In the far west of Prince William Sound, in the state of Alaska (USA) there is a strange town called Whittier .
Set amidst picturesque mountains, Whittier is unlike any other town in the world. If you’re picturing a small group of houses huddled together in a densely populated cluster, think again. The town is a 14-story building named Begich Towers (BTI) . It is home to about 200 residents. They share a roof with a completely different lifestyle, almost isolated from the outside world.
Writer Erin Sheehy and photographer Reed Young had the opportunity to visit Whittier and were surprised by the scene inside.
When they first walked into Begich Towers, Sheehy said it was like the hall of the high school she used to attend. “There were notice boards along the entrance to the corridor. They were concrete blocks that looked like cinder blocks and they were all painted in a light yellow color,” Sheehy described.
The post office is near the entrance to the building and the police station is at the end of the corridor. “It reminds me of the principal’s office,” Sheehy said.
Finding your way to the remote town of Whittier is no easy feat. You can reach Whittier by sea or by tunneling more than 4km (only one lane) through the mountains.
“It’s still a pretty hard-to-reach town,” Young said. “Moreover, at night, they completely close the tunnel.”
Close-up of Begich Towers building.
Yes, this tunnel is only open until 22:30 (local time). Vehicles can only flow in one lane, one way only, and the tunnel will be reversed every 30 minutes. Therefore, if you want to go in and out of town, people always have to arrange their work in accordance with the timetable of opening, closing and changing the direction of the tunnel.
The second obstacle is the weather. Winter winds blow at 130km/h. That’s why residents inside Begich Towers have everything they need in one roof. Beghich Towers is specially designed and solidly built to withstand the harsh weather conditions of this place, with 6 months of rainy season, 6 months of cold snowfall per year, along with wind speed. hundreds of kilometers per hour.
The winter winds here blow at a speed of 130km/h.
“There’s a laundromat, a mini-market,” Sheehy said. “And there’s a convenience store,” Young added. “There’s a health clinic. It’s not a hospital, but they can treat minor illnesses. There’s even a church in the basement.”
Therefore, it is said that this building is like a “miniature city”, including a hospital, a post office, a police station, a grocery store, a laundromat, a swimming pool…
Whittier residents can even wear slippers to work because the office, the company is just a few steps or a few floors from their home. Parents also do not need to take their children to school, because the children just need to take the elevator to school through the underground tunnel connected to the Whittier Community School.
Ms. June Miller, a resident of Whittier, owns a bed and breakfast on the top two floors of the building.
“She prides herself on having the best furnished apartments in town for rent,” Young said.
Sheehy said: “She put binoculars in every room she rented as a vacation home. Most people in town, especially the houses on the harbor side, seem to have binoculars. Lots of people leave them there to watch whales wade, mountain goats graze and the like. But June jokes with us that these are basically to see if your husband is at the bar.”
Mrs. June Miller (with binoculars in hand) has a bed and breakfast on the top two floors of Begich Towers. The motel is called June’s Whittier Condo Suites.
Downstairs at the Kozy Korner grocery store, employee Gary Carr sits in front of an old computer screen.
“The store isn’t always crowded,” Young said. “So he spent a lot of time on that computer. And I remember Gary saying that one of his obsessions was keeping up with the radio.”
Sheehy says residents like Gary Carr are fully aware of how interesting their town is to outsiders.
Gary Carr works at the Kozy Korner grocery store.
Erika Thompson, a teacher who lives in Begich Towers, says life in Whittier is pretty normal.
“For me it’s simply home,” she said. “Everybody knows each other. It’s a community living under one roof. We have everything we need.”
Thompson teaches at the school just behind the building, connected by an underground tunnel.
Erika has lived there for 5 years now. She says everyone has a story about why they chose Whittier as their home.
“Some people like it because it can be really socially engaging,” she says. “And some people love it because it seems reclusive.”
After Young and Sheehy’s two-week trip, they say they have a whole new perspective on this special town.
“The view is magical, the sea and sky are immense and the mountains are huge. People here wake up to it every day,” Young said.