3/7/2023 0 Comments Cosmic clothing100 South, that Cosmic Aeroplane took its place as Utah’s thriving center of the counterculture wave that was about to crest. The store was here from 1967-1969.īut it wasn’t until 1976, when the enterprise landed at 258 E. Photo courtesy Mike Evans Sign from the original Cosmic Aeroplane at 871 E. “If you don’t understand this, read it again.” Special place in history “We do not know how to get drugs of any kind,” it read. The first thing you saw as you entered was a sign, Evans said. Many young people gravitated to the place for its wares and to hang out and catch the vibe. It added a bit of ridiculous uncertainty, and Jones couldn’t stop his partner’s shenanigans. Evans remembered the reverend marrying a lot of couples - usually to the beat of the era’s new anthems, ranging from dreamy to rebellious.Ĭlow also was fond of writing funny titles on the spines of used books that had lost their covers, Evans noted. His partner at that time, Sherm Clow, was an exuberant force who balanced the subdued Jones. “Steve Jones was well-read and was up on a lot of different topics.” He was quiet and soft-spoken, Evans said. Jones wore long hair and a beard and usually was clad in denim. Just as important were the used records to be scooped up for a song. The store was at this site from 1974-1976. Photo courtesy Mike Evans Steve Jones is seen with his “public piano” at the 366 S. “There were left-wing publications, like Ramparts, and the East Village Other was only 75 cents.” “It was more than what I was expecting,” he said recently. The movement was quieter in Utah, but the people nurturing its spirit at Cosmic Aeroplane were thoughtful and creative, recalled Mike Evans, who bumped into the place in his youth at its original location, 871 E. The counterculture was set against a national landscape dominated by marches and protests, assassinations, and the drumbeat of young Americans coming home in body bags. Some followers called for “free love,” while others claimed the mantra “sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll.” Jones’ endeavor tapped into the youth movement that sought to tear away from societal norms with the aid of music, drugs and fashion. And, of course, lots of philosophy, including books such as “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.”Įx-New Yorker Steve Jones hatched Cosmic Aeroplane in Utah’s capital at the very time the “Summer of Love” was unfolding in San Francisco. The shop blossomed from a small interest that sold edgy books and hard-to-get comics and posters to a full-blown enterprise noted for its jewelry, records and head shop, as well as its broad inventory of books, including tomes on transcendental meditation, New Age healing and metaphysics. South Temple, where it was located from 1969-1974. It was a vibrant and wild time, the era of long hair, the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement and the Nixon White House - and Cosmic Aeroplane, like the country, morphed over those tumultuous years.Ĭosmic Aeroplane owner Steve Jones outside the store at 369 W. Social media was a bulletin board littered with thumbtacked messages and fliers. And no music downloads - people bought entire albums on pizza-size vinyl discs. With alternative literature, posters and music, it grew into the youth movement’s unofficial Utah headquarters through the 1970s and even into the ’80s.ĭescribing the period and its convulsions to millennials is practically impossible - no computers, cellphones or apps. It sold stuff that you couldn’t find at Deseret Book or even Sam Weller’s Zion Bookstore. The embryonic hippie counterculture within the straight-laced confines of 1967 Salt Lake City was embodied by Cosmic Aeroplane, a little shop that embraced the coming age of mind expansion. “White Rabbit,” Jefferson Airplane, 1967. One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you smallĪnd the ones that mother gives you, don’t do anything at all In this series, The Salt Lake Tribune explores the once-favorite places of Utahns, from restaurants to recreation to retail.
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