A town of about 200 people, almost all of whom live in the same building
stories.californiasunday.com
stories.californiasunday.com
The big change there since I left has been the tunnel. When I was there you had to drive your car up onto a railroad flatcar (and pay a steep ticket price) to get out. Anchorage is only 55 miles away, but really it's two mountains away. The railroad sold passenger service only as a requirement of the state and prioritized it behind freight. Between that, avalanches and assorted weather problems, you could wait hours and hours for a train. Winter service wasn't even daily, back then. We didn't even have cable. Just PBS and one channel that mixed shows from the three big networks. It was strange.
Yes, most residents live in one big 14 story high-rise in rural Alaska.
I most definitely do not miss it. I recommend this book if you want more info:
1. Why the town even exists? Article tells nothing about its purpose.
2. What are the most jobs? Is there any production?
3. How did it feel to live in such a small community?
It is a town of only 200 some odd people.
OK, history/geography lesson... The Kenai peninsula hangs down into the Gulf of Alaska and sort of separates those two areas. The landscape around there is very mountainous. However, Whittier has a low mountain pass to "easily" travel between Passage Canal (not an actual canal) on the east side to Turnigan Arm and Anchorage (more of a muddy tentacle) on the West side. Portage Pass was where natives would portage their kayaks through there back in the day, and European explorers adopted the route. Fast forward to World War II, and the US Army developed the site into a town, building pretty much everything bigger than a shack that you see there today. The Japanese were taking US islands in the Aleutians, and we needed to be able to get war materiel up there. You can't take it directly to Anchorage because it's a horrible port, with huge tides. So the Army built two big docks and a tank farm for petrolium. They connected it to Anchorage with a railroad. Unforunately, the old native portage was over Portage Glacier, and impassable in the summer. So they built one of the longest tunnels in the world through the mountains (also a second quite long tunnel). After WWII built Whittier's big residential buildings, Beggich Towers pictured in the article and the abandoned, Buckner Building. The Army pulled out of Whittier in the 50s, only a few short years after the two big buildings were built. Whittier survives as a town today as a port, and on top of that Army infrastructure.
> 2. What are the most jobs? Is there any production?
Most of the jobs are at the port, the railroad and the tank farm. In the summer, there's fishing and tourism. Everything else pretty much hangs off those.
> 3. How did it feel to live in such a small community?
I hated it. Other people liked it. Imagine having 0-4 other kids in your grade. Those are all of your friends. Pick your best friend and your girl friend from that pool. The weather was shit. Summer was SHORT and muddy. Winter was long and DARK. Absolutely everyone is absolutely all up in your business all the time. The views were real nice when it wasn't raining or snowing. It was usually raining or snowing. Opportunities for doing anything beyond school or work were pretty narrow.
I just don't understand how these kinds of towns keep any residents. They seem downright dangerous to live in. In Russia, I can understand it, but these are US citizens who can get a flight down to a whole host of warm, easy towns and get any minimum wage job and still quite easily be better off than before.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Oregon,+USA/@42.8710265,-1...
Some people just like that kind of life.
What's odd about the place in the article is that they're all in the same building, which is probably not what most people who want to 'get away from it all' are seeking.
Back in the day, when I lived there, there was no road, just the railroad. But we had an old Army ambulance that had train wheels that it could deploy to travel to Anchorage on the train tracks. My dad actually took that trip twice IIRC for a heart attack and a stroke (I was pretty young and don't really remember it).
These days there is a road. It closes at times, but the cop has the keys, so they can open it for emergencies.
But yeah, living in the bush, emergency medical care may be a ways away.
When I was there, some Alaskan religious group would rotate some "nondenominational" preacher through for a year or three and serve up basic Sunday School type Christianity out of an ugly room in the big building pictured.
There seemed to be a high-ish suicide rate, and working in the fishing industry is fairly dangerous.
Sorry for the barrage of questions, but I found these points very interesting.
The population has varied considerably over the years. It looks like it's somewhat lower than when I lived there. In a lot of ways, Whittier is not a nice place to live, so people where always moving away, but it had certain appeals that always drew new people in as well.
> The brief article mentions a Sheriff and I assume there may or may not be a deputy also. It also mentions a pot bust. What happens to people arreste?
