‘Main Street USA’? Feels like Portland? Here’s what makes this SLC street ‘good and cool’​on May 31, 2025 at 12:00 pm

Visit this stretch of Salt Lake City’s 900 South on any weekend afternoon and you‘ll see people lounging on the patio outside Loki Coffee, residents walking their dogs, shoppers looking for that perfect vintage find, and bicyclists whizzing by on the 9 Line, a popular paved path that extends across the city.

​Good food, a convenient urban trail, bungalows renovated to hold creative businesses and collaborative owners are combining to give this neighborhood its cool vibe.  

Visit this stretch of Salt Lake City’s 900 South on any weekend afternoon and you‘ll see people lounging on the patio outside Loki Coffee, residents walking their dogs, shoppers looking for that perfect vintage find, and bicyclists whizzing by on the 9 Line, a popular paved path that extends across the city.

The vibrant blocks between 200 East and 500 East are “starting to feel like a neighborhood in Portland,” said Manoli Katsanevas, proprietor of Manoli’s. His small-plates Greek restaurant, a repeated semifinalist for the prestigious James Beard Awards, opened 10 years ago on a corner of 400 East.

900 South carries traffic east and west across town, just south of the downtown core on Salt Lake City’s famous pioneer-era street grid. It’s becoming “Main Street USA,” said Vintage Drift owner Kristin Wolfe, with lively districts developing along its length.

At its 9th and 9th intersection with 900 East, eclectic shops and eateries have been a draw for decades. Other spots have coalesced more recently — like Central 9th’s mix of neighborhood bars and new housing, centered at 200 West, and the bright Maven District, anchored by women-owned businesses at 200 East.

Those hubs have provided inspiration to business owners between 200 East and 500 East, but they see their blocks as a more grassroots development with a character of its own, said Marley McKenna, owner of upscale fashion reseller Revive Boutique.

This area doesn’t have a nickname yet, and it’s still rising. Construction is underway on the Milk Block, from 402 East to 430 East, which expects to welcome its first tenants this summer and to later add the Wasatch Food Co-op, the only member-owned full-service grocery store in Salt Lake City.

Here’s the neighborhood’s new story so far.

Women with vision

Kristy Blair knew this part of 900 South “would eventually be something good and cool.”

She began buying property along the street more than 20 years ago, including acquiring buildings on the 300 East block that now hold Loki Coffee, Tinker’s Cat Cafe and Revive Boutique, located in a remodeled pink bungalow with the painted promise, “Pretty things inside.”

Blair renovates “from the inside out” whenever possible, to preserve the original structure. “It’s not always the most economical choice,” she said, “it’s just something we’ve chosen to do.”

Developer Kathia Dang said she and Blair together deliberately “started building up this area.” In 2013, Dang bought and redeveloped the property at 402 East that would become Manoli’s. In 2014, she purchased and rebuilt the space at 356 East that would become the casual lobster roll spot Freshie’s (which also has a location in Park City).

But there was still a “void” that needed to be filled, Dang said, “because Maven District,” just to the west, “was down there and we weren‘t bringing enough traffic down to this neighborhood, even with the Southeast Market.”

Southeast Market, an Asian grocery store, was in a building at 422 E. 900 South that has long nourished the neighborhood. It dates back to 1941, Dang said, when it first opened as O.P. Skaggs Market.

Dang immigrated to the United States from Vietnam as a child with her family in 1975, and remembers when the spot was Tay Do Market, an earlier Asian grocery store. She would sometimes go there with her aunt, who would shop to stock her Vietnamese restaurant in Park City.

In 2017, Dang and her husband, Sam Sleiman, bought the building. For the next few years, Southeast Market stayed open, joined by shops Pho 28 and Melewa Bakery.

But the couple’s longer-term goal, Dang explained, would be “building a very intentional community” between 400 East and Denver Street called the Milk Block.

“This would allow everyone to transition and keep coming down the block,” she said, “feeding into the rest of the lovely little small businesses that are popping up in the area.”

