Episode 15 with Ralph Alley

In 1965 Anchorage was rebuilding after the great earthquake. Ralph's new architectural practice was just getting started and he was dealing with growing pains and an oppressive workload. He was also developing a wonderfully unique and expressive design palette and enjoyed a high level of interest in his projects.

January 3, 1959. Anchorage Times publisher Robert Atwood with the flag and Alaska bigwigs including Alaska U.S. Senators Gruening and Bartlett. Note the 49-star U.S. flag which was only in use for a few months prior to Hawaii becoming the 50th state.

Photos of house for Rod and Gywnneth Wilson in the Sand Lake area of Anchorage which Ralph discusses in this episode. In 1999 on a tour of some of Ralph’s Anchorage projects we found the Wilson house intact and in original condition. In 2023 it has been modified.

Episode 14 with Ralph Alley

We pick up the thread in 1965. Ralph’s solo architectural practice is getting into high gear! By this time he has moved out of his bedroom at home and into leased office space downtown. Ralph and three collaborators make a trip to Valdez to try to convince the local leaders there to modify their plans to rebuild the town. He is busy with several house projects for clients who were displaced by losing their houses in the earthquake damage in the Turnagain neighborhood.

Lowell Thomas, Jr. and his wife Tay [shown here in 1958 with their airplane] were one of Ralph’s clients whose house was destroyed in Turnagain in the 1964 earthquake.

Episode 13 with Ralph Alley

With the continuing cleanup and demolition of the city following the March 27 earthquake, in 1964 outsiders moved in to get involved with the rebuilding. In time they would transform the city, expanding the commercial and institutional parts far beyond the existing downtown and small outposts. There was much debate and discussion — and disagreement — on how the city should develop and how it should look and feel. The quake was at least a boost to Ralph’s career — confident of continuing work, he finally left Manley & Mayer for solo pursuits.

Oil tanks on fire in Seward, Alaska a few minutes after the shaking stopped on March 27, 1964. Photo courtesy Philip Richardson, from Facebook.

A “cob job” concrete block building failure, downtown Anchorage. Photo courtesy Grover Wright, on Facebook.

Bootleggers Cove looking back toward downtown from near the west end of 9th Ave. in 1964. Photo courtesy Grover Wright, from Facebook.

Four Seasons Apartments at 9th and M. Photo courtesy Gregory Robinson, on Facebook.

3rd and 4th Avenues looking east from E St. in 1964. Photo courtesy Kay Thomas, on Facebook.

Turnagain neighborhood, extensive damage due to liquefaction of blue clay layers below the surface. Photo courtesy Grover Wright, on Facebook.

Turnagain “split level”. Photo courtesy Grover Wright, on Facebook.

The 4th Ave. Theater, once the grandest movie palace in the north has been mothballed since 2004. The Bob Hamilton-designed penthouse apartment is visible on the roof. Beyond in the background, the Key Bank Building that was damaged in the Nov. 30, 2018 quake is undergoing a gut renovation and addition. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 12/14/21.

The Empress Theater used to sit in the portion of this building behind the yellow cab. It was used as a bank and then various restaurants and bars after being decommissioned as a theater in the ‘60s, and torn down in 2013 after 97 years on its 4th Ave. site. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 12/14/21.

Land’s End on the tip of the Homer Spit in 1961. This would be what Ralph saw on his visit a couple of years later. Photo from Steve McCutcheon Collection, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center.

Lands End post-quake in 1964. Photo from Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center.

Lands End in 1964 after being raised up on cribbing. A small boat harbor was created on part of the end of the spit and the excavated soil used to build up adjacent areas where the land was lowered by the quake and then further eroded by the tides. Photo from University of Alaska Anchorage, Consortium Library, Archives and Special Collections.

Photo from University of Alaska Anchorage, Consortium Library, Archives and Special Collections.

The Salty Dawg Saloon on the Homer Spit in 1961. Photo from Steve McCutcheon Collection, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center.

The Salty Dawg in 1964 after the earthquake, suffering similarly to Lands End. The building was also elevated and the land filled in underneath. Photo from Robert and Wilma Knox Papers, University of Alaska Anchorage, Consortium Library, Archives and Special Collections.