This is a bit of a change from when I lived there. Back then, there was a separate building that housed the police department (not sheriffs), the fire department and a court room. A judge would come through once a month or so. That building is gone from Google Maps now though, so it must have burned down or collapsed under a heavy snow load or something (that happens). Any serious crimes would be sent off to Anchorage. I would imagine that is how it still works.
> I imagine since everyone knows everyone, the police would know anyone they arrest (and their family) quite well.
Probably? We all pretty much knew who was an alcoholic, or who beat their wife. There seemed to be plenty of petty theft and vandalism to go around. I still wanna know who stole my Big Wheel!
Like what?
Dave Schofield is the chief of police in Whittier. He is also the only officer who lives in town. Alaska’s laws often reflect the needs of a sparsely populated state, which presents challenges for policing within Begich Towers. For example, the state constitution has written into it a right to privacy; if something is occurring in your own home, you have the right to keep it private. This means that although there is a pervasive smell of marijuana in Begich Towers, the police can do little about it. “The law says you can’t have drugs within 500 feet of a school; there’s not a unit in this building that’s 500 feet from the school, but we have the right-to-privacy issue.”
The pot bust itself appears to have stemmed from this event:
A few years ago, a pot grower on the 10th floor had just finished a harvest and decided to get rid of some of the evidence by flushing it down the toilet. In the process he stopped up the plumbing on the floors below him—a neighbor called city management to complain that someone had flushed large amounts of dog food down the toilets, but it turned out to be pellets of grow medium.
http://reedyoung.com/project/whittier-alaska/r-young-whittie...
Do they pay condo fees?
I was told the main reason Whittier exists is because it's the only port deep enough to dock warships. I was fishing out of Cordova which you can only get to by plane or boat but if you wanted to go to anchorage, you could take a small car ferry to Whittier.
When I was there last in `86, there were a few dwellings (maybe 8-12?) at the Sportsman's Inn and two old shacks right down by the railroad owned by one family of three. On google street maps I can see two or three new freestanding houses. The Shens who ran the better bar lived there. The vast majority of people live in Beggich Towers. It looks about the same now as it did then, and does not seem to have been renovated much. Are you perhaps thinking of the Buckner Building?
> There's no place shittier than Whittier
Not that I have found so far ;)
> I was told the main reason Whittier exists is because it's the only port deep enough to dock warships.
Supply ships to support the war effort, more than war ships, per se.
That is really impressive. The first thing I noticed looking at the building is how well it looks for 1956 construction and particularly given harsh environment. I suppose it's a testament to the great work of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
On the other hand, hip-roofs simply weren't in the Army handbook, so everything was built with a flat roof. In a town that may get 400 inches of precipitation in some years, most of it snow, it's a recipe for disaster. Many of the smaller buildings roofs (including the school) were destroyed that way. Begich Tower's roof leaks. I mean, you can be on any floor and have your roof leak due to the capillary action through the cracks. The plumbing sucked. You let the water run until it was clear before you started drinking.
Fished the sound in one way or another until I was 20 and moved away.
Not sure what to make out of it, but certainly interesting.
I have wondered how different my life would be if I'd had wikipedia then.
I moved away when I was 20 and after a great deal of bouncing around, I've been living in New York for the last seven years. Some people just find their place, I suppose.
Nice to see a fellow Alaskan kicking around on here.
The Sportsman's had Mario Brothers and Galaxian tucked into different corners.
And yeah, the arcade at the Anchor was way better but the Sportsman was much more chill about me taking up one of their pool tables, if I recall. Sportsman also had Goonies, I think. Not that I was any good at it.
I remember being super fascinated with collecting old railroad spikes from the trainyards as well. That and putting pennies on the tracks when we were waiting for the train to Portage. And I remember those old drive-on cars. When I had to pee my dad would make me wait until we were in a tunnel and then I'd open the car door and pee over the side of the train.
I live in NY now. That seems like another world entirely.
Different people value different things.
> Did you have friends to play with?
Usually one or two. The school had like 55 kids k-12 when I was there.
> What's teenage life like?
I left when I was 13, happily.
"Oh it's only accessible by water or the main tunnel, it's easy to secure" "oops we forgot about securing the old train tunnel" "oh no they're in the apartment building, let's go hide out in the creepy old abandoned building down the street"
... clearly I'm not going to be writing the screenplay, but the location has a lot of potential!
http://reedyoung.com/project/whittier-alaska/r-young-whittie...
Not quite the same, I guess.
