Ogden

As far as Utah cities go, Ogden gets a bad rap. Essentially a rail town, once the trains quit running Ogden’s economy tanked. It is now reinventing itself as an outdoor eco-haven.

We plan on moving there this year.

Ogden is a great Utah town that gets no love from the rest of the state.

Historically, Ogden has always been the resented stepchild of Mormon Utah. It is probably the only sizable town in Utah whose origins are not primarily rooted in Mormon settlement. Instead, its history is more closely associated with the Union Pacific Railroad, and the rowdy wild west traffic that spawned it’s downtown architecture. Much of that downtown is still there today, including the train station and late 1800s brick buildings of 25th street. Up until the late 1980s, this area was renowned for it’s seedy and even dangerous element: numerous rough biker bars, flophouses and general degradation. Nowadays, this area is one of the great hidden gems of the state: A fully restored 20s era Egyptian theater, and an 1880’s era 25th street filled with nice restaurants, clubs, bakeries and antique shops.

Yet still most Utahns regard Ogden with open disdain, preferring the strip malls and Olive Gardens of West Valley.

I spent most of my time here when I was pregnant. I lived on a concrete floor, in a scary house, with scary men, all alone cuz my boyfriend was in jail. I walked to my minimum wage job everyday while the boyfriend when not in jail found girls at random places to do who-knows what with. I lived off of the food at Tasty’s, and The Pie. I was miserable! Such bad memories, unbelievable memories really. I sometimes can’t believe that I really lived that life. And people wonder why I placed my daughter. That’s why! Does that sound like a healthy environment for a child. Wow, we are both in such better places now. :0)

But despite all this, I intend on returning to Ogden for school in the fall! The school is right across the street from where I dwelt for that icky time in life!I really don’t dwell on the memories when there. But I still don’t like Ogden much. It is just… uh, not my scene. No offense to anyone who lives there.

Ogden can be a nice little place, there are a lot of nice people and some parts of the city are well kept and nice. But for the most part I would say that Ogden is an impoverished town, and there are a lot of places I would not want to be walking by myself after dark. East Ogden, North Ogden and South Ogden are all very nice, however downtown Ogden and West Ogden are quite ghetto.

There are still a lot of good things about the town, it is driving distance from some really awesome ski resorts like Powder Mountain and Snow Basin. The boarding is awesome! And in the summer there are a lot of fun things to do as well from hiking along any of the many trails, to boating up at Pineview reservoir, to fishing or cliff jumping up at Causey dam. Plus the drive to Salt Lake City only takes about 30 minutes, and there are plenty of fun things to do there at night. Overall I would say that Ogden is worth visiting because most places are, if even just to experience something different. But I would not want to live here, I am actually wanting to move away. Mostly because the winter lasts too long. The snow is great it just lasts too long :) The rest of the year is just gorgeous though, right now it’s spring and so everything is alive, and the mountainside is bursting with color. So, it is a beautiful place and worth visiting for sure!!

Some have said that the locals should be proud of it…I on the other hand don’t want to be here long enough to become a “local”!