Zoning for ‘the next level’

City support also boosted one the defining elements of the area, said Nick Norris, the city’s planning director. Many businesses operate out of former homes, providing a hyperlocal appeal.

City zoning had allowed such conversions in limited areas for decades, Norris said, but the market wasn‘t “ready” for a larger-scale shift until around five years ago. Right before the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the property owners in this neighborhood asked to rezone from split-zoning — half residential, half commercial — to full commercial. The city agreed, Norris said.

“That’s what stimulated the repurposing of the existing buildings,” he said.

Blair agrees those recent zoning changes have helped revive the neighborhood. “All the work over the last three to five years,” she said, “has really, really taken it to the next level.”

Everything from zoning to traffic patterns have been designed to bolster neighborhoods along the street, Norris said. “Part of the approach the city’s taken for a long time,” he said, is recognizing that “different parts of 900 South have different character.”

The city has not been as “hands-on” in its involvement as it has with other 900 South neighborhoods, like Central 9th, Norris said. The city has planted trees, built traffic-calming elements and made other investments there.

The approach between 200 East and 500 East, Norris said, has been more flexible. “If you can make this work, go ahead and do it.”

Make getting there easier

The city understands that moving people along 900 South isn‘t “just about commuting, it’s about lifestyle,” said Jon Larsen, Salt Lake City’s transportation division director.

In a first step, the city and Utah Transit Authority ramped up bus service along 900 South in 2019. The changes doubled the frequency of stops along the route and added evening and weekend service.

The city contributed funding and help with planning, and ridership nearly doubled in the first year, Larsen said.

It was an obvious choice, he said, to also extend the 9 Line bike and pedestrian trail from its core area west of Interstate 15 to east side neighborhoods along 900 South.

Two years ago, work reached this area’s piece of the trail, which was being expanded in stages thanks to a 2018 bond approved by voters to revitalize city streets.

Wolfe, Vintage Drift’s owner, said she realized momentum was building.

“I could see the neighborhood,” she said. “That little strip there was going to be worth paying attention to.”

She knew that if she could move her vintage business — which had grown from an online site to a pop-up store to a more permanent shop — to the area before more people started paying attention, it would pay off.

She was right. Wolfe signed a lease in April 2023. The first few months were rough, she said, thanks to work on the 9 Line that kept customers away and damaged some of her property.

But after that, Wolfe said, Vintage Drift had its most successful two years on record, as gross profits have increased more than 50% since she moved.

“It was really about taking a gamble on the neighborhood when it was under construction,” Wolfe said. “But it’s more than paid off, and will continue to do so for years.”

Extending the 9 Line has been hard and costly, Larsen said, but the city accomplished everything it wanted. It narrowed 900 South from two auto lanes in each direction to one; it turned the extra space into a bike path and pedestrian walkway, with traffic signals for each.

And the result, Norris said, is a lively urban street that pedestrians, cyclists and motorists alike can comfortably use and enjoy.

Some business owners lost parking spaces. But overall, they and landlords and residents agree the 9 Line has dramatically changed the area for the better.

Matt Murphy, a new father in the neighborhood, said the 9 Line has been “amazing.” His family walks to coffee shops and restaurants with their newborn baby; they walk their dog at Liberty Park; he uses the 9 Line “daily,” including to get to the FrontRunner and commute to work.

His family is saving money on gas and spending more time together. “I wish the city would double down on these types of investments,” he said.

A thriving support group

Wolfe had joined more established area businesses like Tinker’s Cat Cafe, which opened in fall 2017, and the Legendarium bookstore, which opened in fall 2022. Newer places filled in around her — three more vintage stores, a crystal shop and a boutique stationery store across the street.

These blocks have grown into a community of small businesses owned and operated by people who greet their customers at the door, Wolfe said.

And that has happened, in Wolfe‘s eyes, because of the owners’ devotion and willingness to collaborate with each other. They promote each other’s enterprises and events on social media; many are in a group chat together to share information and plan.