Also, of course zombie fiction requires a major suspension of disbelief in this regard, but the damp/cold weather would cause the zombie bodies to freeze (at below zero) or decay faster (at above zero, though I suspect it is rarely if ever above zero)
To hide out from the zombie hordes behind an impenetrable wall of freezing air, you would just have to set up shop at some place like Amundsen Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica [3]. Once the jet fuel (what they use for power) runs out though, it will get unpleasantly cold, fast.
[1] http://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/whittier/alaska/united-...
[2] http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=46698
[3] http://www.foresthillweather.com/PHP/Metar2/AntarcticaAverag...
(Apologies to those who missed the first AvP movie.)
[1] http://www.alaska.org/weather/daylight-hours/whittier/june
[2] http://weatherspark.com/averages/33093/6/Whittier-Alaska-Uni...
It's on the rail system and (now) the road system.
Most Alaska towns and villages aren't.
Also the full version of the article in OP's link
This one gives a great aerial view of the town: http://www.wildnatureimages.com/Aerial_Photos_Whittier.htm
It is one huge parking lot.
Something like that could create the "small town atmosphere" many city dwellers seek without destroying the city.
Also, I think a big reason this model is so "successful" is that people don't have much of an alternative. Really, would you _prefer_ to go to that sketchy-looking grocery store with the mayonnaise next to the cereal, if you had the choice of going a few blocks to a large supermarket? To be honest, I've never spent any time using my own apartment's amenities. I live in the city, because I want to be with people like me, not because I want forced socialization with people who just happen to live together.
I live in the city, because I want to be with people
like me, not because I want forced socialization with
people who just happen to live together.
Aside from my housemates, I don't know so much as the first name of any other person on my block; but I live here because dozens of my friends live within a mile of my house.
The two significant differences here are 1) government officials and law enforcement are part of the housing complex and not external; 2) since they aren't housing projects, the buildings don't have automatic class stigma.
More like a failed experiment in social organization. The same model works fine in Singapore because the government aggressively routes around social problems: for example, they assign ethnic and income quotas in each building in order to maintain a mostly even distribution of population groups, impeding the rise of ghettos and basically forcing different people to get along[1].
The failure of '70s/'80s "projects" in most countries was due to an excess of faith in the ability of mankind to live together given communal spaces, and incomplete information in terms of social dynamics likely to develop in such settings (and around them, e.g. "white flight" was in full swing but it was not completely understood at political level [2]).
[1] Singaporean housing policies are not entirely benign: they are also used to break out political organizations and silence critics of the government. Central planning, as usual, is a double-edged sword.
[2] ... to be kind. A more unkind reading is that upper echelons knew perfectly well what was happening, saw the future coming, and just let it be.
If others are curious, here is the Singapore "Housing and Development Board" website that spells out the details and through which you apply for a spot: http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10321p.nsf/w/BuyResaleFlatEthni...
"The Ethnic Integration Policy (EIP) was implemented to promote racial integration and harmony. The policy also aims to prevent the formation of racial enclaves by ensuring a balanced ethnic mix among the various ethnic communities living in public housing estates. [...] When the ethnic group proportion or SPR quota or both have reached the block/neighbourhood limit, a buyer will not be allowed to buy a flat as it will lead to an increase in that ethnic proportion or SPR quota or both."
In Singapore, 80% of people today live in what are called HDB flats. These are government subsidized housing projects (with few of the downsides that phrase entails in the west). These HDB buildings (or just "HDBs") are each, eventually, integrated as part of an "estate" which usually comprises one or two grocery stores, some restaurants, maybe a salon or barber shop, hardware store, etc.
Given Singapore's population density, there are often several HDBs near each other in one "town." But if you want, you can find one that lets you live in relative isolation, with shopping and eating downstairs, and perhaps a direct connection to the metro to get to work. The playground will be outside, but otherwise you could live almost entirely indoors if you wanted...and some people do, since it's 30 degrees Celsius every day.
wowI like the creative use of the building in the video, great work!
The basic answer is that they had no idea what kind of earthquake was possible there. That earthquake is #3 on the list at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_earthquakes#Largest_ea... and was the second megathrust earthquake recorded since the geological knowledge existed to figure out what they were. (The first being Chile in 1960.)
But they built a newer taller building right next to it - that's the one in linked article.
I think that building also dates back to the war.
