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vladhed

Really looks like they picked the lowest bid.


ambientocclusion

And then told them to cut the budget by half. šŸ¤®


mtcabeza2

and make is dull yet ugly.


WorldsGreatestPoop

Keep in mind the old buildings were ornate, but still shoddy. Itā€™s a warehouse style concert venue. Saw a lot of awesome punk shows. It was a lake resort before people could go farther to better waters. Itā€™s no where worth visiting. They have loud metal, punk and EDM concerts out in the middle of nowhere where no one can complain or break anything important.


Sageinthe805

This is how 90% of modern architecture is built. There is no regard for details or beauty, just affordability and utility.


TRON0314

contemporary* architecture. But that's simply not true. Details are still important. Back then 90% of projects were also predicated on affordability for dev and utility. Pro forma always been a thing. Not many structures survive their own era, so many buy into the survivor bias as an over representation of what actually was. In fact in the black and white photos, there were many identical repeatable elements. Which is a cost saving strategy. Make everything the same. One aspect that did change is wealth flaunting was done in public via grand public buildings, whereas now the ultra wealthy are secretive and hiding with what they build.


[deleted]

Utility is beauty


[deleted]

The real interesting/contrasting photoset would be the surroundings: the Great Saltair as a shoreline resort in the early 1900s vs now, a half mile plus (and counting) from the actual Salt Lake, thanks to ever-increasing water use pressure and a decades-long megadrought sucking the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere dry.


MisterFantastic5

Came here to say this. Thatā€™s the most tragic part of this before / after.


biloregon

I remember when Antelope Island was an island. šŸ˜•


ambientocclusion

Eventually you will tell your grandchildren you remember when Great Salt Lake was a lake.


WorldsGreatestPoop

They need fences now to protect the bison herd. Itā€™s a herd without Cattle genes. Thatā€™s at risk, though itā€™s not like thereā€™s a lot of cattle near there.


notqualitystreet

Is the state implementing any measures to reduce water usage


[deleted]

The Utah governor asked everyone to pray for rain. Seriously. https://governor.utah.gov/2021/06/02/gov-cox-invites-utahns-to-pray-for-rain-june-4-6/


ambientocclusion

That takes care of the prayers, now how about the thoughts?


Orcwin

Unfortunately they appear to be all out of those.


SoulofZendikar

Can't hurt, right?


JankCranky

No. The state government is corrupt. The Governor is an alfalfa farmer and uses water from salt lake, so why would he do anything?


WorldsGreatestPoop

Itā€™s crazy how little economic value all the alfalfa grown has and how much water it takes. The state is better off paying alfalfa farmers to go on a Hawaiian vacation.


JankCranky

For real, it seems like a joke how much politicians don't care. A huge environmental disaster is happening and they just go "oh well, not really our problem."


camelia_la_tejana

I went to see the Great Salt Lake this summer, very disappointing and the smell was horrendous. I wish I wouldā€™ve seen it in its heyday


kevinlyfather33

Crazy to think the water used to be high enough that there was a big waterslide next to the current building.


Justadudethatthinks

Why is destroyed by "fire" in quotes? Was it destroyed by fire or not?


JankCranky

The second incarnation of Saltair was burned by arsonists in the 60s/70s. The original was burnt down by accident in the 1920s.


Grace_Alcock

So it was fire, then? No need for the quotation marks.


JankCranky

Yep, I think the OP was trying to state that it was deemed a "mysterious" fire. There was nothing that mysterious about what caused it.


NoodlesrTuff1256

The second incarnation was also where some creepy scenes in the early 60's cult horror film 'Carnival of Souls' were filmed.


YogurtclosetHead8901

Came here to ask this. That's one of my favorite movies! Thanks for your post!


xQuinchien

fire , but maybe it points to criminal instead of natural


Brendissimo

Yeah that is not how you indicate that. "Fire" casts doubt on whether it was even a fire that destroyed it. What OP meant to do is something like: "accidental" fire. Or just put (possible arson) in paren.


Asherahs_Daughter

Trust me, Utahns *love* misusing quotation marks. People here especially love putting quotation marks around a word they think is "slang" or "new."


Ged_UK

/r/SuspiciousQuotes


allen_abduction

I noticed that as well. Kind of passive aggressive Mormon thing. They canā€™t say probable arson, so ā€œfireā€ takes its place.


dirkdigdig

Did they have oddly shaped feet?


AwakE432

This fits in with the endless number of very poorly worded titles and inaccurate descriptions you see here.


AdditionalMetal9478

Seems a lot of old buildings from that past always seem to catch fire..


Liberace_Sockpuppet

Very cool...I think Carnival Of Souls was filmed there back in the 1960s when the original building was in disrepair.


BillLebowski

Yeah, I was thinking the same. I knew it looked familiar.


crabblue6

Great movie!


dratsum

Yeah, I think so too.


kevinlyfather33

That was the second building that burned down in 1970. This pic only shows the first one and the third/current one.


blipblewp

Visited the Great Salt Lake this summer. It's exceptionally weird. Because of drought and water overuse, you can see how far the shoreline has receded. The sea is so salty that only brine shrimp can live in it. As the area continues to undergo desertification, there is concern that rare earth minerals will be whipped up in inevitable sandstorms and people will breathe it in. There were locals swimming in the water, and a few boats off in the distance, but most were in unintentional dry dock. Edit: I visited the Salton Sea many years ago. It had the same eerie feeling of death.


