Water Damage Restoration in Anchorage, AK

Founded a little over a century ago, the largest city in Alaska is composed of neighborhoods with a newness and spaciousness you won’t find in denser, older places.

Urban districts this far north are spread out and subtly influenced by the yawning wilderness that surrounds them. And you might be surprised at just how cosmopolitan some of them are: Anchorage is home to the single most statistically diverse neighborhood in the USA.

In these six neighborhoods, you’ll be able to sample some of the city’s unique flavors, many of them low-cost or even free.

1. Downtown

Best for history and museums

Since many come to Anchorage as a stopping-off point for excursions elsewhere in the state, Downtown is only neighborhood many visitors will see. Here is where you’ll find the bulk of the city’s nice hotels, the state’s best museum, and all the requisite shops and restaurants. While on the low-rise, low-key side, the area has its quirks, such as the world’s only urban king salmon fishery at Ship Creek.

Ship Creek is where Anchorage began as a tent camp, in 1915; the settlement soon relocated to more-stable bluffs south of the river. These bluffs are home to some of the oldest buildings still standing in town, including the Oscar Anderson house (now a museum), one of the first solid structures to grace the urban grid. Nearby, another historic property, the Copper Whale Inn, offers one of Downtown’s more atypical accommodation options.

Until the 1920s, forest flourished right up to the edge of 10th Ave, and what is now Delaney Park between present-day 9th and 10th Aves served as a firebreak. The more spread-out residential neighborhood that lies to the south – the so-called South Addition – was built in the 1930s and ’40s.

2. Midtown

Best for reasonably priced accommodation

South of Downtown, Midtown is a symmetrical grid of shopping malls, chain hotels and modern bar-grills serving craft beer and burgers. What it lacks in dashing good looks, it makes up for in convenience.

With a growing number of affordable, mid-range hotels, this neighborhood can offer better value than Downtown, as long as you’re up for a bit of urban walking. And you won’t have to roam far to eat well. Midtown and its adjacent neighborhoods of North Star and Taku-Campbell offer several decent breakfast spots, a good stash of Korean restaurants (an Anchorage specialty) and one of the city’s favorite destination breweries: Moose’s Tooth, a made-in-heaven marriage of gourmet pizzas and custom-brewed beer.

The neighborhood’s only real green spot is 15-acre Cuddy Family Midtown Park, which boasts a giant kids’ playground and waterfowl-filled lagoon. The southeastern corner of the district is brushed by the 7-mile Campbell Creek Trail, the western gateway to the rawer realm of Far North Bicentennial Park.

3. Hillside

Best for trailheads into the wilderness

Spending time in Hillside in southeastern Anchorage feels like having one foot in the wilderness and one foot in an Alaskan version of Bel-Air. Flush up against the valleys and peaks of Chugach State Park and filled with some of the city’s most sought-after homes, this is a neighborhood of sweeping views and sprawling lots where you’re just as likely to find a bear rifling through your garbage as a raccoon.

Set apart from the city’s main retail and commercial districts, Hillside is more suited to activity-focused day trips than random wandering. Far North Bicentennial Park, Anchorage’s largest, contains a wildlife preserve and a small nonprofit ski area inside its 4000 acres. Densely forested and rich in fauna, it seems way too wild to be within the city limits.

The vast majority of visitors and locals gravitate a little further south to the Glen Alps Trailhead to tackle the craggy face of Flattop Mountain. Considered Anchorage’s ultimate fitness test, Flattop is a short, rough climb to a wide, rocky summit from which paragliders launch into the sky. It’s eternally popular with intrepid hikers in summer, when there’s a daily shuttle to and from Downtown.

4. Spenard

Best for nightlife

One of the metro area’s more independently minded neighborhoods, Spenard has a quirky character that stems from its status as a separate city until the mid-1970s. While Anchorage began life as a tent city, Spenard, 3 miles to the south, grew up as a lumber camp: the area takes its name from a Canadian businessman named Joe Spenard, who built the area’s original logging road (now Spenard Rd) in the 1910s.

By Alaskan standards, its personality is positively bohemian. At the Bear Tooth Theatrepub, you can eat chicken-chipotle tacos and drink craft beer while watching the latest action movie. Nearby, the Yak & Yeti Cafe introduces diners to the delights of Tibetan cuisine, while establishments like Middle Way Cafe counter Alaska’s subsistence-hunting image with a menu filled with vegetarian and vegan options.

