Alaska 2022 - A Little History and Shenannigans

I'll cut to the chase:  Our historic 4th Avenue Theater is being torn down.  Sadly this day has been coming for over a decade after the city declined to purchase the property from private owners.  Attempts to raise money for preservation failed.  

Most of the block that the theater sits on is going to be replaced with a Vegas-style multi-purpose complex that will allegedly incorporate the large Deco-style lettering.  About a week before Hans and I flew up to Anchorage photos of the dismantling were starting to appear on social media.  I had hoped to take a few pictures of the intact theater one last time, but as it's been an iconic fixture for the city there are archival photos and artistic renderings aplenty.

The nearly 1,000 seat theater was completed in 1947.  It features quite a lot of murals on the walls and other beautiful artwork.  I was fortunate enough to attend one of my high school plays at the theater in 2001.  Back then it wasn't being used as a theater very much and by the mid-2000's the space was mostly being rented out for private events.

I used to buy my blue hair dye at an upstairs shop in the maroon building in the below left photo.  Formerly the Reed Building, it too is going to be torn down.  I suppose that all things truly come full circle over time.  When Woolworth's was built (the shortest building on the left), it replaced a Masonic Temple that dated back to 1917 (the Temple building can be seen in the 1945 photo).  Residents were way more excited to see a national chain grace the streets of Anchorage than hold onto an old landmark.  We'll see what happens with the new development.

 

    

Now and then (right photo is from Alaska Digital Archives)

Some places - like Stewart's Photo Shop - are still around and even in operation.

This isn't their original location (they used to be a couple of blocks east on 4th Avenue) 

but the old sign is still in use. They're Alaska's oldest photo supply store.

As to the actual events of this day - it was a true adventure!  If not for the fact that an auto mechanic had been highly recommended by another reputable auto shop we would have never even found them in a phone book.  Yeah, I'm old, but you know what I mean.

The car needed a pretty big repair job so we took it over to a garage north of Dowling Road, in one of those classically-Alaska hodge-podge neighborhoods.  Yesterday we made an appointment with a younger guy who at the time was very giggly on the phone but today he was downright glum.  The owner of the shop, Dennis, came and took a look at the car.  He gave us a quote and also what he probably thinks is a winning comedy routine.  He really liked talking about his ex-wives and gave off vibes of being constantly in search for the next future ex-Mrs-Dennis: "My dad always said rent, don't buy!"  

As we said goodbye to the younger guy - who was assigned to work on the car - he sighed and said "I'm so thrilled".

To kill time while the alternator was replaced, we had lunch at a cool sandwich and beer place.  Hans and I both ordered the reindeer sausage grilled cheese with tomato soup.  OMG.

At some point early in this trip I confessed that I'm interested in exploring locales of former and current infamy - primarily associated with Anchorage's seedy past (of which there is plenty to dig into).  We went downtown and walked about for a bit.  At The Panhandle (Anchorage's oldest continuously-operated bar) we played a round of pool and shared a pitcher of PBR.  The place has a rough reputation.  In the daylight things were pretty chill (except for a nosy patron who questioned the cred of everyone in or around the establishment) and the bartender was nice once she figured out that we weren't a bunch of lookie-loos.  She flipped into enforcer mode pretty fast when an already intoxicated woman stumbled in - with a bottle of alcohol in her hands.  Apparently she was previously banned from the place.

 

It was when we had wrapped up our game that Dennis called to report that the repair was done.  We were subjected to another round of his comedy hour before he let us go and attended to another customer.  The younger mechanic was sitting in the cab of a nearby tow truck, looking like he was trying to hide.  Sympathetically, we agreed that spending all day every day at work with Dennis may be exhausting.

Alaska 2022 - Layover in Seattle

 

It has been a long dang time since Hans and I were up in Alaska!  This summer we made good on plans from back in 2020 and flew up to AK for a couple of weeks.  Hans' sister met us up there and we all stayed with my sister and brother-in-law while we were in Anchorage.

But first we had to get there :)

We had a pretty long layover in Seattle and just like back in 2014 the weather could not have been better.  The light rail brought us over to the LGBTQ-friendly neighborhood of Capitol Hill and we had a pretty good time.  We had a tasty lunch at a ramen place that also served tsukemen noodles and then walked up to Volunteer Park through beautiful neighborhoods.  There is a water tower that was built in 1906 - they truly don't build public structures like they used to - that has an enclosed exterior spiraling staircase that leads up to an observation deck with 360-degree views of the city.  A large cemetery is also part of the park.  Both Bruce and Brandon Lee are buried there.

We were starting to feel the effects of our early morning flight from Baltimore so we headed back to the light rail station area and spent a couple of chill hours at a cozy coffee shop and bar.

When it was time to head back to the airport we were pretty tired and then even more tired when we finally landed in Anchorage.  I can't believe how late we stayed up before finally going to bed but it was so good to catch up with family.

 

    

 

 

There was a gorgeous dahlia garden in the park

 

Fairytale-like glen near the water tower

 

P.S.

I don't have much to report for the next day (August 12th) because we spent the better part of that day relaxing and getting Hans' sister's car attended to.  We had to run some errands and duck into the Dimond Mall (which has changed so much).  We checked out my old stomping grounds.

 

San Diego

I was in San Diego for a work trip that was extended through the weekend.  Below are a series of photos from my time there.  There was an attempt to take advantage of the dark sky area of Anza-Borrego State Park however unfortunately the weather wasn't optimal.  I managed to take some photos of the general area that includes Andromeda, which was exciting.  Hopefully I'll have a better opportunity in the future.

 

Family dynamics of sea lions in La Jolla

 

 

While driving through some side neighborhoods I saw this fence which was
absolutely overflowing with bougainvillea

Church of the Immaculate Conception, Old Town San Diego, 1858

Birria tacos!

In Presidio Park there's a small building that Google Maps has labeled "Witches Tower"

When I went up to look there was a young man sitting in one corner, writing in a journal, with a medium sized knife casually on the ground next to him.  He suggested that visitors were traditionally supposed to walk the star pattern on the tower.  I asked if it had anything to do with witches and he gave a quizzical look.  He said that if watchmen followed the path, they'd be more difficult targets for attack due to the unpredictable appearance.  Makes sense.

The area of interest for stargazing.  What was amazing to me was that even well after midnight the air temperature was still 90 degrees.  Between the residual heat from daytime and near total silence other than some insects and distant thunder, it was a surreal environment.

Andromeda galaxy in the upper left.  

Intermittent cloud cover made it difficult to capture more than a handful of clear images.

I did my best with post-processing.

Hotel del Coronado (1888) at night.  Super haunted.