Job offer in Salt Lake

[Alienwho]

Originally posted by: toekramp
for those of you that have actually lived there.. what part of the city should i be looking to move to? I'd like some restaurants/clubs/bars to be within a few blocks. Single, 26 male here. I live near DC now, and I guess a similar environment to like a Georgetown (not expecting it to be anywhere near the same though)

It depends on how close to downtown you want to be.

Sugarhouse would probably be a good choice. It's about 12 blocks south of downtown. It's a pretty trendy/happening place with tons of restaurants/clubs.

Check out Salt Lake on Google Maps. You're going to want to stay North of the I80 and East of I15 (to be more exact you're probably going to want to stay East of State Street). Pretty much everything West of the University of Utah all the way to 300West is downtown Salt Lake City. Also check out the area of about 300West 200South. That's a pretty trendy area next to the Gateway (huge outdoor upscale mall) and loads of restaurants/bars/etc.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: toekramp
I'm huge into outdoor activities, and i would be compensated very well if I made the move. But I am hesitant to head to a mormon state... anyone care to share their opinion about the area?

Utah has some really cool attractions. If you are into snowboarding, skiing, watersports, hiking, biking, or off-roading of any sort, you'll just love it. Plus Moab is only about a 4-hour drive from the city. As far as downsides, like any big city there is a fair amount of smog, the typical amount of traffic, and it's getting pretty crowded. If you're worried about the "mormon" part, don't be. SLC has its fair share of non-LDS. I'm LDS but I can understand how difficult it can be moving into a place where you're the outsider. I have to agree with Coolone's post...there is kind of a bubble out there because there are large communities of LDS members who don't really have experience in other cultures. I'm not saying they're backwards or anything; just think of it as being Jewish and then going to a Catholic school. Aside from inviting you to hear the missionary discussions, most members are pretty respectful of other people's beliefs. And again, SLC is not nearly 100% Mormon so you shouldn't worry too much about it. Oh and Nevada and Colorado are less than a day's drive away, plus California is pretty close with is great for quick weekend getaways. If you're into the outdoors, Utah is a prime spot to be in because it's right in the middle of everything.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Alienwho

Originally posted by: toekramp
for those of you that have actually lived there.. what part of the city should i be looking to move to? I'd like some restaurants/clubs/bars to be within a few blocks. Single, 26 male here. I live near DC now, and I guess a similar environment to like a Georgetown (not expecting it to be anywhere near the same though)

It depends on how close to downtown you want to be.

Sugarhouse would probably be a good choice. It's about 12 blocks south of downtown. It's a pretty trendy/happening place with tons of restaurants/clubs.

Check out Salt Lake on Google Maps. You're going to want to stay North of the I80 and East of I15 (to be more exact you're probably going to want to stay East of State Street). Pretty much everything West of the University of Utah all the way to 300West is downtown Salt Lake City. Also check out the area of about 300West 200South. That's a pretty trendy area next to the Gateway (huge outdoor upscale mall) and loads of restaurants/bars/etc.

I think the road layout is my favorite thing about Utah. Everything is on a grid, you can't get lost if you tried. You only have two choices to make: East or West, North or South. No GPS required, you just look at the mountains to figure out where you are. Plus the roads are nice and wiiiiiiiiiide.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: UTmtnbiker
If you're going to be making a good salary, like the outdoors, and generally treat people the way you want to be treated, you'll be fine here, there, or anywhere. I'd encourage you to come as the cost of living is generally low compared to other "large" cities and if you're making bank, you'll be able to have an extremely good time here.

