But hey, things were different back then!

Our transportation to adventure? It was…. the UTA…the bus – the Number 29, Wasatch Blvd route to be precise! The Number 29 would take us to our destination in comfort and ease…. all for only 10 cents!

We would travel to magical places – on in particular being the Hansen Planetarium when it was on State Street. The star shows, the moon rock, an ACTUAL moon rock, the other far out exhibits on space. We truly were in another world!

Another big adventure was going to the ZCMI Center Mall. Oh, there were wonderful places to visit like Hickory Farms, Coach House Gifts, the Hallmark Store, and then ZCMI itself! I remember we would go to Hickory Farms, and ask for a slice of Beef Stick, for 25 cents! Yeah, we were big spenders.

We walked and walked, up and down main street, state street and the “Souths!” Anyone remember Zims craft store? Keith O’Brien? They were amazing! And how about the Centre Theater on 3rd South and State!

In 1977, Star Wars hit theatres. The first one, and I don’t mean episode four, well, I mean episode IV, but for us it was the first, A New Hope…and most likely the ONLY episode! Dan and I were going to see it…we HAD to see it… one way or another. The only way we figured out was, well, lets take the bus to the Centre Theater in downtown. And that’s what we did. I don’t remember how much the ticket was…. maybe 2 dollars? It didn’t matter, because we were there.!

Back then, you could bring your own snacks in. At least that’s how I remember it. Dan had come prepared! He brought a brown grocery type bag with popcorn… and with a secret ingredient…. a tape recorder! Yes, he brought a tape recorder to record the movie! And that we did. We didn’t get caught! And WE HAD THE AUDIO OF STAR WARS! Later, on a shelf in the linen closet at my house, Dan’s tape recorder played the audio tape and my tape recorder sat on top to record a copy for me! How cool was that! Oh, the memories!

One time, maybe several times, Dan and I ventured in the other direction on the Number 29 to Cottonwood Mall! An exciting adventure in itself! It was a different mall, with different stores!

Not far from the Cottonwood Mall, lived our grade school Liberian, Ms. Larson. We were known to have dropped in on her from time to time. Yes, things were different back then. Ms. Larson would sometimes even drive us to shared adventures – seeing the movie Flash Gordon and even bowling at a nearby bowling alley! She had a lava lamp in her apartment…it was so cool! A real, live lava lamp. Rest assured, everything was on the up and up. Ms. Larson was the coolest!

One particular scary bus adventure…and I mean really scary…was when Dan decided we needed to try a transfer…. from our beloved #29 to another scary route that would take us to…da da dah…. the Fashion Place Mall. Dan wanted to go to a magic shop or joke shop, or something like that at the Fashion Place Mall.

So, we ventured Downtown, and we got a transfer, a little piece of paper that said we could get on another bus without paying! We transferred to the scary bus, not our beloved #29. This bus looked the same, but somehow different. And it took us from the safety of downtown….to a place, I had never been, at least I didn't think I had! It was so far away. I thought we had left the state.

“Will we ever see home again? Nobody knows where we are. I didn’t get to say goodbye!” Really, we were probably only 20 minutes from home, but I didn’t know that. I was afraid!

Dan got excited when the mall was in sight. I was most likely a bit relieved but still scared. To be honest, the trip was…it was kind of fun…the mall was cool, similar, but different. The shop…the shops were cool. We should do this again! And we also made it safely home again! I didn’t have to spend a dime to call home!

Our days on UTA were filled with adventure. We had a blast. We were independent and free. What I didn’t realize at the time, was that I had learned how to navigate public transportation….at least the UTA in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Years later, during a high school summer, Dan, our friend Sean, and I went to Chicago…the south side…very near the University of Chicago, to visit Dan’s older brother and his family.

While there, Dan had learned about a hologram museum somewhere on the other side of the city. And you guessed it. We were going to go….by public transportation. We hopped on the train to downtown Chicago, and transferred to a bus, to take us to the Museum. Dan had it all worked out. When were we on the bus…these three kids from Salt Lake City, Utah, we were excited for the adventure and what we would find at the museum. I’m sure our body language showed it.

However, there was this one guy who kept staring at us. We tried to avoid his stares. He was scary. When it was time to get off the bus, he got off too. We didn’t pay much attention to him, unit he called out, “What are you boys doing over here?”

We replied excitedly, “We are going to a hologram museum!”

“I don’t know of any hologram museum in this part of town,” he said firmly. “See this scar? I got this working the streets as a cop on this side of town. If I were you, I’d get back on that bus and head back to where you came from,” he directed.

Needless to say, we ignored him and found our way to the museum. After all, we knew what we are doing…. we rode the UTA in Salt Lake City, Utah when we were eight years old! We have experience! We kne

w our way around public transportation! And, by the way, the hologram museum was really cool! And we did just fine.

Oh, the places you can go…. on a bus! Childhood defined!