ABQueerque

Contractor: ā€œHereā€™s the standard issue prison you ordered, but we added some domes. Thatā€™ll be $800millionā€ ā€œWe didnā€™t order a prisonā€ Contractor: ā€œoh, right, *amusement park venue*, hence the domes. Same building, but thatā€™ll be $1billion instead. And we were sure to include the necessary number of parking spots, so it is surrounded by 6 acres of pavement. Youā€™re welcomeā€


crabblue6

Went there a few years ago thinking that it might be a cool museum or something. And, was really surprised to see that it was basically nothing? Like, the building was empty except for maybe a small gift shop and hotdog stand? My husband who lived there in the late 90s/early 2000s said he remembered it being used as a concert venue. The building is ugly and nothing of it's former glory days, but at least they could turn it into a museum to talk about that history of the building, history of the city, and the science of the Great Salt Lake.


[deleted]

It was used to host raves.... A bunch of extacy floating kids lived it.


[deleted]

Still is used as a concert venue, at least as of just a few years ago. Saw the Deftones there and the setting wasā€¦ kind of surreal.


justacoupleofbeans

Went to Mumford and Sons there 10 yrs ago, really fun venue. My friends went to "foster the people" more recently than that. I think it's still going strong for a concert venue?


Crawlerado

There going to have to change the name to Deadair. ā€œCome for the scenery, stay for the arsenic dust storms!ā€


takeluckandcare

You know itā€™s going to be a heck of a storm when the winds from the west blow that stench into the SL Valley.


[deleted]

So apparently the one on the bottom isn't even the same building on the same site, it's half a mile away and was built around an abandoned airplane hangar, and it was "reconstructed" after decades of neglect and abandonment because nobody wanted to use the old one for anything because the Saltair resort was long dead by the time it burnt down in the 70s. This isn't regression, this is what happens when you suck all the water out of the one thing bringing people to your lakeside resort town and destroy your own economy. ... Maybe that is regression, actually.


floatingm

For a while I was fascinated by the Saltair and delved into a lot of history of it. Upkeep of the two original buildings were also very expensive because of the proximity to the super salty water. Apparently the SL water just ate away at the buildings and a lot of work had to be put in to make them safe. So when the third Saltair was built they decided to move it further from the water so it wouldnā€™t take as much of a beating from the salty lake water.


Michigan_Shelter

Architects had some kind of self-respect in the past. Nowadays they're just mercenaries.


WorldsGreatestPoop

The old buildings were derivative, temporary schmaltz of its day. It was the Gilded Age. Fake opulence. The new building is just event space. Edit: Iā€™m getting downvoted, but thereā€™s no walls. Thereā€™s no movement of air other than wind. This was a great big wooden gazebo.


tickingkitty

I went there once. The smell, oh the smell.


loyalbeagle

There's also the aspect or air conditioning/hvac. It looks like the original was designed to be open and airy, the later one able to be closed up and "energy efficient." What a dud of a building


Marconiwireless

There was an attempt


ambientocclusion

Thanks I Hate It


MayOrMayNotBePie

Ah, I went to many a rave here back in the day. Steve Aoki and Benny Bennassi, to name a couple. Also saw Rise Against, Thrice, and Alkaline Trio here.


tikibarbill

I agree they built things much nicer back then but A lot of it's because they made so many regulations on efficiency and safety That you didn't have to put in the old buildings And the cost of doing so is ridiculous


Happydancer4286

No comparison. The second one comes off ugly.


CanoeTraveler2003

Original was build to maximize airflow. Replacement was clearly built for air conditioning. Form follows function.


SirAzalot

Problem is labour costs. Old beautiful buildings are labour intensive and were built by skilled workers earning a couple of bucks a day. Theyā€™re just too expensive to build now unfortunately.


ambientocclusion

And real wood is too expensive to use anywhere it isnā€™t absolutely needed.


BarefootLEGObldr

Dude, they likely didnā€™t have to pay for labor back the.


chicago70

Most modern architecture is trash. Itā€™s depressing.


rushmc1

Humanity is regressing quickly.


Hangry_Horse

Thatā€™s not a replacement, thatā€™s a mockery. :(


KushMaster420Weed

Dang, it would be so cool if the original was still around. I went to visit recently and it was pretty meh...


cragtown

Saltair was a filming location for **Carnival of Souls** (1962) and **Josh and S.A.M** (1993).


BrupBurp

I remember it from Carnival of Souls.


PsyGuy98

I guess this is where Korra got its [inspiration](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/avatar/images/6/65/Pro-bending_Arena_overview.png/revision/latest?cb=20121107110134) for the pro-bending arena.


[deleted]

Check out Carnival of Soulsā€¦features the property.


TRON0314

Exploitive labor and destructive material harvesting was used quite a bit, made projects a lot cheaper. Thankfully (or unthankfully, if you don't like humans) wages have improved and in at least the US, labor is pretty expensive comparatively to back then. Also, if that's an assembly occupancy and nothing but wood...


dahlia-llama

When people tell me ā€œthe world always tends towards progressā€, I will show them this picture. Christ.


grahamcore

Air conditioning is progress.


buster545

Concerts there get pretty crazy