Bluebird guests enjoy more than 80 years of history
History is alive at the Bluebird Restaurant in Logan.
The restaurant was founded in 1914 by Guy Cardon, M.N. Neuberger and Julius Bergsjo, said An Sheng Xu, current owner of the restaurant. The Bluebird first began on Center Street, and the current building on Main Street was built in the 1920s.
“They opened a store and started the Bluebird with candy and ice cream,” Xu said. “This building was finished around 1922. We try not to change too much of the historical look of the building. We try to fix it how it originally looked – with the same materials and color – so it looks the way it was originally built.”
Faye Atwood, a Logan resident who has been going to the Bluebird since she was a child, said the building has remained the same for as long as she can remember.
Atwood and her friends Marilyn Johnson and Evelyn Smith have been eating at the restaurant for decades.
Smith said the only changes she’s noticed is that fewer people sit at the bar, which used to offer lemon, lime or cherry flavored cokes.
In addition to restaurant food, the Bluebird has Aggie ice-cream, chocolates and candies, Xu said.
The candies and chocolates aren’t made at the restaurant; the chocolates are from Alveys out of Richmond said Erin Seeley, a Bluebird employee.
Seeley said patrons often come to the restaurant just to buy candy and chocolate. The O’ Aggie Bars and Melti Mints are the best sellers, she said.
“A lot of people come in just to get candy,” she said. “And most who come for food can’t resist it on the way out.”
The restaurant has more than 75 types of chocolate, both milk and dark, as well as gummies, caramels and jelly beans.
It also has themed rooms, including the Pioneer Room, Mural Room and Ballroom.
The Pioneer Room was named for the Utah Pioneers and is decorated with that motif, Xu said. The Mural room has paintings of the history of Cache Valley.
“It has paintings of Cache Valley from the Indians until nowadays,” he said.
Dances used to be held in the Ballroom of the Bluebird until the ’40s, Xu said.
“It has a wood floor,” he said. “But since each school has its own proms and dances, we don’t have dances here anymore.”
The Xu family has owned the restaurant since 1994. Xu worked there as a supervisor for four years before he bought it.
“I’m so happy I own the Bluebird,” he said. “I love the look of the old classic-style restaurant.”
Xu said the best part about being the owner of the Bluebird is the stories he is told by people who come to eat.
“Everyone comes in and tells us their family story about the Bluebird, like how their parents would have them come and eat at the Bluebird for the holidays,” he said. “The Bluebird is a concern in a lot of people’s lives. They care about it. If anything changes, any little detail, they want to know about it.”
Xu said many people have fond memories of the restaurant and its history.
“When they first walk in the front door, they stand there for a few minutes and feel like they’re at home,” he said. “They’re emotional for a moment as they refresh their mind about how they’ve been to the Bluebird before. Some people tell me they had their wedding breakfast here 50 years ago.
Atwood, Johnson and Smith are a few of the patrons who have been eating at the restaurant since they were children.
“We’ve been here all our lives,” Atwood said. “It was the place to come.”
She and Smith have been eating lunch there since they were teens.
“Faye and I have been going to lunch for almost 60 years,” Smith said. “Well, maybe not quite that long, but it’s been a long time. I’ve been coming here since I was a
teenager.”
Johnson said the group continues to eat at the restaurant because it’s routine.
“We eat here more out of habit than anything else,” she said. “We just like it here.
“Coming to the Bluebird when I was little was a real treat. I remember when my mom had graduated from Utah State, we came here for dinner – my sisters, my mother and me,” she said.
The Bluebird is located at 19 N. Main St. and is open 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
-kcartwright@cc.usu.edu
Raole Duke sits at the bar in the Bluebird Restaurant waiting for a milkshake he ordered, while the employees scurry about to wait on their guests.
(Photos by Amy Fuller)