Still an interesting place none the less. They have an official website with more details: http://begichtowers.com/ - there is a unit for sale for $40k if anyone is interested :D
> The first thing we noticed when we arrived in Whittier was the wind—we were barely out of the car when a powerful gust pushed us down the hill. People in Whittier get out of their cars carefully; the wind has been known to shatter windshields and bend car doors backwards. Because the weather can be so extreme, kids often walk to school via an underground tunnel. The town averages around 250 inches of snow annually, but some recent years have seen closer to 400 inches. Two winters ago the snowdrifts near Whittier School were piled so high that the principal let students go outside to take pictures of one another hanging from a street lamp.
I'm in the Yukon, away from the ocean. I rode my bike to work at -37C this morning :)
The statistic would have surprised me in an area with mild weather year-round; nothing about the area seemed particularly well- (or ill- , for that matter) suited to bicycle commuting. A fairly compact downtown but plenty of rural housing.
The cold winters just made the bicycle commuting stat mind-blowing.
Any feedback about this statistic? Is it like a "yeah, but.." kind of thing? Or does the area really take pride in bicycling? Some kind of history I'm not aware of?
I don't know for sure, but my guess on a bike riding stat is that there are a lot of people living here that are outdoor/fitness freaks. Most of them are super freaks.
Also, anyone that doesn't like the winter leaves. So those of us that stay love it, and we don't care if it's +30C or -30C when it comes to doing awesome outdoor activities :)
Can you give some examples of these many European cities that are colder, on average?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiruna#Climate
Edit: Ah I think I understand, my original comment was referring to being cold in the depths of winter, not the average temperature. Right now I'm in Vilnius the capital of Lithuania, it get's colder than Whittier (and Helsinki) in the winter but a lot hotter in the summer, so the average isn't that bad:
What?
-18F is -27C
0C is 32F
Helsinki is a pretty temperate city for Finland, though, being on the southeastern coast. Oulu and Tampere are a lot colder!
Kiruna: -8.1 to 1.8 Luleå: -1.5 to 5.9 Umeå: -0.8 to 6.7
Luleå and Umeå both have Universities and populations of ~45k and ~80k respectively. Kiruna is a mining town.
I lived in Umeå for a few months, it's actually pretty pleasant.
The stories I've heard about this town are wild
Huh? Why would you stay inside when you live in such a beautiful place? I live in the Yukon - it's -37C today and it's absolutely beautiful outside. I rode to work today, and just did a 1 hour round trip walk to the library to drop off some books. I'll go for a ~2 hour snow shoe tonight in the dark with my headlamp. I saw the Northern Lights last night, so I'll take my camera tonight.
Winter is actually the most beautiful season - the snow is so clean and bright, and the sun shines off all the ice crystals so beautifully. It was cold this day - http://theroadchoseme.com/mendenhall-glacier-juneau-alaska
It was the most beautiful blue-sky sunny day and sunset. The full moon, Northern Lights and herd of Caribou helped too :)
What is weird thing about china, however, is that both Changchun and Harbin are huge cities with millions of people. How could so many people live where it is so cold...the entire huge songhua river is completely frozen over. Surreal.
For the first time in my life, yes. I just bought a new (to me) 2007 Jeep, which is why I was driving from BC to the Yukon - vehicles are much cheaper in the south.
> What is weird thing about china, however, is that both Changchun and Harbin are huge cities with millions of people. How could so many people live where it is so cold
I know what you mean, though when you live there, you live there. The Russian city of Murmansk [1] is in the Arctic Circle and has a population of 300k.
>the entire huge songhua river is completely frozen over. Surreal.
In Dawson City, Yukon they're driving across the Yukon River right now - it's part of the highway and the only access to town for the hundred or so people that live on the other side. The river doesn't freeze in Whitehorse because of the dam, though we can drive across any lake around here for the next 3-4 months no problem. Last year my 3 foot ice auger was not long enough to drill a hole for ice fishing :)
http://whittierak.yukontel.com/
But most of the time it is snowing or raining. And it usually doesn't rain down. With the wind, it rains straight in your face.
It's almost always raining there.
We keep our boat there in the summer and go fishing in Prince William Sound most weekends during the summer.
It did, however, stop raining that night and we spent about an hour watching the northern lights out in the fresh snow which was magic.
I've never had, or ever heard of the winter weather being bad enough to stop people going outside to do activities in Whitehorse, Yukon.