/end of my tourist board spiel

That's another huge perk. The cost of living is dirt cheap. If you can manage to find a good paying job (which is hard because just about every city is a college town), you can really live it up there. Nice apartments go for like $600...I was paying nearly $900 for my ghetto apartment in Connecticut. $200k can easily get you a 4 or 5 bedroom house...in CT that gets you a house smaller than my apartment :Q

 

[illusion88]

Originally posted by: toekramp
for those of you that have actually lived there.. what part of the city should i be looking to move to? I'd like some restaurants/clubs/bars to be within a few blocks. Single, 26 male here. I live near DC now, and I guess a similar environment to like a Georgetown (not expecting it to be anywhere near the same though)

You want to live downtown then. Personally, I think cities like Holiday and Cottonwood Heights are better places to live but that's my opinion. I just wouldn't live in Sandy (too LDS, I prefer my neighbors to be a bit more accustomed to sin. I want to be able to invite them over for a BBQ and have a beer). SLC proper used to be the mormon haven, now Sandy is slowly replacing that role.

Anyways back to downtown. If you live downtown you will have easy access to the clubs and bars, and the "downtown experience". You will also be close to UTA if riding busses is your thing.

Going out for drinks can be a bit weird at first. You have to buy a "membership" to all bars. I always buy the year long one, but you can buy one that's for only a few months. They are usually $12-16 for a year. With this you can vouch for your friend or date so they dont have to buy one too. Also, bars aren't close to each other. It's hard to go "bar hopping" without jumping in a taxi. The clubs all charge a cover anyways (plus memberships if you don't have one).

As far as I can tell, the beer really isn't 3.2%. Some people say it's because they measure it different (by weight instead of volume), but I think they just test the alcohol content earlier in the fermentation process. Think about it, are they really going to brew a special beer just for Utah? No. You can't buy liquor or wine in grocery stores, you have to go to a state run store. There is usually one that is pretty close to where you live, but just one.

BTW, if going out to bar is your thing consider living in Park City. It's close and a much better environment there. It is a little bit more expensive for housing though. And you will be around people who are in higher income brackets than you (I don't care how much you make, most people in Park City will have more money than you). We go out there to bar hop and party sometimes (it just sucks cause we need a driver or pay for an expensive taxi).

 

[illusion88]

Originally posted by: Coolone
I would just like to clarify as a Mormon that the Utah Mormons are a weird bunch compared to those you'll find outside the state. Many of them (more in the Provo/Orem area) are not used to people from outside the area (which is funny, because BYU is swamped with them). Its like a huge bubble of its own culture. I myself moved to Provo from South Africa and at times feel cut off from the outside world.

I'm by no means trying to defend the actions of others if they were discriminatory, they're just not used to people with different beliefs (or no beliefs), and quite frankly, they don't know how to handle it. I was a missionary in California, and whenever I got some newb companion from Utah, it was always hilarious to see what a culture shock it was for them to be outside "the bubble".

But the state is awesome for outside stuff. if you're into paintball, Special Ops is based in SLC. Southern Utah is an outdoor junkies heaven (you just need to know where to go), and Northern Utah has some great hikes with amazing views. If you're worried about liquor, somehow some of my non-Mormon relatives manage to find what they consider to be "the good stuff", I don't know the details though.

It's not the mormons in Salt Lake County (where SLC is), it's the county south of us called Utah County that really step it up. Those are the real conservative and crazy ones.

 

[Sukhoi]

Southern Utah (below I-70) is amazing if you like outdoor hiking/biking/ATVing stuff.

 

[kami333]

Salt Lake City definately isn't DC/NYC but it isn't podunk-Idaho/Provo either, there is a fair amount of stuff going on, especially downtown in the summer.

I just moved back last summer, I grew up in SLC but moved to the East coast for high school and college and worked a couple years abroad before I got a job offer and moved back. It's a lot different than I remember it being 5-10years ago (my parents' kept their house here so I came back every year to ski and stuff), it has grown a lot. My gf moved out here from Cincinnati last year with me and she absolutely loves it and is trying to get her friends to move out here too (I think one of them is once she graduates).

That's a trend I've noticed; people who grew up in other cities tend to love it, those of us who grew up here and went off to college are kind of iffy on being back and can't wait to move again, and there are those who never leave.

Depending on where you work and live it's really not that different from anywhere else. I work at the U of U where most aren't Mormons, and downtown is fairly low on Mormons too (I don't think anyone in my apartment building is, they all drink/smoke). Like it's been mentioned it's only if you live in the suburbs or once you get outside of the Salt Lake valley that things get "strange". Like Provo, most of the stores and restraraunts are closed on Sundays whereas in SLC everything is open.

