On the way into town we passed the Buckner building, which was built to house 1000 troops under one roof in 1948, during the Cold War. It was 6-stories tall and was built to be a ‘city under one roof.’ There was a small hospital, a 350-seat movie theater, a 40-lane bowling alley, a jail, a bakery, a church, a barbershop, a library a radio and a TV station, a huge cafeteria and kitchen and a store. It was built to withstand an earthquake and, in 1964, it did. However, it was abandoned and mothballed in 1960 when the base was closed. A derelict now. Built with asbestos. Too costly to renovate, too costly to tear down. It’s just here, a remnant of days long gone. I’ve read that the people of Whittier just accept it as it is. It’s not pretty but what can they do?
We walked over to the Begich Towers.
More than half of the town’s 200 residents live in the 14-story Begich Towers built in 1948 as an army barracks. The building also holds a police station, a health clinic, a church, and a laundromat. Imagine a whole town living in one house, one huge condo building with a small grocery store, a library, a playground for the kids all in one building. I imagine you’d get to know your neighbors well and a real sense of community would develop. Although the flip side is that you’d know all your neighbors’ secrets too.
Winter usually brings 22’ of snow a year, 80 mph winds and 6 months of rain a year. But, you don’t have to step outside at all. You can live on one floor, work on another, buy groceries on a third, get your hair done on a fourth, your kids can run down a tunnel to the school in the next building. What’s rush hour? When the elevator stops on every floor. And - you never have to shovel snow.
Even non-residents can go into the first floor where the Post Office, store and city offices are. And, a store. We stopped to buy a soda and had a long conversation with Marie who worked in the store. She’s from the Philippines and, when here family moved over here to Whittier to work, she came too. Here husband also came and he works in maintenance.
We bought a can of soda for $1.00 more than in the lower 48 but, hey, this is Whittier, AK, we have to pay for all the transportation to get this soda here for us to buy. BTW, this is really a convenience store since there is a much larger store down the road.
Just like any condo complex, there are units for sale and we found this ad on the local bulletin board.
The view from their front windows is spectacular.
But, then, the view form their back windows is pretty spectacular, too.
Then out to the school, where the teams are known as the Whittier Eagles. During winter, the kids can go through an underground tunnel to get to school.
We saw this building with lots of canoes and kayaks in it. It was built as a gymnasium in 1956. Since the harsh winter climate kept troops indoors much of the winter, this gym had 9440 sq. ft and held a basketball court, a physical fitness facility with showers and locker rooms. Now it’s a boat and kayak company - cool repurposing of an old building.
They are building a new municipal building and, in the process found these old water pipes: wood wrapped with steel.
They had this sign but note how they changed the numbers. It is a quirky town and they love their quirkiness.
And, what are 68 ‘City Studies?’ Does someone think this is more than enough? ’23 Evictions?’
We walked by the marina - pretty large but lots of folks form Anchorage keep their boats moored here.
To get to town form the waterfront we walked through the tunnel which goes under the railroad tracks and saves the townspeople from having to go outside.
Funny, we saw two bikes just resting against the bushes around the tunnel. No locks. But then, who needs locks? If you stole a bike where would you ride it?
Now to the museum. Oh, Cathy and Tom texted, asking if we were available for a call. Yep, we left the museum, got to the car and called them. Nice conversation, catching up and hearing familiar voices.
Back to the museum for 30 minutes. It’s pretty good. There are sections on the original inhabitants of this area, quite a few about WWII here, and some on famous people from Alaska. I didn’t know that Jimmy Doolittle of WWII fame was from Nome, AK. There was a section of Anton Anderson who was the engineer for the tunnel.
One on the tsunami after the 1964 earthquake.
Oh, oh,: it’s 5:45. Either we leave now and get through the tunnel at 6:00 or wait until 7:00 and go then. NOW. And we rush off.
Lines and lines. How did so many people fit into such a small town? Where were they - we didn’t see this many milling around. Oh, yeah, they were on one of the Prince William Sound tours. One family told us that the ferry gets in early enough so that people can take the 6:00 tunnel to the other side.
But, how about another view of Whittier?
But through the tunnel and this view on the other side.
Fun day. Good hike, great views, cool museum and fun in the one house town. Could it get any better?
When the sun rises in Barrow, Alaska on May 10, it does not set until August 2, providing 84 days of continuous sunlight. Conversely, when the sun sets in Barrow on November 18th, there are 67 days of darkness before the sun rises again January 24th.
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