Effort afoot to save Provo's '5¢ cigar'

PROVO — A great cigar once could be had for 5 cents in this heavily Mormon city, if we can believe the fading ad still visible on the side of a building in historic downtown Provo.

Nickel cigars are a thing of the past, like five-and-dime stores and record players, but some Provoans hope a proposed office tower won't be the end of the old advertisement they consider a quaint landmark.

The Provo Landmarks Commission asked the developer of University Tower in November to consider restoring the ad for the enjoyment of those who will live and work in the new downtown tower and another building that is part of the project.

"We've admired it for years because it's one of the few relics left of that era in Provo," said Brent Ashworth, a rare books dealer and member of the Provo Landmarks Commission. "I can remember from when I was little that we had a number of these old ads for Buster Brown Shoes and other products painted on the sides of buildings downtown."

The cigar ad is painted on the west side of the historic Gates-Snow Building, now the home of Einstein Bros. Bagels, 43 E. Center. The paint is so worn that it is difficult to read, though the phrase "A Great 5¢ Cigar" is plainly visible.

Time and weather have worn away enough of the ad to reveal what appears to be another ad underneath. At the bottom of the lettering, which could be 60 to 90 years old, is a small notation: "Utah Billposting Co."

University Tower was announced in June as a 10-story building directly south of the Wells Fargo tower at 50 N. University Avenue, around the corner from the ad. REMS Development President Brad Sears said new designs now call for a slimmer tower with 11 floors.

The complete project would include two additional four-story buildings, one right next to the ad on the Gates-Snow Building. The wall with the ad would still be visible in an inner corridor.

When Sears sought a certificate of appropriateness from the Landmarks Commission in November, commission chairwoman Julia Smoot voted against granting the certificate. According to minutes of the meeting, she feared the certificate would lead to removal of the ad, but the commission granted approval by a 4-1 vote.

Smoot did not respond to multiple interview requests.

The landmarks commission did ask Sears to preserve the ad, Ashworth said, "because it was an interesting piece of Provo nostalgia that people might like to look out onto or walk past."