I was Caribou hunting last year near the Arctic Circle at -48C, my friends were back country skiing on the weekend when the wind was severe and likely the windchill was past -60C. I ride my bike or walk to work/town literally 365 days of the year. Friends were Bison hunting a few winters back below -55C - and they were sleeping in a wall tent :) They had to wake up every hour to stoke the stove, and it took them a full day to get their snowmobiles running so they could ride ~100km on them back to the world. Not the kind of place you want to make a mistake.
It doesn't snow much here (semi-arid) so we don't get whiteout conditions.
Our local community ski will close when it's past about -30C - so we can't go skiing on the chair lift then - on those days I go snowshoeing or ice fishing usually.
Friends up in the Arctic Circle in places like Iqaluit [1] have told me they have 20 or 30 days a winter where it's impossible to go outside - it's such severe whiteout and wind you would get lost and literally die if you went outside. Nobody leaves their house for any reason on those days.
That doesn't happen here - or at least I've never heard of it ever happening, and have not seen it in my 5 years.
Well in the full article they talk about the constant hard winds that sometimes shatter windshields and such. Also the poster who grew up there mentioned the constant rain that gets wind-blasted in your face. And so I'm thinking about somebody who was never accustomed to these things suddenly moving there because they seek some solitude. Might not be as great as she/he imagined, that's all.
It was a blast! You should do it!
Internet Facts and Offers:
I've never been to AK but it's interesting as a small ISP to hear about the environmental and incumbent issues that competitive providers have to deal with up there.
http://images.dunordausud.fr/HIVER/plagneaime/station/plagne...
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Portage+Glacier+Hwy,+Chuga...
Literally just signs by the side of the road. Even the Top of the World Highway has a Customs inspection shack (which is farther north and seemingly more remote).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund#Annual_in...
If so, it's not a $2,000 stipend and it's only been $2,000 once since it's inception.
Or is there another stipend you're referring to?
Sounds like tourism is a large portion of income.
Nowadays i'm sure the primary industries are tourism and shipping.
There's more by the same author here: http://reedyoung.com/project/whittier-alaska/r-young-whittie...
"Anchorage climate similar to northern Midwest Now let’s talk about the winters. The truth is, they aren’t as bad as myth would have it. Anchorage actually has a warmer climate than other cold-weather cities like Chicago or Minneapolis because it’s on the ocean. Southeast Alaska stays relatively warm for the same reason. The Interior, however, does get very cold. Without the regulating influence of the ocean, temperatures in interior locations like Fairbanks can drop to minus-30 for weeks at a time (though it’s a dry cold, which doesn’t feel as cold as it sounds). Just remember that temperature is microclimate in Alaska. No matter where you are, a one- or two-hour drive in any direction can result in a 30-degree temperature change."
"Abundant snow creates winter wonderland Likewise, there’s a large variation in snowfall across the state. An average of 79 inches of snow falls on Anchorage every year (the same amount as Burlington, Vermont). But Talkeetna, only two hours north, gets considerably more snow due to the higher elevation, and Alyeska — just an hour from Anchorage — receives an average of 178 inches annually!"
The Army actually built Whittier during WWII because it was a good deepwater port (ironically, Anchorage has huge tides that make it a horrible anchorage) that was always overcast, making it hard, they thought, for the Japanese to bomb.
As a side note, Whittier has a huge tsunami risk, not from typical undersea earthquakes but because the mountainside on the north side of Whittier Sound is unstable and some very big blocks of rock (100s of m) are slowly breaking off from the bedrock. If (when) these fall, they could create a pretty massive wave that could devastate the town. [1]
[1]: http://137.229.113.30/webpubs/dggs/ri/text/ri2011_007a.pdf
edit: added tsunami info
> A pot bust on the tenth floor led to the police donating hydroponic equipment to Whittier’s school for a vegetable garden, which Joey Lipscomb oversaw through eighth grade.
Amazing.
I haven't read Coleman's book, but it is available here: http://gabriellacoleman.org/Coleman-Coding-Freedom.pdf
(When Dijkstra talked about "coding bums" in relation to APL, he didn't mean that they would be drinking and sleeping rough...)
I upvoted you though because I am glad I'm not the only one keeping an eye on what's posted, and it looks like you already got plenty of downvotes.
My sources may not be perfectly accurate all the time, though.