Buckner Building/Whittier, Alaska

So, over the weekend, my friend and I drove an hour and a half south of Anchorage, to a little town called Whittier. Whittier is a pretty unique little town, the population as of 2000 was 182, and it hasn't grown or shrank much over that time. The town is connected to the rest of the world through a train tunnel, which opens every half hour about to let vehicle traffic through one way. The tunnel takes about 7 minutes to drive through, or maybe this was just my experience on Sunday because the person in front of us was driving incredibly slow. Driving through the tunnel is interesting because there are a number of safe houses along the way, and the only light is eerie yellow lights hung along the ceiling, along with your own headlights. I can't help thinking that it would probably be a safe place to go if the US ever got attacked.

Anyway, Whittier itself consists of a boat harbor, the Begich Towers (where 95% of the population lives), a separate set of little townhouse style condos, a nice hotel that is currently in foreclosure, and the Buckner Building. The Buckner Building was completed in 1953, and contained 1,250 housing units for military personnel and dependents, a hospital, prison, swimming pool, theater, restaurant, night club, bowling alley, beauty salon, and various lounges/common areas. I think I'm forgetting a few things. Apparently when it was at it's fullest, it house 30,000 people. (Back in the 1950's Whittier became the site of a secret military base.) There are supposedly underground tunnels connecting different parts of the building to make it easier to get around, but we have yet to find them. The section of the basement we found had been completely caved in, and I didn't see an easy way around the debris. The structure of the Buckner Building was severely damaged in the 1964 earthquake (9.2!) and was then abandoned. Now it sits, on a hill above the town in serious disrepair, rotting and decaying. As I saw someone write in another blog, "the Buckner Building is 273,660 square feet of dark, scary, flooded hallways", and they are very right. Go check out that person's pictures, they are amazing! I only wish I could get the colors to pop out as well as he does. Although he had natural sunlight to work with, I think. It was so overcast and dismal out when we went on Sunday.















Next month we're going to try to go back, and I hope to find the underground tunnels, the hospital and the bowling alley next time! I'm sure I'll take a billion more pictures, and I hope to get better at taking them by then! I think exploring places like these is one of my favorite things to do...If I'm forgetting any information about Whittier or the Buckner Building, I hope someone tells me. I'd love to find pictures of it back when it was full of people and thriving. Walking through the hallways and looking in the rooms, I always think of what it might have been like when it was first made. I haven't ever seen any pictures of it when it was used, but I was thinking next time I'm in Whittier, I might check out the library or museum to see what I can find.