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By DEBBIE HUMMEL
Associated Press Writer
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The line in a downtown Salt Lake City mall Saturday moved steadily two days before Christmas, but these shoppers weren't after the hottest toy or a holiday bargain -- they were here for the free bricks.
Bricks from a demolished downtown hotel that hosted countless wedding nights, anniversaries and other memorable occasions during its 75 years in business across the street from the Salt Lake Mormon Temple.
Robert and Pauline Merrill spent their honeymoon at the Hotel Temple Square in 1944. Their daughter, Michelle Merrill, waited in line to get bricks to give them as Christmas presents.
"I think they'll be really excited," she said. "Mom came up from Texas to marry my dad during the war."
Merrill, 44, said the young couple could only afford a brief hotel stay for their honeymoon. Her father was drafted to serve in Guam shortly after their Feb. 11 nuptials.
The giveaway of 1,000 bricks from the building now known as the Inn at Temple Square drew dozens of people looking to capture a memento from the site of many special events.
Ryan Johnson, 32, of Phoenix, was the first in line. In town visiting family for the holidays, he said the brick would be a surprise for his wife. The couple spent their wedding night there Nov. 20, 1999.
Richard Larsen, 37, of Sandy, Utah, joined his co-workers Merrill and Johnson in line. He also spent his honeymoon at the inn about 15 years ago and was persuaded by his colleagues that the brick would make a nice gift for his wife.
"It's better than a lump of coal. It weighs as much," he said.
Each brick came with a small certificate authenticating it as a brick from the inn. The hotel opened in 1931 as a hostel-style establishment with 200 small rooms designed for quick stays. The building was renovated 16 years later as a Victorian style hotel with just 90 rooms.
The Inn at Temple Square is one of the first buildings being demolished to make way for a 20-acre mall redevelopment being funded by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The hotel has hosted singer Gladys Knight, actress Angela Lansbury and a handful of other celebrities and dignitaries, but among its most honored guests have been newlyweds whose nuptials took place across the street.
Many in line, like Salt Lake City resident Ann Colby, had generations of memories tied to the inn.
Colby's parents paid $15 to spend their wedding night at the inn in 1956 and returned last March to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary there, she said.
It was also the site of the restaurant where Colby's husband, Doug, asked her to marry him.
"We wish it didn't have to come down, so we'll take a piece of it home," she said.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
