• Bryant Heath
• A spray-painted stormtrooper at a service station in Rose Park illustrates Salt Lake’s love affair with science fiction.

Salt Lake received a lot of attention recently due to the season finale of the post-apocalyptic television series The Last of Us being set in the city. Despite a few funny anachronistic elements, the panoramic view of a deteriorated downtown SLC—shown from the viewpoint of the Triad Center on 300 West—was fantastical and breathtaking. It just goes to show that our city is beautiful both before and after a cataclysm.

But The Last of Us is just one of several examples showing a mutual love-affair between Salt Lake and science fiction. The semi-annual Fan X convention is a well-known tour de force, easily one of the Top 5 pop culture and comic book conferences in the country. There, roaming the halls of the Salt Palace, you can find enough people cosplaying as Klingons or Mandalorians to form an army.

The fandom also bleeds into the city itself, whether intentional or not. I've always thought that the signage at Ken Garff Honda on Main Street and 900 South looks a little like the Starfleet insignia from Star Trek. However, I've since learned the real history is bit less wondrous: it's just a relic from the 1960s of the old Safeway that preceded the dealership.

I was pleased to finally come across a Star Wars reference in the city a few months back when I passed by an auto service station on 1000 North and 1400 West in Rose Park (above photo). No doubt, the spray-painted stormtrooper is long gone from the shop by now, so be on the lookout for it patrolling the mean streets of SLC.

But of all the science fiction shows, the seemingly never-ending British television serial Doctor Who is my favorite. Even non-observers of the series are able to easily spot the Doctor's ubiquitous spaceship, as the bright blue English police box is very out-of-date nowadays.

I've come across two instances of it in SLC: as a cute Little Free Library on Beverly Street near 2700 South (below left) and within an empty storefront in Trolley Square near 700 East and 600 South (below right). No doubt more exist—in both space and time—so keep your eyes peeled!

• Bryant Heath
• Sightings of Dr. Who spaceships on Beverly Street near 2700 South, left, and at Trolley Square.