Anchorage "Mayor's Walk" Audio Guide

Bob Hope once called Anchor­age’s 4^th Avenue of the 1950’s the ​“Longest bar in the world,” and that might not have been an exag­ger­a­tion. Between the bars and the one main post office, down­town 4^th Avenue was the place for every­one to meet and catch up.

On Good Fri­day, 1964, one of the largest earth­quakes ever record­ed shook Anchor­age. 4^th Avenue sank one sto­ry under­ground, and those that had offices and shops had to get their things out through sec­ond-sto­ry windows.

Explore down­town Anchor­age of the late 60’s, a time when JC Pen­ney was the cool new hang­out and the lights of the city faci­nat­ed a young Mark Begich. Fol­low him as he explores down­town with his camera.

Feel the excite­ment of the world-famous Fur Ren­dezvous Dog Sled Races with May­or Dan Sul­li­van. The 60’s were an excit­ing time for Rondy races, with leg­ends George Att­la and Ronald Lom­bard bat­tling for first place year after year.

Enjoy down­town’s best view of Denali and learn about how vital the Port of Anchor­age is to the city and the state. Whether it is the cars we dri­ve, the food we eat or the clothes we wear, almost 80% of Anchor­age’s goods come via the port. 

Fea­tures This quaint down­town park is named after the deli­cious fruit­ing shrub. Enjoy roman­tic views of Cook Inlet from the swing set and tour Anchor­age’s old­est stand­ing home, the Oscar Ander­son House. At 1.5 acres, Elder­ber­ry Park offers 10 park­ing spaces, tod­dler play equip­ment for 2 – 5 year olds as well as equip­ment for 5 – 12 year olds, bench­es through­out the park, access to Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, and pos­si­ble restrooms available…  ...more

Delaney Park Strip, in down­town Anchor­age, is a great place to fly a kite, play fris­bee or soft­ball, or even ride a dog sled in the win­ter. But in Anchor­age’s ear­ly years it was used as an airstrip. Lis­ten to the sto­ry of how an enter­pris­ing bi-plane pilot repur­posed it as such and in 1997 retraced a his­toric flight to Fair­banks that occured exact­ly 70 years prior. 

See down­town Anchor­age of the 60’s through the eyes of 8‑year-old Dan Sul­li­van. Duck into bars, bar­ber­shops and hotels as he sells copies of the Anchor­age Times for a dime and meet some true Alaskan ​“old-timers.”

Cre­at­ed by a local high school stu­dent as his Eagle Scout project, this scale mod­el of our solar sys­tem is a great way to explore Anchor­age. Tak­ing the walk, you expe­ri­ence the rel­a­tive size of the plan­ets and their dis­tance from the Sun. The scale was cho­sen so that a leisure­ly walk­ing pace mim­ics the speed of light. On this scale, each step equals the dis­tance light trav­els in one sec­ond (300,000 kilo­me­ters or 186,000 miles). It should…  ...more

Bas­ket­ball is big in Alas­ka, whether you’re in Anchor­age or the small­est vil­lage. The Old City Gym, where the Per­form­ing Arts Cen­ter is now, was where all the action used to be, and dur­ing Fur Ron­dezvous it would play host to a statewide bas­ket­ball tournament. 

Anchor­age is used to deal­ing with all kinds of nat­ur­al dis­as­ters, from earth­quakes and vol­ca­noes to snow­storms and for­est fires. But Sep­tem­ber 11, 2001 brought with it new chal­lenges, includ­ing a Kore­an air­plane head­ing to Anchor­age broad­cast­ing a sig­nal say­ing they were hijacked. Then-may­or George Wuerch describes the city’s response. 

It’s hard to under­state the impact of the oil indus­try on Alaska’s econ­o­my. Look­ing at the down­town Anchor­age sky­line many of the tallest build­ings were built by oil com­pa­nies, includ­ing Alaska’s tallest build­ing, the Cono­coPhillips building. 

The Dena’i­na Cen­ter is one of down­town Anchor­age’s newest build­ings, but sur­pris­ing­ly it is one of the first to hon­or the native peo­ple of south­cen­tral Alas­ka. From the names of the rooms in the build­ing, to the art­work on the walls and even the bricks on the side­walk below, the Dena’i­na Cen­ter is full of lit­tle gems. 

Not only is the Per­form­ing Arts Cen­ter a world-class per­for­mance hall for music, plays and opera, but it also is where may­or Dan Sul­li­van was sworn into office. Join him on stage with his father, for­mer may­or George Sul­li­van, and every oth­er liv­ing mayor. 

In the 1980’s, when the state and city were flush with oil mon­ey, there was a big push to improve the infas­truc­ture in down­town Anchor­age. These large cap­i­tal projects enabled Anchor­age to host events like the 2001 Spe­cial Olympics. For­mer may­or George Wuerch describes the expe­ri­ence of host­ing that large event and get­ting the chance to meet Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Sen­a­tor Mark Begich, who’s wife owns the Kim­ball Build­ing, recounts the his­to­ry of this his­toric build­ing and what Anchor­age was like back in the ​“tent city” days, as well as how Anchor­age has grown. 

Ring­ing the bell for the Sal­va­tion Army out­side JC Pen­ney down­town, for­mer may­or George Wuerch heard old timers’ sto­ries from Anchor­age’s wild and crazy WWII years. Back then, down­town Anchor­age only had one or two paved streets and a pletho­ra of seedy estab­lish­ments lin­ing 4^th and 5^th Avenues.