Before and after shots of the old Payson First Security Bank from 1974 and 2024.

A popular burger joint named Jimba's once stood on the north side of Provo's Main Street and served as a hot spot for Brigham Young University students.

In 1974, BYU undergrad Anders Sorensen was commissioned by a member of the school's student government to photograph different locations around Utah County and included Jimba's as one of over 40 places he shot with his Canon FTb.

Noting 2024 marked a half-century since he did the project, Sorensen, a Springville resident who spent his career building geographic information systems, took it upon himself to track down the exact locations of each photo and retake them this year.

The endeavor tested his geographic wit and brought back a flood of memories and impressions of what life was like in Utah County in the mid 1970s.

"I used to take dates to (Jimba's)," Sorenson said. "What it is today is a Thai restaurant. I took my wife there for lunch one time, not realizing that that's what had been Jimba's. I knew Jimba's was in the area, but I didn't know exactly where until I started this project."

Sorensen, who spent much of his adult life in Las Vegas before moving with his wife to Springville six years ago, shared many of the photos he shot with the Daily Herald.

As one can imagine, many of the pictures reflect the change that has occurred over the last five decades. Farms have been developed into suburban neighborhoods. Trees are grown out. Old building have made way for new buildings.

"Obviously, the population of the valley has grown dramatically," Sorensen said. "Back then, traffic on Interstate 15 was (lighter). You could get to Salt Lake a lot faster than you can today. Some of these towns today kind of blend together, where you don't know where one begins and one ends. Back then, they were very small and there was a definite demarcation between them."

Not everything has changed dramatically, though, including several different downtown photos Sorensen shot that have the same buildings. And of course, the Wasatch Mountains continue to loom in the background of many of the images.

The mountains, in fact, played a pivotal role in Sorensen's quest to recapture each photo he took. While some of his locations were easy finds, others were nearly impossible because the former landscape had completely changed.

In these instances, he relied on context clues, like how the mountains lined up in respect to each of the photos. Utilizing his career skills, he also used a handheld GPS device to track exactly where his modern photos were taken and then used Google Earth to try to match his new photo to the old photographs he had.

"I guess a lot of it was the research I had to do to find the places again, because I wasn't smart enough back then to write down the location," Sorensen said. "Some of the places I knew, no trouble whatsoever. And others, I had to look at clues in the picture to see where it was taken. I used Google Earth and other things like that, and other photos that maybe helped me find the location. That was a challenge, and I guess I enjoyed the challenge."