Atomic Biscuit, which Jennifer Felton opened in the former Pig & a Jelly Jar spot late last year, specializes in biscuits made fresh daily. With a menu inspired by Felton‘s time living in North Carolina, the food has plenty of Southern flavor.

Other business owners on the street have been “super supportive,” she said. “Everybody just wants everyone to succeed.”

Sarah Anderson‘s stationery boutique, City of Industry, is a wordsmith‘s dream. Its walls are lined with pens, greeting cards, candles and stickers. Anderson moved her store from a space downtown and immediately felt like she belonged among her neighbors — many of them women and queer business owners.

Anderson said business has boomed. “We see a lot of foot traffic and people riding their bikes and just hanging out in the neighborhood,” she said.

Ying Nance, who sells her Asian-inspired doughnuts at three Chubby Baker locations, said there’s been a “good side and bad side” to the influx of local businesses along this piece of 900 South. They bring more competition, which brings in more customers to her bakery, she said.

“But at the same time, it’s really a small spot with less parking,” Ying said. “So a lot of people are, right now, fighting for parking every time they come to our store.”

Wolfe said she’d like to see more support from the city, such as promotion of 900 South as a destination for both residents and tourists.

“We’ve done our part,” Wolfe said. “We’ve created this great community of interesting businesses that serve needs, that create downtown economic activity.”

Adding the Milk Block

The Milk Block that Dang and her husband dreamed of is set to open this summer, with tenants handpicked to “replicate the rest of the spirit of 900 South,” she said.

Preliminary demolition began on the market building in fall 2023. “It would have been so much easier for us to tear it down,” Dang said, “but we opted not to.”

Instead, construction has included chipping old stucco off the facade, painstakingly preserving an Art Deco feature on a corner, and working around the original bow trusses that supported the ceiling.

They broke ground in January 2024 for the broader project of redeveloping the block, named for Harvey Milk, the late San Francisco city supervisor and gay-rights icon. A 20-block stretch of 900 South, from 1100 East to 900 West, was named Harvey Milk Boulevard in his honor in 2016.

Manoli’s and Basalt Day Spa are already in place on the block’s west side. New tenants will include a second location of Chinese bao shop Xiao Bao Bao, Mozz Artisan Pizza, Native Flower Company and Simple Modern Therapy, with more to be announced. Equality Utah, the LGBTQ civil-rights organization, will also be making its headquarters there.

The anchor tenant will be Wasatch Food Co-op, a cooperative grocery store that hopes to open by the end of the year. Stephanie Buranek, board chair of the co-op, said it will be a full-service grocery store that focuses on locally grown and produced foods but also carries products that can‘t be sourced in Utah.

Organizers still need to raise a little under $2 million before it can open, Buranek said, but she’s “confident” they’ll hit the mark.

Passion projects

From their early stake in the neighborhood, the owners of Manoli’s have more recently expanded to also open Paréa, which offers gyros and grab-and-go Greek food from a small former home painted a warm yellow with a front wall of glass.

When Dang and her husband bought the property that became Manoli’s, “anyone else would have just done condos or high rises and not even cared about local business. But these guys, they care a lot,” said Manoli Katsanevas, the proprietor.

“They took a big chance on us, and so people like that are what keep this whole neighborhood going,” he said.

Along with the upcoming opening of the Milk Block, two more new restaurants are in the works along 900 South. Amy Stevanoni, an owner of seasonal Italian restaurant Veneto at 370 East, said she and her husband, Marco, have invested in two more area properties and plan to open food businesses there.

At 346 East, diners walk down a hidden driveway to find the rustic, backyard Nona Bistro. The wine room Notes, inside the bungalow up front, plans to open the porch and front yard as patio space this summer.

Hayden Poh, Notes’ event coordinator and co-founder, said the local businesses on 900 South are people’s “passion projects.”

“[It’s] always fun,” Poh said, “to be involved with things that people are inspired about and passionate about.”