Not Sure I’m in on This Alaskan Town Where Everyone Lives in the Same Building

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There’s an Alaskan town named Whittier where like 80% of the entire city’s population lives under one roof. The concept of that is blowing my mind right now, but let’s dig into the story before we analyze it any further.

Courtesy of Business Insider:

Whittier, Alaska, is a small, remote town 60 miles south of Anchorage that is commonly referred to as the “town under one roof.”

How small is Whittier? About 217 people live there, and it’s accessible only by boat or a one-way, one-lane tunnel.

But the strangest thing about this town is that nearly all of its residents live in the same building, Begich Towers, a Cold War-era army barracks built in 1974. A police station, grocery store, clinic, church, convenience store, and school are all housed within the structure.

Highly recommend clicking the link and scrolling through one Reddit user’s experience staying in the town. Phenomenal stuff.

But, big picture – I’m not quite sure how I feel about this.

On one hand, the isolation of only accessing the town through a one-lane tunnel in 30 minute intervals sounds nice. Like, I bet these people get plenty of calm peace and quiet. When the weather gets bad, they don’t even have to leave the building to get supplies to hold them over!

On the other hand, that could be dangerous. I got snowed in for two whole days once in 2010, and by the time I made it out, I barely knew how to interact with people. Poor cashier at the Dollar General (the obvious first stop after you’ve been locked away in a room for two days) probably thought I was crazy. “How are you doing today, sir?” “HUH? WHAT? WHO ARE YOU?”

I’m guessing it’s going to be more of the latter than the former, so issa no from me, dawg.

It sounds nice for maybe a relaxing weekend, but if I lived there, I’m betting I would be certifiably insane within a week.

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley

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