My parents' house is in Sugarhouse so I was living there for a while but now I live downtown and it's a huge difference, I've never been a huge fan of suburbia (got used to living in the city and walking to the corner store 24/7) so it's been a good change. I actually live just a couple blocks from Trolley Square, that was a fun night with helicopters flying over every 5min. I have about 6 bars/clubs within 15min walking distance of me, not too bad, but no bar district. Last call at 1am which is sort of annoying, but bars are open on Sundays (but not the liquor stores).

Southern Utah/Moab is about 4hrs away, great ATV/hiking/outdoor stuff. Las Vegas is a 6hr drive (I go pretty much every other month). 4 major ski resorts with 30min (the high parts of Snowbird are still open until this weekend) , Park City with Deer Valley and the Canyons is like 45min. Evanston, WY is about 80miles away when you need to make a keg/liquor run

 

[OutHouse]

all the glowing comments about SLC makes me want to move there.

the comments about LDS not liking strangers is so true and here is my personal experience with it. in 1988 my wife and I were moving from colorado to Nellis air force base in las vegas. we stopped in some small town in southern utah for the night and went into a pizza hut for dinner. now those scenes in movies like in animal house where the white kids go into a black bar and the music stops? well when we went into the pizza hut it was almost like that. the place was full and i swear every head turned and people not just looked at us but stared at us. it was a very very odd situation. even after we sat in a booth and were grubbing on our food, some were still staring at us. never experienced anything like that since.

 

[Coolone]

Originally posted by: illusion88

Originally posted by: Coolone
I would just like to clarify as a Mormon that the Utah Mormons are a weird bunch compared to those you'll find outside the state. Many of them -----> (more in the Provo/Orem area) <----- are not used to people from outside the area (which is funny, because BYU is swamped with them). Its like a huge bubble of its own culture. I myself moved to Provo from South Africa and at times feel cut off from the outside world.

I'm by no means trying to defend the actions of others if they were discriminatory, they're just not used to people with different beliefs (or no beliefs), and quite frankly, they don't know how to handle it. I was a missionary in California, and whenever I got some newb companion from Utah, it was always hilarious to see what a culture shock it was for them to be outside "the bubble".

But the state is awesome for outside stuff. if you're into paintball, Special Ops is based in SLC. Southern Utah is an outdoor junkies heaven (you just need to know where to go), and Northern Utah has some great hikes with amazing views. If you're worried about liquor, somehow some of my non-Mormon relatives manage to find what they consider to be "the good stuff", I don't know the details though.

It's not the mormons in Salt Lake County (where SLC is), it's the county south of us called Utah County that really step it up. Those are the real conservative and crazy ones.

Provo and Orem are in that county. Although I didn't mention where those cities are for those who don't know.

 

[Turkish]

you are nuts if you do this.

 

[engineereeyore]

I'm Mormon and I think there are too many Mormons in Utah. That said, I won't lie. It often takes a while to get used to living in a predominantly LDS area. However, Salt Lake is only about 55% LDS, if I recall correctly. And even so, for the most part LDS people make really good neighbors and Utah is actually a really fun place to live, especially if you like the outdoors.

I say give it a try. It's really not as bad as some people make it out to be. And from my experience, those that had horrible experiences are the exception, not the rule.

 

[FrequencyX]

Utah blows (Salt Lake Valley) . I lived there for about 7 months and did not like it. Possibly being in a bad relationship and having to leave Utah to get out of it didn't help my opinions much.

It seemed like the crime rates were fcking outrageous. Stabbings and shootings and general gang violence were common all the time. The only place worth living in the whole damn area would be Herriman or maybe parts of Sandy and SJ\WJ, anywhere else better pack a god damn cannon.

Also have fun at the DMV. 1000's of people packed into a small building that can't speak a lick of English.

 

[manowar821]

Do ya like mormons?