The Salty Dawg on 7/20/82. It looks better presently, having been maintained well in recent years. Photo from Delores Mann, University of Alaska Anchorage, Consortium Library, Archives and Special Collections.

April 10, 1964 front page of the Anchorage Times with lead story on post-quake tidal flooding on the Kenai Peninsula. Photo courtesy Roberta Carney, on Facebook.

The former Bob Hamilton-designed FAA offices at 6th Ave. and G St., now Anchorage City Hall. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 12/14/21.

The city of Anchorage acquired the building in 1992 and the remodel design was by Koonce Pfeffer Architects. This addition at the back of the building provided a loading dock and covered entrance. The doors here and on the 6th Ave. side, opposite were painted yellow in homage to the color of the original building. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 12/14/21.

Tyonek Buildings by Mayo and Coolidge Architects, 16th Ave. and C St., part of the expansion of commercial activity beyond 4th and 5th Ave. in the 1960s. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 12/14/21.

“None grander in Anchorage [in 1964].” Main campus building at Alaska Methodist University. Edward Durell Stone Architect; Manley and Mayer, Associated Architect. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 12/14/21.

Episode 12 with Ralph Alley

More about life in Anchorage in the days and weeks following the 9.2-magnitude earthquake March 27, 1964. A lot of freezing in the dark, suffering through aftershocks and dealing with a wrecked city. Ralph and Dick Mayo venture into the debris of Dick’s former rooming house, now pitched at a near 45-degree angle to retrieve Dick’s personal effects.

The Denali Theater at 4th Ave. and B St. sunk 10 feet into the ground as a result of the quake. Dick Mayo’s rooming house was nearby to this location. Edith and Edward Lindsay papers, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Photo courtesy Grover Wright, on Facebook

Debris from destroyed buildings, looking east down 4th Ave. from C St. on April 24, 1964.

Page from the Alaska Sportsman Magazine earthquake issue.

JCPenney building, 5th Ave., across the street from Ralph’s office building and National Guard patrol officers.

4th Ave. and C St. Buildings cleaned out and ready for demolition. Photo courtesy Grover Wright, on Facebook.

This photo and next two: downtown Anchorage street where ground failure buckled and sunk all the houses on the block. W. 5th Ave. and K St. vicinity. Photos courtesy Grover Wright, on Facebook.

Total devastation in Anchorage’s Turnagain neighborhood. Photos courtesy Grover Wright, on Facebook.

Sign in Valdez, AK with the names of the people who perished in the quake and tsunami.

Episode 11 with Ralph Alley

Ralph Alley and his housemate Dan were about to begin their weekly workout regimen when they were interrupted by the mightiest earthquake ever to hit North America. The State of Alaska, City of Anchorage and the lives of all inhabitants would never be the same again. Ralph provides a firsthand report about what it was like, during and after this insane event.

This video goes into a lot of detail of the effects of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami on Kodiak. Valdez, Cordova, Seward and other coastal towns had similar chaos and damage — in some cases worse than seen here [difficult to imagine!].

The Hillside Apartments, 16th Ave. and G Street. Ralph and his friends walked over here and helped residents retrieve cats, dogs and belongings from the apartments. This is the north side and on the south side the damage to parts of the building was more extreme. Photo from Judith and Malcolm McDonald papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Damage in the Turnagain neighorhood was extensive, with 75 houses completely destroyed. Some that remained intact ended up being moved to other places in Anchorage with better underlying soil conditions. There were few deaths in the earthquake but some of them were here in Turnagain. Photo from Ward Wells Collection, Anchorage Museum.

A two or three long section of the north side of the city’s main street, 4th Avenue sunk between 10 and 20 feet, buckling buildings, streets and sidewalks. The south side of the street [on top of the hill] was mostly OK and some of the buildings are still there today. New buildings were built in the subsidence zone years later after the bluff was stabilized with driven sheet piling. Photo from Ruth A.M. Schmidt papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

A man reads news accounts of the seismic event. Photo from Robert and Wilma Knox papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Anchorage woman boiling snow for water. Water, sewer, electric and other utilities were damaged and it took several weeks to repair and gradually reconnect them. Photo from Robert and Wilma Knox papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

The Hewitt’s Drug Store building that dated from the 1920s was damaged beyond repair and torn down in late 1964. Ralph moved out of a second floor apartment here less than a month before the quake.

