
A town of about 200 people, almost all of whom live in the same building - samclemens
https://stories.californiasunday.com/2015-01-04/begich-towers-whittier-alaska/
======
haroldp
W00h! I grew up in Whittier, AK. Ask me Anything! Haha, seriously, I moved to
Whittier at the age of 2 in 1974 and lived there until 1986.

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:

[http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578331919/](http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578331919/)

~~~
alandarev
I will grasp this amazing opportunity and flood you with these questions:

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?

~~~
haroldp
> 1\. Why the town even exists?

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.

~~~
cylinder
Is there a doctor in the town? A hospital? What happens if someone has a
medical emergency - you said the only way to Anchorage in winter was by a
train that often didn't come daily.

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.

~~~
haroldp
Generally speaking, there are some EMTs around. Mostly the same crowd as the
volunteer fire department. They get some minor training and they do what they
can. For anything big, they just transport you to Anchorage.

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.

------
kayge
I live in Alaska and have visited Whittier multiple times. Every time we go,
my wife and I comment about how great of a setting it would be for a zombie
apocalypse movie.

"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!

~~~
pcthrowaway
It would be a great place to hold out with a large group if you had a way to
obtain and import supplies and you cleared the building first. You'd probably
be able to spot anyone coming or going (living or undead), and it would be
likely that very few zombies would be in the surrounding land.

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)

~~~
yourapostasy
The Whittier temperature averages [1] seem to indicate a 6-9 month period
where highs are above freezing. That would make for some exciting daytime
zombie interactions. By comparison, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica [2] does indeed
appear to be below freezing on average the vast majority of the year.

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-...](http://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/whittier/alaska/united-
states/usak0266)

[2]
[http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=46698](http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=46698)

[3]
[http://www.foresthillweather.com/PHP/Metar2/AntarcticaAverag...](http://www.foresthillweather.com/PHP/Metar2/AntarcticaAverages.php)

~~~
jdcarter
Antarctica doesn't need zombies, it already has Aliens and Predators doing
battle down there. A continent can only take so much!

(Apologies to those who missed the first AvP movie.)

------
_delirium
This arrangement looks a lot better than the norm in that area. The typical
200-person remote Alaskan town is more of a shantytown, a depressing
collection of low-quality single-story shacks. This at least looks like solid
construction, probably more weatherproof than the norm, and with some indoor
community spaces. Seems like a decent solution for such a town, in the rare
case where the capital to build such a building is available (in this case it
was only because the U.S. military built it).

~~~
Turing_Machine
Whittier isn't anything like "remote" by Alaska standards.

It's on the rail system and (now) the road system.

Most Alaska towns and villages aren't.

------
ehmorris
Photographer has more photos here: [http://reedyoung.com/project/whittier-
alaska/r-young-whittie...](http://reedyoung.com/project/whittier-
alaska/r-young-whittier-location-02/)

Also the full version of the article in OP's link

~~~
megablast
There are some great images here:
[http://www.wildnatureimages.com/Whittier.htm](http://www.wildnatureimages.com/Whittier.htm)

This one gives a great aerial view of the town:
[http://www.wildnatureimages.com/Aerial_Photos_Whittier.htm](http://www.wildnatureimages.com/Aerial_Photos_Whittier.htm)

It is one huge parking lot.

~~~
collyw
Wow, it looks stunning in summer (not the town, but the surroundings).

------
noobermin
It would be interesting if someone tried this in one of these larger cities
with high rises like Singapore. You'd create a smaller groups with a sense of
community while still giving members the benefits of living in a large city.
The reason I thought of this is it reminded me of a strategy of using small
bible study groups being employed in a large church that was part of my alma
mater. The idea is that it was easier and more intimate in these small groups,
so they'd have the ability to hold more personal sutdy sessions. Of course,
they still belonged to the main body and had those advantages, such as a
larger number of volunteers, etc.

Something like that could create the "small town atmosphere" many city
dwellers seek without destroying the city.

~~~
erroneousfunk
This is essentially what college campuses do already, to some extent. My
current apartment complex also hosts activities, movie nights, brings in
nurses so residents can meet and ask about health problems. This is in
addition to the playground, tennis/basketball court, computer room, gym, small
theater, and other amenities that help to create a "community" atmosphere.

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.

~~~
tracker1

        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.
    

That just sounds like a contradiction...

~~~
marssaxman
Only if you assume that physical proximity is the most significant attribute
two people can have in common!

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.

------
hownottowrite
Whittier is also home to the Buckner Building. 250k square feet, abandoned
after the 1964 earthquake and left to rot. In other words, a perfect place for
indoor skiing. [http://vimeo.com/50860740](http://vimeo.com/50860740)

~~~
frik
Why do they build such tall buildings in an earth quake area? Why is such an
destroyed inhabited building still around 50 years later? In other parts of
the world there would be many smaller buildings and inhabited ugly buildings
would be removed.