Then there’s the nightlife. Spenard might be the best place in Anchorage to blow your vacation budget, courtesy of places like Chilkoot Charlie’s, an eccentric emporium of drinking, dancing and live music that has been loosening collars since 1970.

5. Mountain View

Best for diverse cuisine

A neighborhood 2 miles from Downtown rarely visited by outsiders, Mountain View is more intriguing than first impressions would suggest: a study in the 2010s concluded it was the most diverse neighborhood in the US. Native Alaskans, Asians and Pacific Islanders are well established in the community, with Ethiopians, Peruvians and Somalis among more-recent arrivals.

While not really set up for tourists, the neighborhood can be shoehorned into a short afternoon trip from Downtown. Cycle the Ship Creek Trail to its eastern terminus and then wobble along Mountain View Dr, with its ethnic grocery stores and small restaurants, until you find a place that looks appetizing. Hawaiian-themed Hula Hands concocts authentic pulehu (wood-fire grilled) chicken, while the fresh-baked pretzel buns at West Berlin pair well with a German pint.

6. Turnagain

Best for coastal vistas

Though airport-adjacent districts are mostly ignored by travelers unless they’re on the lookout for an affordable layover hotel or nurture a secret fascination for plane-spotting, Anchorage’s Turnagain neighborhood is different. Inhabiting the western tip of the Anchorage peninsula at the point it juts into Cook Inlet, the area is circumscribed by the beautiful Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, which offers the quintessential Anchorage bike ride.

What’s more, the area showcases a tragic chapter of the city’s past. In 1964, the second-biggest earthquake in recorded human history destroyed 75 houses in the vicinity of Turnagain Heights, sending part of a waterside bluff sliding into the sea. The event is memorialized in Earthquake Park, which overlooks the mudflats of Knik Arm. Turnagain has rebounded since the seismically unstable ’60s and today is one of the city’s more expensive zip codes.

Closer to the airport, the Alaska Aviation Museum sits on the south shore of Lake Hood, the world’s busiest seaplane base; nearby, a strip of comfortable mid-range hotels (all with free airport shuttles) line the southern end of Spenard Rd. The Lakefront Anchorage Hotel backs onto Lake Spenard, the eastern extension of Lake Hood, allowing guests to watch the comings and goings of the ubiquitous floatplanes from their rooms.

Areas of rain and snow will continue for coastal regions; snow relents for inland areas

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Nearly 2 feet of snow fell across the Anchorage Bowl this week (with some heavier amounts locally), giving the city its snowiest October since 2001. At 21.5 inches, it’s the fifth snowiest October of all-time. While things begin to quiet down this weekend, additional winter weather looks possible as we welcome in next week.

SOUTHCENTRAL: Some light snow showers remain for inland areas this morning, with little (less than an inch) to no accumulation expected. Expect inland areas to see a gradual tapering off of snow, with coastal regions seeing widespread rain and snow sticking around through the day.

An area of low pressure in the northern Gulf of Alaska will continue to push inland as another storm will be building into the Gulf of Alaska. Widespread rain and gusty winds will build into Kodiak this morning, with the rain and winds building northward into coastal regions of Southcentral later today. Kodiak could see winds gusting as high as 50 mph. While rain looks to be the primary impact for lower elevations, higher elevations of the Chugach Range and through the Seward Highway will see snow and rain. We’ll want to watch snow levels as an approaching front will drive in warmer air. Snow levels will likely rise to 1,000 to 1,500 feet, making driving fairly difficult along the Seward Highway and Turnagain Pass. Be careful on the roads and give yourself plenty of time to get to your destination.

Into the weekend, coastal activity and winds will remain, although winds should diminish from peak speeds they‘ll reach later today. Most of the rain for the weekend will be for coastal regions, although eastern parts of the Kenai could see a slight chance for wintry mix from mid morning into the afternoon hours Saturday. We‘ll begin to see a gradual return to light precipitation Sunday night into Monday, with the possibility for more winter weather into next week. Right now a mix looks to be the best bet into early next week, but as with all storms we’ll need to watch the temperature profile at the surface.

SOUTHEAST: Areas of dense fog are being reported this morning across Southeast, with a Dense Fog Advisory in effect until 10 a.m. Any locations seeing dense fog will see a lowering of visibility.

While today will be fairly quiet for much of the panhandle, areas near Yakutat will see widespread rain stick around through the day. Yakutat could see up to an inch of rain, if not more, with areas further south through the panhandle remaining dry. Some sunshine breaks are possible near Ketchikan, where temperatures today will warm into the upper 40s. Expect warm weather to remain with us through the weekend, with widespread rain for the panhandle returning overnight into Saturday.

