David Reamer
@anchistorian.bsky.social
Historian with daily Alaska history posts & weekly column (https://www.adn.com/author/david-reamer/). Black Lives in Alaska (2022) co-author & 2023 co-Alaska Historian of the Year. Support at Buy Me a Coffee (https://buymeacoffee.com/davidreamer).
This is 1955 Anchorage, though really well outside its borders then. This is Tudor Road near Patterson Street. The curve from there to Muldoon didn’t follow the same path as today, but the location should be roughly familiar to any local. #alaskahistory #alaska #anchoragehistory
1956 children standing on Portage Lake ice, while wearing Spenard sweatshirts! Their father, Ken Parker, ran the first department store in Spenard, in a Quonset hut at Fireweed and Spenard. Their mother, Nancy, was the Spenard postmaster for a while. #alaskahistory #alaska
1954, cars driving along a flooded Old Glenn Highway. Before 1967, Lake George annually flooded the road and cut the connection between Palmer and Anchorage. The Knik Glacier no longer advances to block the Lake George outlet. Via Anchorage Museum #alaskahistory #alaska
1959, a rougher O'Malley Road in Anchorage. Via Anchorage Museum. #alaskahistory #alaska #anchoragehistory
Alaska segment from a 1965 episode of America!, a syndicated travelogue TV show hosted by Jack Douglas. This bit includes views of Juneau, totem poles, the ferry Taku, and Eldred Rock Lighthouse. #alaskahistory #alaska
2008 Somersby cider "Arctic Expedition" commercial, which is yet another one of my "sure is something" commercials. Somersby is produced by the Denmark-based Carlsberg, and this commercial seems to have originally been meant for the Danish market. #arctic
Aug 3, 1913, Bobby Sheldon arrived in Valdez with 3 passengers, the 1st car driven there from Fairbanks & really the first road trip in Alaska history. It took him 4 days including 59 hours of driving time. That's them in Valdez at the right of the photo. #alaskahistory #alaska
When Cal Worthington opened a dealership in 1977 Anchorage, he had an iconic pizzeria demolished, Uncle's Pizza Parlor that featured a full pipe organ. My new article has more Cal facts and commercials, including campaign donation fraud! Here: www.adn.com/alaska-l...
1986 Sacramento Public Library commercial featuring car salesman Cal Worthington. My latest article--fresh today--includes 5 more Cal facts & commercials, including Yugos, polar bears, campaign donation fraud, lost pizzerias, & more! Check out here PLEASE: www.adn.com/alaska-l...
January 1977, this is the first advertisement Cal Worthington ran in Anchorage after opening a Ford dealership here. My new article has five more facts about the archetypal car salesman, from campaign donation fraud to fighting Binky the polar bear: www.adn.com/alaska-l...
Circa 1830s lithographs of Sitka vegetation from a French printing on the 1826-29 journey of the Russian corvette Seniavin, which visited Sitka during the course of its globe-crossing voyage. Via Library of Congress. #alaskahistory #alaska
1966 "Marble Cake Moraines in the Great Malaspina Glacier, Alaska" by photographer/mountaineer Bradford Washburn (1910-2007). Via Bonhams #alaskahistory #alaska
Circa 1959 footage of cats, kittens, and baby moose being fed milk around Palmer. Shot by painter Fred Machetanz, part of the footage he used for Outside lectures. #alaskahistory #alaska
March 20, 1976, construction of the Trans Alaska Pipeline bridge over the Gulkana River. #alaskahistory #alaska
The Cooper Landing bridge on the Sterling Highway was destroyed in the 1964 earthquake, & portable, prefabricated Bailey bridge was installed as a temporary replacement. Cooper Landing School visible in background. Via Kenai Peninsula College. #alaskahistory #alaska
July 31, 1921, Alaska Railroad bridge at Hurricane Gulch. It would be completed a couple of weeks later with the first passenger train crossing on August 15. #alaskahistory #alaska
July 31, 1918, a group of young, stylish Anchorage men having a last swim at Lake Spenard before enlisting in the Army. #alaskahistory #Spenard #anchoragehistory
19th century Tlingit mosquito mask. Via the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology & Ethnography (aka Kunstkamera). #alaskahistory #alaska
R.L. Phillips pauses with his “mosquito-proofed” horse, Sparkplug, on a gravel bar of the Tatonduk River, a tributary of the Yukon River, on June 17, 1930. Via USGS #alaskahistory #alaska
Like late 1930s Willow Creek mining district, man with mosquito net shows off how many mosquitos he has attracted. Via Anchorage Museum. #alaskahistory #alaska
On Jan 1, 1958, Stanley Upton began riding his horse Skeeter from Death Valley, CA to Denali, from highest to lowest points on the continent. He almost died at several points but made it to the Eielson Visitor Center on July 30, 1959. #alaskahistory #denali #alaska
While modern local coffee culture originated in the 1970s (i.e., Cafe Del Mundo), there was a roaster in earliest Anchorage. Art Frodenberg roasted beans daily at his 4th Ave grocery, at right in c. 1917 photo. 1922 ad; 45 cents a pound is $9 in 2026 money. #alaskahistory #alaska
Modern Anchorage coffee culture began with Perry Merkel who opened Cafe del Mundo in 1975 supplying businesses with the only freshly roasted beans in town. He opened the below cafe on Fireweed in 1979. Merkel retired in 2011 & sold his business to Kaladis. #alaskahistory #alaska
Four more Anchorage coffee shacks from 2004. Via Brian Meacham (btmeacham on Flickr). #alaskahistory #alaska #anchoragehistory
Four mostly forgotten coffee shacks from 2004 Anchorage. It's also interesting to see some of other long-gone businesses in the background, like Fantasies on 5th. Via Brian Meacham (btmeacham on Flickr). #alaskahistory #alaska #anchoragehistory
"Get rad!" New Frontier Sports of Anchorage skateboard shop advertisement, from the July-Aug 1984 Warning #11, an Anchorage-based punk zine. #alaskahistory #anchoragehistory #alaska
Vintage "Alaskan Cool" puffy-lettered sweatshirt. I could cry it's so beautiful. Via eBay #alaskahistory #alaska