I like the creative use of the building in the video, great work!

~~~
btilly
_Why do they build such tall buildings in an earth quake area?_

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...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_earthquakes#Largest_earthquakes_by_magnitude)
and was the second megathrust earthquake recorded since the geological
knowledge existed to figure out what they were. (The first being Chile in
1960.)

~~~
frik
For the destroyed building yes.

But they built a newer taller building right next to it - that's the one in
linked article.

~~~
wtbob
> 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.

------
lucaspiller
This article makes it sound like some remote wilderness where you would freeze
instantly when you go outside. The climate there (according to wikipedia)
isn't that cold, right now it's -12c with a high of 3c over the next few days
- there are plenty of European cities with colder climates.

Still an interesting place none the less. They have an official website with
more details: [http://begichtowers.com/](http://begichtowers.com/) \- there is
a unit for sale for $40k if anyone is interested :D

~~~
cgh
The coldest city in Europe is Helsinki. According to Wikipedia, the average
high is 9 C and the average low is 2.9 C. For Whittier, the average high is
7.3 C and the low is 1.7 C.

Can you give some examples of these many European cities that are colder, on
average?

~~~
lucaspiller
Not sure where you got that Helsinki is the coldest city, I'm not even sure
it's the coldest capital. There are plenty of colder cities, take a look at
Kiruna as an example (which was also featured here a few weeks ago):

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiruna#Climate](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:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius#Climate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilnius#Climate)

~~~
bennettfeely
Just as a little fun fact Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongola is the coldest
capital city in the world. Right now Accuweather says it's -18°F (0°C). It
regularly dips below -40°F/C in the winter.

~~~
raverbashing
-18°F (0°C)

What?

-18F is -27C

0C is 32F

~~~
thedufer
I think parent swapped F/C. -18°C is 0°F

------
farslan
This video is about a Teacher who lives in that building. It's really cool:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naPguX84Amg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naPguX84Amg)

------
krebby
A good friend of mine just finished up a year and a half of living and
photographing in Whittier. She has a few amazing photos here:
[http://documentarystudies.duke.edu/uploads/media_items/city-...](http://documentarystudies.duke.edu/uploads/media_items/city-
under-one-roof-by-jen-kinney.original.pdf)

The stories I've heard about this town are _wild_

~~~
wcauchois
That was pretty cool.

------
Kiro
I wouldn't mind living there. I've been dreaming about moving somewhere remote
and just do freelance work. The only requirement is a good internet connection
which sadly excludes a lot of cool places.

~~~
sanoli
The thing is, this town is not only remote, but during the winter you have to
pretty much dug in and stay inside. No going anywhere. It's not the same as
just being somewhere isolated and remote, and you have to take that into
consideration. Some people might enjoy it anyway.

~~~
grecy
> _and stay inside_

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](http://theroadchoseme.com/mendenhall-glacier-juneau-alaska)

~~~
yitchelle
Just for my curiosity, how often are the winter weather good enough for you to
venture outside?

~~~
grecy
> _how often are the winter weather good enough for you to venture outside?_

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.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iqaluit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iqaluit)

------
Coincoin
This reminds me of Fermont[1], a remote Canadian city in northern Quebec that
I visited when I was young. There is this 1.3 km long building shaped like a
wall with all services, shops, restaurants and apartments in it. The wall
protects the rest of the city from northern winds.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermont](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermont)

~~~
arethuza
Also reminds me of some French ski resorts - I think Tignes Le Lac has one
huge long building, one of the area of La Plagne as well.

~~~
palunon
I think you're referring to the Plagne Aime 2000 main building. It's nowhere
near 1km long tough

[http://images.dunordausud.fr/HIVER/plagneaime/station/plagne...](http://images.dunordausud.fr/HIVER/plagneaime/station/plagneaime1.jpg)

------
runjake
You can virtually drive through the infamous train tunnel in Google Street
View: [http://goo.gl/g1p9Kj](http://goo.gl/g1p9Kj)

~~~
bduerst
Here's a better link:

[https://www.google.com/maps/place/Portage+Glacier+Hwy,+Chuga...](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Portage+Glacier+Hwy,+Chugach+National+Forest,+Alaska/@60.7889961,-148.804294,3a,75y,112.63h,100.73t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sWUD-
NRiFTmMrntA8gilTyA!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x56c80cabf53a711d:0x40c2084a18e3f6ba)

------
bkeroack
This article inspired me to browse Google Maps around the area. Surprisingly I
found this US/Canada border crossing that is completely unguarded:
[https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dawson,+YT,+Canada/@62.615...](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dawson,+YT,+Canada/@62.6150141,-141.0008213,3a,75y,174.12h,75.89t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s421FPv4qhRXmE2YBKnq-
DQ!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x5148e3cbd4f5b5b7:0x4a8d7ab95cad1ffd)

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).

~~~
JeremyMorgan
Imagine getting a flat tire in that spot and not having a spare..

