There are no more roller coasters, Ferris wheels or diving mules. But the building still stands — the third incarnation of the Saltair pavilion, which was once called the "Coney Island of the West."
"This building was actually brought in from Hill Air Force Base," said Aubrey Redmond of Saltair Gifts. "It was a hangar during World War II."
The legendary Saltair Resort was conceived in 1892 by George Q. Cannon, a member of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was taking a cue from other Great Salt Lake coastline resorts — Black Rock, Lake Point, Garfield Beach, Lake Shore Resort and Lake Park, according to the 1966 edition of the Saltair Reviver.
The groundbreaking was Feb. 1, 1893, and the resort was completed in June. The original pavilion was designed by architect Richard K.A. Kletting, who also designed the Utah State Capitol and the famous Bon Marche in France.
Originally, the resort stood one mile from the buoyant waters of the Great Salt Lake. Today, it rests on a bank of sand and grass less than 50 yards from the water.
Although the building is pretty much a shell of its once-grand former self, tourists still make the 20-minute westward drive on I-80 from Salt Lake City to visit the place where thousands of pleasure seekers once danced to swing music, ate lavish meals and floated in the refreshing waters.
These days, the only music that fills the hall consists of the post-modern pop-and-metal rants of 311, Counting Crows, Filter and Pantera. Gone are the echoes of such big-band names as Phil Harris, Owen Sweeten and Glenn Miller.
But the essence of the past still lies within.
Inside the pavilion stands Saltair Gifts, which houses a small-scale model of the original Saltair Resort.
"Saltair is used mainly for concerts and dances now," said Redmond. "And it can be booked for private functions as well."
Still, Redmond said tourists and families are drawn in droves to Saltair, which is open from 9 a.m. to sunset.
"We still get a lot of people who want to go for a swim," she said.
Some of those families and tourists who come for a quick, salty dip also pack picnic lunches and eat on the shore of the Great Salt Lake. Then there are those who fly kites or just come to see and hear the waves crash on the boulders that line the shore.
Redmond, who has been a Saltair employee for three years, said this year the pavilion is getting a face lift. "We're painting and remodeling for the summer. We're also trying to clean it up to get ready for the 2002 Winter Games."
Redmond said a small museum adjacent to the gift shop is in the works.
"Pictures of the first two Saltairs will be on display there," she said.
Plans remain vague for the structures that greet arriving families in the parking lot, including a vacant kiosk that once housed a herd of camels for children to ride and the old steamboat that originally transported sunbathers and others to various ports along the lake.
Just north of those curiosities are remnants of old railroad cars that carried swimmers to the lake as recently as 1966.
Arguably, those empty remains add a touch of nostalgia to Saltair, which, throughout its history, has had its share of mishaps, according to historic documents and archived Deseret News articles.
In 1910, two windstorms wiped out some of the resort's bathhouses. Then, two fires which apparently started in the concessions area — in 1925 and 1931 — respectively claimed the structure and a portion of the Giant Racer roller coaster. The resort — which then included six bowling alleys, a tunnel of love, a fun house, a Ferris wheel, fish pond, pool halls, photo gallery, penny arcade, a roller-skating rink and a shooting gallery — was reconstructed in 1926. The coaster was rebuilt in 1932, only to fall to another windstorm in 1957.
By 1951 another fire destroyed its pier, and yet another fire took more bathhouses.
The diving mules arrived during the 1950s in an attempt to attract patrons who had become weary of the almost regularly scheduled fires and windstorms, but to no avail. The resort was closed in 1959, remaining dormant until 1970, when it burned to the ground in a "suspicious" fire.
The building that stands today is what's left of the 1983 renovation project that was put off because of the rising lake.
"It flooded in 1984," Redmond explained. "But in 1990, there was an interest in reopening it as a tourist attraction. That renovation was completed in 1993, when it opened once more to the public for good."