“If you are not personally free to be yourself in that most important of all human activities…the expression of love…then life itself loses its meaning.”
- Harvey Milk
Our Mission
Building a mindful community one block at a time. Heart and kindness first. Love for local, small businesses always.
The origin of the Milk Block’s name is twofold as it gets its title from the late great Harvey Milk himself, and also thanks to the block’s location being on the corner of 400 east and Harvey Milk Blvd. The boulevard claimed its stake along 900 South back in May of 2016 — a landmark event for the state of Utah and the city of Salt Lake. One that marked a turning point and signaled progress. An event that required a willingness to open up to each other, reach across the aisle, and agree that all humans from all walks of life should be welcomed and celebrated.
Since then, Salt Lake has seen vast growth in size, in culture, in diversity, and in perspective with still further to go and much more in store. We hope to be and see ourselves as a component of the continued growth and progress of our city.
Our project also took inspiration from one of Harvey’s speeches, which occurred in San Francisco’s Castro District, where he stood upon a stoop and passionately expressed his belief in building community one neighborhood at a time.
While we honor all that he fought and stood for, it was in that spirit that the Milk Block strives to build community one block at a time. A compassionate community that practices the values of kindness and supporting local.
The Milk Block is a place where everyone can gather and share in our favorite aspects of the human experience: eating, drinking, shopping, and being together.
Welcome to the Milk Block
The Building’s History
The building was first constructed in 1941 and served as the O.P. Skaggs Market, which featured a beautiful neon marquee as can be seen in the first black and white image. Skaggs sold the building in 1945 but kept the name for several more years before it’d be known as Sudbury’s Foodtown. Ray F. Sudbury went on to sell the building in 1966 to William and Mae Tang, who operated it as a Super Save Discount Market in the late 1960s. The building has been occupied by several businesses over the decades, but most recently housed the Southeast Asian Market, Melewa Bakery, and Pho 28. After 23 wonderful years in business, the owners of the Asian market chose to retire and close their doors for good. The building’s rich history and good bones played a great part in our inspiration to make this a restoration project as opposed to demoing all that’s been upright since 1941.
This project is a true adaptive reuse. Once selective demo began in November of 2023, we uncovered bow trusses that had been holding up the dome shape of the building’s roof for all these years. The trusses had been covered up by dropped ceilings throughout the previous several decades of use, but in discovering them we chose to move in a direction that would allow us to preserve and leave them exposed for future occupants and patrons to enjoy and appreciate. Any other components that could be preserved to serve the future use of the building were kept as much of the brick which forms the interior walls remain upright.