Kodiak, As She Was-Two Decades Ago;
Roaring 40’s, Lost Era, Writer Says
Editor’s Note: The following
feature article, written by Jim
Running of the Oregon Journal,
is reprinted for its interest, even
though Running apparently
didn’t see the city’s sidewalks
or street improvements from the
40’s. Running was in the Kodiak
area in July with two other news
men who were interested in the
Russian fishing fleet near Ko
diak.
KODIAK, Alaska — “You Can’t
Go Home Again.”
Thomas Wolfe described it in
his famous book of that name and
here in Kodiak I learned the stark
reality of his thesis.
In summer 1941, this formerly
quiet fishing port of 600 popula
tion became a roaring construction
town.
The Seims Drake Co., under a
government “cost plus” contract,
was building the Kodiak Naval
Station to prepare against the war
that was to break out in December
with the Pearl Harbor attack.
Pay checks of the construction
workers, which included many
hours of overtime, were twice and
thrice as much as what they had
earned in the States, whence most
of them came.
PRINCIPAL BUSINESS
And with these new riches in
their pockets, they poured by the
hundreds on Friday and Saturday
nights into the town, overflowing
the eight or nine bars that had now
become Kodiak’s principal busi
ness.
In the summer midnight twi
light, they milled along the town’s
crooked, dirt main street, shoutin'*
laughing and singing.
There was no other place to walk
because there were no sidewalks.
Taxicabs, trying to get through the
mob on runs to the base, honked
angrily and often had to wait for
minutes before the crowd would
at last consent to part to let them
through.
I know, because I was one of the
construction workers.
NO PENNIES AROUND
Money flowed like water. Pen
nies were too small a denomina
tion to bother with There weren’t
any in circulation on the island.
When you cashed your check,
the bank paid you to the nearest
nickel. If you bought a 3-cent
stamp at the post office, you were
given two 1-cent stamps for change.
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I worked there for six months
that summer of 1941, not to return
until this summer, 21 years later,
naively expecting to find the town
just as I had left it.
Two fellow newsmen on this
Coast Guard junket to Alaska had
listened patiently to my stories of
Kodiak as we drew nearer to the
stop on our itinerary.
A VISIT TO TOWN
Reluctantly, they agreed to go
into town with me, six miles from
the naval station where we were
quartered.
We stepped out of the car that
drove us in, onto the same crooked
main street that I remembered.
There were still no sidewalks. But
where were the crowds? We were
the only person in sight.
The Ship’s Tavern and Mecca
were still there, but only two or
three drinkers were sitting at each
of these bars when we went in.
“This excitement you were tell
ing us about, Jim, where is it?”
they began needling me.
“Tony’s,” I exclaimed happily,
as our stroll up the street took
to that bar. “That must be where
everyone is.”
WORLD’S LONGEST BAR
Tony’s in 1941 boasted the
“World’s Longest Bar,” a broad,
gleaming monster that stretched
deep into the feebly lighted, cav
ernous building where construction
City Has Second
Self-Help Course
The September issue of "Civil
Defense News” states that Dr. Iton
ert Johnson of Kodiak has con
ducted the second pilot course on
medical self-help in the state.
Dr. Johnson reports the results
of his first course are encouraging
and he is planning a second course
in the near future.
Dr. Frank Montmorency held
the first pilot course in Alaska
over KENI-TV last winter.
stiffs lined up three deep and jos
tled each other to buy whisky at
50 cents a shot.
We stepped in. My heart sank.
The old bar was gone. Replacing
it was one of those effeminate af
fairs built in a wavy line. It even
had fancy upholstered stools for
the customers.
Crestfallen, I spoke no more
about the glories of Kodiak.
CHURCH REPLACED
FIven the famous old Russian Or
thodox Church was gone. It had
burned, and although the new one
built to replace it was supposed to
be a replica, the exterior was fin
ished in hideous asbestos shingles.
Well, I thought, I’ll show my
friends the place we used to go
bathing almost every afternoon, a
lake shallow enough that the sun
warmed the water to a comfortable
swimming temperature.
But even it was gone, filled in
and covered with buildings.
Slaughter House Possible, Gruening
About 35 Kodiak residents at
tended a no-host dinner Saturday
in honor of Sen. Ernest Gruening
who was a visitor here.
Sen. Gruening expressed the
thought that roads and hydro-elec
tric power were the state’s two
prime needs.
He also expressed the opinion
that a small business loan for a
slaughter-house for the island’s cat
tle industry was feasible and prom
ised to aid the project.
Friday afternoon he visited Old
Harbor and Alitak, and Saturday
Afognak.
WHEN YOU GET
A GOOD TROPHY
V
i
REMEMBER WHERE
| YOU GOT IT.
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1
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Oct. 3, 1962
MS TANANA
Womens Bay, Kodiak
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Kodiak, Alaska