How to explore three up-and-coming blocks on Salt Lake City’s coolest street

As Salt Lake City’s 900 South is developing into a second downtown, the blocks between 200 East and 500 East are quickly creating their own unique vibe.

In three blocks, you can shop for that perfect vintage find, fuel up on caffeine or chill with tea, and choose from eateries that range from grab-and-go to fine dining. It’s a prime spot to spend an unhurried afternoon, meandering down the sidewalks or the paved 9 Line Trail on foot, bike or scooter.

Here’s more about how it developed. Below, we’ll walk you through some of the gems we found. Let’s start at 200 East and head east.

200 East block

First stop on the north side of this block is Vintage Drift SLC (265 East), one of several vintage shops or niche boutiques in the neighborhood. The small, cheerily disheveled store is bursting with clothes from nearly every era, along with home goods, trinkets and other treasures.

Vintage Drift’s owner, Kristen Wolfe, recognized the area’s potential and moved in two years ago, graduating from running a pop-up shop. The businesses on these blocks, she said, are “folks you’d typically find at farmers markets that have been successful enough to have a storefront.”

Strawberry Mansion promises “weirdly wonderful finds” next door in the same building, which has a mural on its east side of Harvey Milk, the late San Francisco city supervisor and gay-rights icon. This area is in the middle of a 20-block stretch of 900 South that was named Harvey Milk Boulevard in his honor in 2016.

Across 900 South on this block is City of Industry (280 East), a stationery boutique that’s a wordsmith’s dream. Its walls are lined with pens, greeting cards, candles and stickers. A vending machine in the front of the shop sells mini prints from Portland, Maine, by New York native Anastasia Inciardi for a buck — and you can Venmo owner Sarah Anderson for quarters.

Anderson moved her store from downtown into this building, in a space tucked between Chanon Thai Cafe and Skillets, where you can enjoy breakfast, brunch or lunch outside on the patio. She immediately felt like she belonged among her neighbors in the area — many of them women and queer business owners.

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

300 East block

Continuing east gives you two options to achieve a little zen. At Tinker’s Cat Cafe (302 East), enjoy a coffee while relaxing with an adoptable purring companion in the cat lounge.

Or across the street is Crystal Journey (307 East), which specializes in candles, incense, crystals and other New Age items. The store got a minute of fame last September, when Heather Gay and Whitney Rose went shopping there in an episode of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” where they played with chimes.

More browsing? You can’t miss the bubblegum pink house on the south side of the street, where Revive Boutique (342 East) is one of the many businesses in converted bungalows that give these blocks some of their funky charm.

Inside, you’ll find racks full of gently-used high-end fashion, including designer brands like Mac Dougal and Mira Mikati, organized by color and by type. “The brands that we sell here, you don’t really find in Utah,” owner Marley McKenna said.

Want more vintage choices instead? Check out Annata Collective, where the men’s shop has been upgraded to the Man Cave and you’ll find home decor as well; or A Genie’s Dream Boutique in the same bungalow, at 362 East.

Or be welcomed into another former home at the Legendarium (349 East), a queer-owned bookstore that features fantasy, science fiction and related genres. It’s a cozy place to get lost in a book. Or sign up for one of their game nights. There’s also a cafe inside if you need another caffeine boost.

Ready to eat? This block offers an impressive menu.

Get a pastry from Chubby Baker (317 East), where the ube doughnut is particularly tasty. Or make a pit stop at Loki Coffee (325 East), where the people-watching is as potent as the cappuccino.

For a casual meal, get a lobster roll at Freshie’s Lobster Co. (356 East), or go for Greek food at Paréa (320 East), a grab-and-go eatery recently opened by Manoli Katsanevas, owner of the upscale Manoli’s (402 East) up the street.

For finer dining, walk down a semi-hidden driveway (look for the neon sign) to the rustic backyard Nona Bistro (346 East) to settle in for a cocktail and wood-fired bites. Veneto (370 East) offers seasonal Italian cuisine.

400 East block

Here you’ll find Manoli’s (402 East), a small-plates Greek restaurant that has received James Beard Award nominations and is a longtime Salt Lake City favorite. (Order the lamb burger; it’s delicious.)

Upstairs in the same building is Basalt, which bills itself as a “boutique day spa,” offering massages — including one using heated and cold stones — as well as facials, scrubs, mud wraps and face waxing.

Next door is the under-construction Milk Block (402 East to 430 East), another tribute to Harvey Milk. One new building is going up here, but the larger one being remodeled has been a neighborhood gathering place, off and on, for decades — it was the O.P. Skaggs store when it was built in 1941. It promises to be again, as the future home of the Wasatch Food Co-op.

Organizers hope to open the co-op by year’s end, and say it will be the city’s only community-owned full-service grocery store. Other restaurants and shops — including a second location of Chinese bao shop Xiao Bao Bao — expect to open on the block this summer.

Across the street is Tea Grotto (401 East), where you can choose from more than 100 types and mixes of loose-leaf tea.

And in the same building is Atomic Biscuit, which opened late last year in the old Pig & a Jelly Jar spot. Owner Jennifer Felton specializes in biscuits made fresh daily.

The menu is inspired by Felton‘s time living in North Carolina, so it has plenty of Southern flavor — plus a patio to savor your order outside.

Business owners on these blocks support each other, Felton said, and she’s glad to have landed here. “The vibe, for me, was perfect,” she said, because “I love to support local.”