Snowy peaks in Alaska
Eowyn Ivey returns to the scenes of her youth to find surprising new charm
The main street in Palmer, Alaska, is much prettier than it once was. The snowy peaks of the Chugach mountains have always dominated the horizon, but for most of my childhood the street itself was run-down. The side roads were unpaved, and in the summer the dusty air made it feel like a frontier town. During economic recessions, many businesses shut down — the pharmacy with its soda counter, the two-story general store, and the florist. Boom or bust, however, the bars were always the most popular establishments. The street felt like a dead end, and I recall as a teenager thinking, ‘I can’t wait to get out of here.’
While I was away at university in the 1990s, though, the street became the centre of a sort of renaissance. The city planted lawns and apple trees. New business moved in and renovated the storefronts, and even the bars cleaned up their acts, putting out flowerpots and sidewalk tables. Vagabond Blues, an artsy coffee shop, opened with espresso, live music, and poetry readings. On the next block, a vacant building was eventually transformed into the town’s first independent bookstore, Fireside Books.
To my surprise, Palmer’s main street has become a charming tourist attraction, but when I walk to the bookstore with a latte in my hand, I encounter a lot of old memories. The clapboard-sided Valley Hotel, built in 1948 and still offering rooms and meals, is where I spent my sixth birthday after a howling storm caused snow to drift 20 feet high and block the road home. Down the street is the restaurant where as teenagers my friends and I used to sneak cigarettes from the vending machine in the lobby. And at a nearby intersection, a moose once stomped in the hood of a police car when the officer tried to herd it out of traffic.
I’m glad for the gift shops and flowers that have sprouted up along the street, but as I think back over the past 50 years, I have to confess a begrudging admiration for the scrappy little place it once was.
Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey is out now published by Tinder Press