~~~
mipapage
Related: I worked as a geologist in the area and our helicopter ran out of
fuel while doing some recon far from civilisation. Imagine our surprise when
we spotted a 4x4 with a fuel tank below us, out in the middle of nowhere (more
or less). We landed on the dirt road next to the truck, fuelled up enough to
get back to the base and had a good laugh + beer to end the day.

------
sanoli
And I lived in a city with about 14 million people, where one building had
about 3 thousand people living in it (it has its own zip code). So different
it made me want to visit this town in Alaska.

------
megatroll
It would be interesting to see what these people do for a living. Why are they
there? There are children, so there must be families who have decided to move
there.

~~~
rukittenme
I imagine fishing, oil and gas, and Alaska's (edit) $2,000 stipend for
residents is what keeps them there.

~~~
rockdiesel
Are you referring to the Alaska Permanent Fund?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund#Annual_in...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund#Annual_individual_payout)

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?

------
uslic001
We took an Alaskan cruise last year on Princess. We left from Vancouver and
our last port of call was in Whittier. Then we had to take our turn going
through the train/car tunnel to Anchorage for our flight home. If you mistime
your ride through the tunnel you can miss your flight. We had a really late
flight so we had no problems.

------
thekevan
Zillow lists possibly 4 homes for sale. (It says 5 but I think one is a
duplicate.) As well as the tower which others mentioned, apparently there also
a condo called Whittier Manor.

[http://www.zillow.com/homes/whittier-
ak_rb/](http://www.zillow.com/homes/whittier-ak_rb/)

------
neals
Funny how that works. I saw somebody mention this city in a thread on Reddit
yesterday. He talked about visiting somebody there and having to wait 1.5
hours because the one-way-tunnel changes "direction" every 2 hours...

------
dynjo
Reminds me of Chungking Mansions in Hong Kong
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chungking_Mansions](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chungking_Mansions)

~~~
jimmcslim
Beigich and Chungking are both perhaps proto-arcologies (although far less
utopic than most arcologies are envisioned).

------
onezeno
I googled the location, expecting it to be in the far north of Alaska, given
the description. But it's just southeast of Anchorage. Is the weather really
that much worse?

~~~
haroldp
I grew up there! The weather is a lot different than Anchorage. Anchorage is
colder. Whittier gets a TON more precipitation.

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.

------
tsuresh
Reminds me of the film Snowpiercer.

------
jonknee
And even then you could get home grown weed:

> 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.

------
adouzzy
It sounds like emacs to me. Pure awesomeness.

------
UhUhUhUh
Bigger and utopic.

[http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LS6MOZY](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LS6MOZY)

------
gmoore
There's a TV series in that for sure!

------
yummybear
Kind of reminds me of Peach Trees from the Judge Dredd movie - though more
cheerful mind you.

------
Cilike88
Beautiful photographs, would love to see a documentary about this!

------
bitwize
Wow, it's like a stationary Snowpiercer.

------
philrenaud
Real-life fallout 3?

------
jdimov
Kowloon of the west :)

------
rapidally
Why is this on hackernews? Stick to tech.

~~~
mod
Because I, a hacker and the target audience of Hacker News, find it very, very
interesting.

~~~
theoh
It's not one of Eric S. Raymond's talking points, but the backwoodsman aspect
of hacker culture seems really important, and also, probably, fatal to its
long-term spread.

~~~
lmm
How do you reconcile that with so much of hackerdom being in and around San
Francisco (and a lot of the remainder being MIT)?

~~~
theoh
Well, first of all it's not a geographical description. The nature of
"hacking", which is a self-reliant activity of producing provisional
solutions, has a lot in common with the ethos of life in remote areas or on a
frontier. Even the word hacking evokes chopping firewood or doing some other
woodwork task in a rough, ad-hoc way. This is combined with a sense of mutual
aid which is often present even in (maybe especially in) thinly-populated
areas. Gabriella Coleman might be a good source for more insight into this.
Just why hacker communities behave as if they are isolated even in an urban
environment is not something I understand, but from personal experience they
are self-selected groups of people with particular traits, who often have
difficulty being accepted by mainstream culture, or who scorn the mainstream.

I haven't read Coleman's book, but it is available here:
[http://gabriellacoleman.org/Coleman-Coding-
Freedom.pdf](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...)

------
NinjaTime
Hell most jails in the U.S dwarf this complex. Dear lord I hope an EMP never
hits any of those towns. Sure hope the gov hasn't taken away the ability to
protect yourself.

~~~
pluma
I think Alaskans would be able to defend themselves just fine. As far as I
know they ride bears to work and eat raw fish.

My sources may not be perfectly accurate all the time, though.

~~~
danans
They'd be even more formidable if they rode fish to work and ate raw bears.