Episode 10 with Ralph Alley

After he survived a plane crash in Summer 1963, Ralph traded in his Corvair coupe for a Buick Skylark convertible and left for a weekend road trip to Homer, Seward and back. He recalls the hospitality and scenery along the way. Later in the year, he learns of President Kennedy’s death at the office on a melancholy winter day. After a year marred by tragedy and disappointment, Ralph and two friends decided to throw a fabulous Christmas party.

This is about the same as Ralph’s 1962. The sound quality on this video isn’t great but the owner and the guy he’s speaking with know their history and the details about the car.

The former Edgewater Hotel, Old Seward Highway, Anchorage. Candidate John F. Kennedy stopped here in 1960. After a stint as Alaska Laborers Training School, it is now home to Remade, a non-profit organization with a thrift shop and classes on up-cycling. Photos by Clark Yerrington, 2020.

Turnagain Pass. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 2010.

Our Point of View Lodge, Kenai Lake photographed April 24, 1963. Alice and Bob Arwezon photographs, Consortium Library, UAA.

Alice Arwezon at the junction of the Sterling and Seward Highways (Tern Lake) in 1963.

The old general store in Cooper Landing is now part of a museum. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 2016.

Liquor store in Moose Pass. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 2008.

Fishing boats in Ninilchik, 1960s. Harry and Norma Hoyt family papers, Consortium Library, UAA.

Ninilchik Village with the Russian Orthodox church on top of the hill behind. Francis J. Huber slides, Consortium Library, UAA.

Ninilchik church. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 2009.

Stacked stones on the beach, Homer Spit with the top of the Salty Dawg Saloon behind. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 2007.

Homer Spit beach. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 2009.

Homer Spit and mountains beyond on the other side of Kachemak Bay. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 2014.

The Bay View Inn, on the hill on the way down into Homer had quaint 1950s rooms and a panoramic view. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 2009.

Homer cabin. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 2009.

Seward, AK in 1960. Charles Cassata photographs, Alaska Historical Society Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

House with a Mission style gable roof treatment, downtown Seward. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 2008.

A page from Ralph’s photo album from the 1963 Christmas party at his Anchorage 4th Ave. apartment.

Episode 9 with Ralph Alley

The previous episode, #8 was a cliff hanger with the plane carrying Ralph and three others about to crash land. In this episode we find out what happened next.

The end of the Homer Spit and Kachemak Bay in 1958. Photo from Steve McCutcheon Collection, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center.

The main part of Homer seen on approach in 1954. Photo from Arnold Granville Photographs at UAF.

This incredibly pristine view of land east of Homer and Kachemak Bay beyond was taken from East Skyline Dr. in 1958. Photo from Steve McCutcheon Collection, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center.

Episode 8 with Ralph Alley

Alaska Architect Ralph Alley gets admonished at work in 1962 for freelancing on houses, and keeps his head down henceforth. Can he avoid a lot bigger trouble a few months later?

“Standard cumulus activity.” Photo by Clark Yerrington.

The Hill Building, W. 6th Ave. and G Street, downtown Anchorage. Photographed the day after the 1964 earthquake. Photo from John Cerutti Slide Collection.

4th Avenue Theater, downtown Anchorage. The Goonies is on the marquee so it must be 1985. The Bob Hamilton designed penthouse apartment on the west side of the original building’s roof. Photo by Jet Lowe, from Library of Congress.

Early ‘60s on the Homer Spit. Photo from Christine M. McClain Papers.

Beluga Lake, Homer Airport and Homer Spit from East Skyline Drive, Homer, AK. Photo by Clark Yerrington, 2011.

Winter beach walk, Homer Spit, 2011. Photo by Clark Yerrington.

Episode 7 with Ralph Alley

Ralph’s career starts to flourish as he becomes intimate with 1960s Anchorage people and places. He speaks about explosive growth of the city and registration exams.

Evangeline Atwood at home in Turnagain in 1954. Photo from Ward Wells Collection.

Episode 6 with Ralph Alley

In this episode of recollections, Ralph sticks closer to home, getting to know Anchorage and key local people. We learn about the design response to the beautiful wilderness setting [or, lack of same] and how that led to present-day conditions.

