HISTORY, SHOPPING AND NIGHTLIFE IN DOWNTOWN ANCHORAGE
Town Square Park is a riot of color in downtown Anchorage during the summer. PHOTO BY ERIK HILL
By K A T I E P E S Z N E C K E R
CELEBRATING OVER 60 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE
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owntown Anchorage is just busy enough to entertain yet compact enough to easily navigate — a perfect combination for curious visitors ready to explore Alaska’s largest city by foot, either during the light of day or into the tantalizing twilight of the midnight sun. Of the roughly 731,000 people who live in Alaska, nearly 293,000 people call Anchorage home. The city celebrated its centennial in 2015, and its frontier-town past lingers alongside today’s modernity; downtown is full of creative art galleries and museums, hip boutiques and shops, upscale eateries and moody dive bars. Its compressed size and sensible street grids render it pleasantly walkable, and its share of hotels make it a probable home base for tourists, if not a logical stopping-off point for any Alaska vacationer. To get started, stop by the downtown Log Cabin Visitor Information Center at the corner of F Street and Fourth Avenue, a central location for launching Anchorage explorations. Staffed year-round, here you’ll find information about town history and connect with exciting out-oftown excursions or city tours. While the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake did a number of downtown’s architecture (a 9.2 magnitude to be exact!), some scenic structures remain. Next door to the visitor center sits the two-story cast concrete Historic City Hall, which first opened in 1936. The art deco 4th Avenue Theatre (currently closed) remains a prominent Fourth Avenue landmark. A handful of quaint circa-1915 cottages on Third Avenue are among the city’s oldest structures. Just below downtown in Ship Creek, the Alaska Railroad Anchorage Depot, built in 1942, still serves the state’s rails today. 44
ALASKA —
VISITORS’ GUIDE • 2021
Voted “Best Steak” 23 Years
Press Picks 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
CLUB PARIS Monday - Friday: Lunch served 11:30am-2:30pm with Dinner service beginning at 5:00pm Saturday & Sunday: Dinner service begins at 4pm Reservations Recommended: 277-6332 • 417 West 5th Avenue,Anchorage
Classic Cuisine, Classic Alaska
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