Whittier is a town in Alaska with about 300 people. Almost nobody lives in a separate house.
Between 80 and 90 percent of them live in Begich Towers, a building with 196 apartments.
It was built to take bombings and rough weather, and to keep people mostly self-sufficient.
From 1953 to 1957, the east, middle, and west sections were joined into one.
What sits inside?
A post office, a corner store, a laundromat, a church, a police station, a clinic, and an indoor playground. A tunnel connects the building to the school.
One visitor calls Whittier the strangest city in Alaska. The population lives under one roof and does not have to step outside.
Traffic?
It is not on the road. It is in the elevator.
The only car road runs through a 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) tunnel. The tunnel is one-way and closes at night. Then the town stays alone with the snow and the wind.
Residents either accept the arrangement or joke about it. In practice the building is the town: the clinic, the police, and the food store share a roof with the beds.
There is no need for a neighborhood.
There is a need for an elevator.
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