Larson and Wendler building at 4th and I St. in Summer 1917. P.S. Hunt photo.

Early 1980s look at the building when it was still at its original site. Henry S. Kaiser, Jr. Papers, University of Alaska Anchorage, Archives and Special Collections.

Club 25 building [current headquarters of Fur Rendezvous]. 4th Ave. and D St., May 17, 2020. Photo by Clark Yerrington.

Corner turret and bronze statue of Balto. May 17, 2020. Photo by Clark Yerrington.

A 1960s “Cob Job” building at 6th Ave. and A St. has been revived as an experimental and special projects arm of the Anchorage Museum.

Anchorage Museum Seed Lab.

Turnagain Blvd., May 17, 2020. Still doesn’t impress much; pleasant enough, I suppose. Photo by Clark Yerrington.

Bird House Bar, Bird Creek, Alaska, 1979. Photo courtesy Ken Goldberg, on Flickr.

Bird House, interior detail, August 1984.

Chick-N-Burger Restaurant, Anchorage, 1970s. Photo courtesy Stephen Cysewski.

45 years of progress at the former Chick-N-Burger site on the Old Seward Highway.

Episode 5 with Ralph Alley

Even in the ‘50s/’60s 4th Avenue had a good side and bad side. Maybe it was always so? Ralph Alley and his friend Frank ventured into a bar on the bad end in 1962. Also in this episode — Denali flightseeing, a Hofbrau Halloween and sleeping through the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Bars and bars and more bars! Looking east on 4th Ave. around 1941. Two decades before Ralph lived here, the pattern had been set. Photo from Eleanor Louise Wedge papers.

Same general area, opposite side of the street in 1956. Photo from AMRC, Ward Wells Collection.

The last days of the Scandinavian Club Bar [1984]. Rear view from the alley between 4th and 5th, just east of C St. looking north. Just before the bar and the rest of the block were razed for the 5th Ave. Mall parking garage. Photo from Sam McClain papers.

President Eisenhower hurtles down 5th Ave. in 1960. Loussac Sogn Building that included the offices of Manley & Mayer Architects on the right. Photo from Jim Ruotsala photographs.

Denali view from near the Eielson Visitors Center inside the park. Unknown vintage, guessing 1970s. Photo from Francis J. Huber slides.

Episode 4 with Ralph Alley

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.

Episode 3 with Ralph Alley

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.

Episode 2 with Ralph Alley

Clark continues talking with Ralph about his Alaska experiences. Also, this time Ralph describes his architectural influences — how he acquired them and how he adapted what he interpreted out of the work of Greene and Greene, Bernard Maybeck and others to his own designs.

In 2020 there are no longer any buildings on this half-block. This is where the boarding house was where Ralph lived when he was first in Anchorage and where he tried to escape from the Friday night drunks.

The 5th Avenue side of the Loussac Sogn Building on March 16, 2020. Ralph reported for work here in 1959 at the offices of Manley and Mayer Architects.

Looking west on 5th Avenue in 1964 and earthquake damage. Loussac Sogn Building on the right.

Reed Building and 4th Avenue Theater in 1949.

The Reed Building and 4th Avenue Theater, March 16, 2020.

Former Reeve family home on Anchorage’s Pilot’s Row, March 16, 2020. I didn’t find out if the kids’ names are still in the sidewalk concrete, since the sidewalks are still snow-covered.

Ralph Alley and his sister Louretta, waiting to audition for a singing part, 1956.

Episode 1 with Ralph Alley

We pick up the thread upon Ralph’s arrival in Anchorage in 1959. It wasn’t long before he was designing his first house in Anchorage. This led him [more quickly than he wanted] to other work and establishing his methods and approach to designing for Alaska.

First house by Ralph Alley in Alaska, Anchorage Hillside. Shown in 2004 — by then, the house had been repainted with the new color palette bearing little resemblance to the original.

House on Stanford Dr. in 2016. The entry is a recent addition; otherwise the house still looks about like it did upon completion in 1960.

We’re planning to do as many episodes, more or less weekly as necessary to cover Ralph’s thirty years in Alaska. This first one was technologically challenging for a couple of non-audio engineers, so kindly ignore the poltergeists on the recording and trust that we’ll figure out how to get this aspect corrected in the future! Enjoy!