HEAD TO DOWNTOWN ANCHORAGE FOR FOOD, SHOPPING AND NIGHTLIFE By K A T I E P E S Z N E C K E R
A
nchorage’s historic downtown is an approachable quarter with beautiful boutiques, bountiful restaurants and bustling bars, and it’s just compact enough to easily and leisurely navigate on foot — perfect for ambling visitors exploring Alaska’s largest city. Of the roughly 731,000 people who live in Alaska, nearly 293,000 people call Anchorage home. Downtown’s compressed size and sensible street grids render it pleasantly walkable. Add to that its share of hotels, and it’s a probable home base for tourists, if not a logical stopping-off point for any visitor. The city celebrated its centennial in 2015, and a frontier-town past coexists with 2022 modernity. Anchorage’s charm lies in its dichotomies of new and old, classic and contemporary. Downtown is packed with old-school souvenir shops and hip art galleries, moody dive bars and upscale eateries. Start your exploration at the centrally-located Log Cabin Visitor
Information Center at the corner of F Street and Fourth Avenue. Staffed year-round, you’ll find information about Anchorage history, tours, general visitor guides and exciting out-of-town excursions or city tours. While the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake destroyed many of Anchorage’s older buildings, some scenic structures remain. Next to the visitor center sits the two-story cast concrete Historic City Hall, which first opened in 1936. The art deco 4th Avenue Theatre (closed now for many years) remains a prominent Fourth Avenue landmark and a classic Anchorage photo backdrop. A handful of quaint circa-1915 cottages on Third Avenue are among the city’s original homes. Just below downtown in Ship Creek, the Alaska Railroad Anchorage Depot, built in 1942, still serves the state’s rails today. Across downtown, interpretive signs dot corners or are erected midblock, and tell stories of Anchorage’s earliest days and most important landmarks. The circa-1915 Oscar Anderson House Museum at 420 M St. is scheduled to open in May 2022 and offers a peek back in time to the pioneer days, when namesake Anderson claimed to be the 18th settler to arrive in “Tent City.” His widow donated the property to posterity in 1976 and it is Anchorage’s only home museum. Other downtown stops for the historically curious include the Anchorage Museum, at 625 C St., packed with historical, arts, and cultural exhibits; the Fraternal Order of the Alaska State Troopers Alaska Law Enforcement Museum, boasting the state’s only collection of historical law enforcement memorabilia; and even the serene Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery, established in 1915 by President Woodrow Wilson, where some of Anchorage’s most significant pioneers are laid to rest. The 22-acre cemetery covers a nine-block area and offers contemplative space for walking along its footpaths.
VISITORS’ GUIDE •
2022 —
ALASKA
35
