Alley Audio Vision

1961-62, Anchorage, Alaska

The vastness and raw beauty of Alaska unfold through the windows of small and really small airplanes in this early 1960s-based episode. After a peaceful housesitting gig ends, Ralph gets his own place — taking over a 4th Avenue apartment from his departing friends, the Gibboneys. Helping to furnish the new digs are a stereo and TV, bought from a colleague and retrieved on a road trip to Willow. 4th Avenue is a pleasant place to live at the time with a bustling scene.

Aerial view of Dillingham, 1955. Photo from McCutcheon Collection, Anchorage Museum.

Sled dog races, Dillingham, AK, 1959.

Kenai, AK from the air in 1965. Photo from University of Alaska Anchorage, Consortium Library, Archives and Special Collections.

Breakup on Lake George. Photo from Stewart’s Photo Shop slide collection.

Iceberg at Lake George, left behind after the lake “dump”. Photo from Stewart’s Photo Shop slide collection.

The lake after the annual drain. Photo from Stewart’s Photo Shop slide collection.

Hofbrau Restaurant on 4th Ave., 1958. Photo from Ward Wells collection.

Hofbrau Restaurant, 1958. Photo from Ward Wells collection.

Hewitt’s Drug Store building in the 1930s. Looking northeast at the NE corner of 4th Ave. and E Street. The drug/photo store on the corner and what would later be the Cheechako Bar on the right hand side on 4th. The building was destroyed in the 1964 earthquake.

In this episode, Ralph revisits a 1955 trip to an AIA event in Washington, DC. Then, more stories from his first few months in Alaska, including a boat trip from Whittier to Valdez in 1960.

President Eisenhower in a parade in downtown Anchorage in 1960. The log cabin with the polar bear [seen first at 0:35] is the Jonas Brothers store that was on the same block as Ralph’s boarding house.

Sybil Moholy-Nagy in a photo portrait by her husband, Laszlo.

Newly completed house addition, Valdez, Alaska, 1955. Photo from University of Alaska Fairbanks archives.

1958.

Early 20th century evening street scene, Valdez, Alaska. P.S. Hunt photo, University of Alaska Fairbanks archives.

World War II era street scene, Valdez, Alaska.

Early 20th century Victorian church, abandoned at Old Valdez townsite in 1969.

Today there are only remnants of the original town of Valdez. A few of the buildings were relocated to the new townsite, nearby on higher ground after the 1964 earthquake. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 2014.

Charles Blomfield [front] and some of his neighbors outside their Bootlegger Cove condo building, downtown Anchorage, 2009. Photo by Clark Yerrington.

Additional links related to the episode…

Charles Warren Callister, Architect [who Ralph mentions as a strong influence] is featured in this 2004 San Francisco Chronicle article where he discusses contextualism and his design approach. Callister was profiled in Architectural Digest Magazine in 1981. Callister’s Red Barn House [a remodel] is shown at Curbed SF in 2009 when it sold for an astronomical sum.

Photos of ‘50s/’60s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parades including one of Hopalong Cassidy in 1955.

Unlike Callister [information about whom is relatively scarce] there is plenty in print and online about Greene and Greene and their projects. This article about the Thorsen House gets into an interesting forensic investigation.

2018 Metropolis Magazine article commemorating the Paul Rudolph centennial.

Wassily Sommer painting of three nudes [‘50s/’60s vintage?] and limited biographical info.

Ralph’s enthusiasm seems boundless as he talks about the past, philosophy and side pursuits.

First episode with the stories and congenial humor winning out over technical difficulties.