Higher elevations will see building snow chances into the weekend. So if you’re driving along the Klondike or Haines Highway, be prepared for the possibility of accumulating snow and hazardous driving conditions.

INTERIOR: Some light snow showers remain through the Interior, with most locations seeing 1 to 3 inches of accumulation into the evening. There is a Winter Weather Advisory for the Dalton Highway Summits until later this afternoon. Expect to see up to 3 inches of snow, with winds gusting upwards of 50 mph. This will lead to blowing snow and reduced visibility.

Outside of snowfall chances, many areas through the Interior will hold onto breezy conditions into Saturday. It’s possible we could see winds gusting as high as 30 mph through parts of the Interior into Saturday. This will keep areas of blowing snow in the forecast, with reduced visibility on the roads.

While temperatures aren‘t expected to be too terribly cold, we’ll see daily highs in the 20s, with overnight lows in the 10s.

SLOPE/WESTERN ALASKA: Strong gusty winds are expected later today along the Slope, where Winter Weather Advisories have been issued. These advisories go into effect later this afternoon through Saturday afternoon. The entirety of the Slope remains under the advisory with up to an inch of snow to be expected. The bigger concern is the winds, which could gusts upwards of 50 mph. Be prepared for areas of blowing snow and reduced visibility throughout the day. While it’s not too terribly cold along the Slope, winds will keep winds chills in the single digits and teens during the day, with overnight wind chills likely dropping below zero.

Out west things will remain fairly quiet today, with just a passing chance for some coastal flurries. We will see some breezy conditions, as east to northeasterly winds will gusts upwards of 30 mph. Some sunshine breaks are possible for areas out west, but expect the cloudy conditions and winds for most to persist into early next week.

ALEUTIANS: Heavy rain and gusty winds are expected for the Aleutians today, as an area of low pressure moves east into the Gulf of Alaska. While areas of the Western Aleutians just see light rain showers, it will still be breezy with winds up to 40 mph. Further east near Cold Bay and surrounding locations, rain will likely amount to more than an inch by night. Additionally, winds will be the strongest here, with gusts upwards of 65 mph.

As the low builds into the Gulf of Alaska, the rain and winds will die down into Saturday. While the heaviest rain departs later today, we’ll still hold onto some showers through the weekend, with wind gusts dying down to about 35 mph across the Aleutians.

OUTLOOK AHEAD: Temperatures will play a key role in our upcoming forecast, with more winter weather looking possible into next week. Current thinking is that temperatures will warm into the mid to upper 30s through most of next week, leading to a rain/snow event. This will likely lead to hazardous driving conditions across areas of Southcentral that see liquid precipitation on top of snowy roads. If we manage to stay cold enough, it‘s possible we could see more snow accumulation. You’ll want to stay up to date with the latest weather information, as this information will change as the forecast becomes fine tuned.

Have a wonderful and safe weekend!

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Anchorage School District officials on Friday announced seven elementary schools that they’re proposing to close over the next three years as the number of students in the district continues to decline.

The district will soon start taking public feedback on its proposal, and the Anchorage School Board is scheduled to ultimately decide on the closures at a meeting in December.

These are the neighborhood schools the district is recommending be shuttered.

In year one, the 2025-26 school year:

In year two:

In year three:

In an interview on Friday, ASD Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt emphasized that his focus right now is listening to families.

“We’ll be listening to what our community has to say through school board meetings and other forums and, ultimately, it will be up to the school board to accept, reject or modify the list,” he said.

Under the district’s proposal, Bear Valley and Wonder Park would be permanently closed, while the rest of the school buildings would be repurposed.

There are nearly 1,400 students attending the seven schools, and most of the buildings are well under their full capacity, according to the district. Lake Hood Elementary only has 39% of the students it was designed for, and Fire Lake has just 47%.

District officials had announced this spring that they planned to close more schools due to a steadily declining student population, decreasing birth rates and continued outmigration. They described the effort as “right-sizing” and emphasized that the closures are not intended as a cost-cutting measure, although the district is facing a budget shortfall of between $64 million and $84 million for the upcoming fiscal year.

Closing seven schools represents shuttering roughly 12% of the district’s total number of neighborhood elementary schools.

ASD Chief Operating Officer Jim Anderson said during a work session last month that district officials would determine which schools to close using an evaluation tool that assigns values to the condition of the school building itself, how well-utilized the school is and other community impacts including the feasibility of bussing students to a different school.

