LOGAN -- When the Bluebird first opened for business, Russia was ruled by a czar, Charlie Chaplin had yet to create his "Little Tramp" character, Pancho Villa was at war with the United States and federal income tax was only a gleam in the government's eye.
Now, at age 85, the little cafe is considered the oldest restaurant in the state.At least no contender for the honor has stepped forward to say otherwise.
And Guy Cardon, whose father started the business with M.N. Neuberger and Julius Bergsjo, can still summon some of the earliest days at the place.
"I remember being so small I couldn't see over the counter," he says. "But I remember the 'phizz-ician' making me an orange ade."
Those soda 'phizz-icians' are still on duty at the Bluebird. And the old marble soda fountain is still the centerpiece. No place today could afford its stone and stonework. It was even used in a recent Hollywood movie.
Yet more than the food, the phizz and the architecture, the Bluebird has built a reputation on candy.
"We had a very good candymaker in the early days," says Cardon. "And of course, the nut salesmen and chocolate salesmen always had a new recipe for him. Before long, we had a mail-order business going."
Today the restaurant is owned by the Xu family with An Sheng Xu running the operation. His parents worked at the Bluebird. And he's tried to preserve the memories.
"When you walk in the door, the first thing you see is the antique work," he says. "It's a great old building and I hope we can keep just as it is."
Xu has also lowered prices to help keep local interest high. On Friday and Saturday nights -- especially when there's a performance at the nearby Eccles Theatre -- drop-in customers quickly end up on a waiting list.
And if you have an appetite for local history, well, the place has produced enough facts, figures and anecdotes over the years to fill you.
The name, for instance, was found on a whim. As two early entrepreneurs debated the issue, one of them spotted a bunch of bluebirds near the LDS Tabernacle.
"Let's call it the Bluebird," he said.
And so they did.
Originally a candy and ice cream shop on Center, the Bluebird moved onto Main Street in 1921, re-opening on Washington's Birthday 1923, with classy hand-painted walls and ceilings, a ballroom on the top floor (now the Florentine Room) and a clubby little banquet area on the Mezzanine.
Wedding receptions ran rampant in the place back then.
"I constantly meet people who had their wedding reception here and whose children had their reception here," says Mary Howells, who helps manage the place.
In the 1930s, the Depression hit the state of Utah -- and the Bluebird -- hard, but with courage and a little vision both recovered. The John F. Bennett family added the managerial expertise that kept the Bluebird afloat through the lean years.
"This place wouldn't be here without the Bennetts," says Cardon. "Wallace Bennett was the one who showed us how to save a little money."
When the economy recovered, so did the Bluebird. And the optimistic owners quickly added two new private and semi-private dining rooms as well as a new kitchen.
Today, the menu items at the Bluebird are an interesting mix-and-match variety of old, new, borrowed and Bluebird classics. At lunch, chicken comes in "teriyaki," "marinara," "louie," "stir fry," "blackened" and "cordon bleu," for example. "Battered whole mushrooms" serve as a typical appetizer with "peanut butter pie" showing up for desert.
The "chicken fried steak" -- at $6.75 -- is the top-end item.
"Logan is a college town," explains Xu, "We have a lot of students. I want to keep the prices down and keep them coming in."
"We also have a lot of seniors," adds Howells. "This place is a tradition with them. They grew up with it."
In one of the dining rooms, in fact, that entire tradition is laid out for all to see. A mural runs from wall-to-wall, showing the evolution of downtown Logan -- and the Bluebird -- through the century. From the over-dressed folks of 1914, down through the hippies and modern hip-hop kids, every fashion getting a show. In fact, one section of the mural features a distant figure who appears to be naked.
Cardon smiles.
"That's a streaker that made the news several years ago," he says.
The charm of the Bluebird is the cafe's impressive history and impressive architecture can even add dignity to such a hapless fellow.