The vastness and raw beauty of Alaska unfold through the windows of small and really small airplanes in this early 1960s-based episode. After a peaceful housesitting gig ends, Ralph gets his own place — taking over a 4th Avenue apartment from his departing friends, the Gibboneys. Helping to furnish the new digs are a stereo and TV, bought from a colleague and retrieved on a road trip to Willow. 4th Avenue is a pleasant place to live at the time with a bustling scene.
Aerial view of Dillingham, 1955. Photo from McCutcheon Collection, Anchorage Museum.
Sled dog races, Dillingham, AK, 1959.
Kenai, AK from the air in 1965. Photo from University of Alaska Anchorage, Consortium Library, Archives and Special Collections.
Breakup on Lake George. Photo from Stewart’s Photo Shop slide collection.
Iceberg at Lake George, left behind after the lake “dump”. Photo from Stewart’s Photo Shop slide collection.
The lake after the annual drain. Photo from Stewart’s Photo Shop slide collection.
Hofbrau Restaurant on 4th Ave., 1958. Photo from Ward Wells collection.
Hofbrau Restaurant, 1958. Photo from Ward Wells collection.
Hewitt’s Drug Store building in the 1930s. Looking northeast at the NE corner of 4th Ave. and E Street. The drug/photo store on the corner and what would later be the Cheechako Bar on the right hand side on 4th. The building was destroyed in the 1964 earthquake.