Anchorage School Board President Andy Holleman said that while the administration released the proposed closures list Friday, the school board will make the final decision.

“The choices are being made more by math,” he said. “It’s not just somebody’s feeling or somebody looking at it, they really have looked carefully at what will do the least disruption to kids and then trying to keep going forward from there, to give them the best education they can.”

Since 2010, the district’s student population has dropped by roughly 6,000 students, or about 12%, and it has closed three elementary schools. In 2022, the district released a plan to close six elementary schools due to budget constraints, but only closed one after objections from families. The student population has continued to decline since then, and Bryantt said more families are also opting to homeschool their children through correspondence programs instead of sending them to their neighborhood schools.

“Since the pandemic, more families are opting for correspondence,” he said. “So even though our enrollment numbers may be stable from year to year, that doesn’t necessarily mean that we have the same number of students in brick and mortar buildings.”

Meanwhile, Bryantt said in a letter to families Friday, the demand for student support services is increasing. Students in low-enrollment schools are having to share specialty teachers, including those for art, gym and special education, limiting the one-on-one time those teachers can spend with students. He said it’s also becoming more common to combine classes in elementary schools.

The district’s proposal does include a plan to lease three of the seven buildings to charter schools. It says another two could house other special programs such as child care facilities. Anchorage is strapped for child care, with many facilities having long wait lists and high prices.

“If I can work with the private sector or nonprofit child care providers to go into our buildings, we’ll be able to work with that organization to subsidize the cost of child care, which would be a huge win for our employees and potentially other public employees, and it offers a service that may have not been as pressing 40 years ago, but it certainly is right now in this moment,” Bryantt said. “So there is some other benefits to this plan aside from elevating academic levels of service.”

District officials will discuss the proposed closures during a school board work session on Monday from 3 to 5 p.m. They will then hold community conversations during the week of Nov. 11 to gather additional community feedback.

Here’s the schedule:

The board is scheduled to vote on the closures on Dec. 17.

Editor’s note: Anchorage, we want to hear from you. As we continue to cover this proposal, we’re interested to hear from families, teachers and staff about their thoughts on the closure list. Reach education reporter Tim Rockey at trockey@alaskapublic.org.

Tim Rockey is the producer of Alaska News Nightly and covers education for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at trockey@alaskapublic.org or 907-550-8487. Read more about Tim here.

Encouraging people to get to the polls is important for all Alaskans but campaign ads and get out the vote messages are often broad and fail to reach underserved communities. What’s the best way to educate Alaskans from the diverse neighborhoods and communities of Alaska?

On this episode of Alaska Insight, host Lori Townsend is joined by Eugene Cho, owner and publisher of the Anchorage Korean News, and Lina Mariscal, editor and publisher of Anchorage’s bilingual newspaper, Sol de Medianoche, to discuss efforts to engage voters in Korean and Spanish-speaking communities.

Related:

Engagement events before the election:

This Week’s Headlines:

Kathleen Medina, Anchorage, AK— Kathleen Medina passed away unexpectedly while vacationing with her son and grandchildren, leaving her husband, Dennis Page, and the community in deep sorrow. Known for her caring nature as a nurse at Providence Alaska Medical Center, Kathleen’s absence has left a profound impact on those who knew her.

In response to this sudden loss, Kelsey Berg has organized a fundraiser titled "Help Dennis Page Grieve Without Financial Worry" to assist with the financial burden Dennis faces during this difficult time. The fundraiser aims to provide him with the support he needs to take time off work to grieve.

Dennis expressed his heartfelt emotions, stating, "My beautiful, loving wife Kathleen Medina… my heart & dreams of the life we lived have shattered." He shared his gratitude for the moments they spent together and the love she brought into his life.

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Donations have already started pouring in, showcasing the community’s support. Contributors include Herman Ellemberger with $500, Ellen Dore with $200, and several others, with a total raised so far exceeding $800.

READ ALSO: Guadalupe Gutierrez

The love and compassion that Kathleen shared will be deeply missed, and her legacy will live on in the hearts of her family and friends.

We extend our deepest condolences to the family of Kathleen Medina during this challenging time. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

READ ALSO: Steve Chapman

Short Summary of Kathleen Medina

PLEASE VISIT: GoFundMe for Kathleen medina

Note:This post was written and edited by Matthew Perez, based on their expertise and research. It is intended for informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice. We welcome your feedback and questions on this content. Please feel free to contact us.