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Inside US town where almost all of entire population lives inside the same building

Home> News> US News

Published 10:53 7 Feb 2024 GMT

Inside US town where almost all of entire population lives inside the same building

Residents in the remote town all call the same place home

Olivia Burke

Olivia Burke

Featured Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Topics: US News, Home, Weird

Olivia Burke
Olivia Burke

Olivia is a journalist at LADbible Group with more than five years of experience and has worked for a number of top publishers, including News UK. She also enjoys writing food reviews (as well as the eating part). She is a stereotypical reality TV addict, but still finds time for a serious documentary.

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@livburke_

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We all love living with our families, significant others, housemates and friends, but we still get a bit of cabin fever after being cramped indoors with them for prolonged periods.

So next time you're desperate to escape your humble abode, spare a thought for the entire population of Whittier who all have to live inside the same building together.

Take a look at this:

About 273 people are estimated to live in the remote town in Alaska and the overwhelming majority of residents all call the same place home - a 14-storey building called Begich Towers.

The structure also somehow fits a load of public facilities inside too, so you can start to understand why Whittier is better known as the 'town under one roof'.

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It's convenient, of course, but surely it's also overwhelmingly claustrophobic - and there's no chance of you avoiding your nuisance neighbours when you're stuck inside due to heavy snowfall.

Some residents revel in the fact they can get their hands on everything they could possibly need with just a short walk downstairs, meaning they can hunker down without panic when the weather takes a turn for the worse.

Others aren't as thrilled by the prospect of being stuck inside the same four walls to shop, eat and work.

Begich Towers was built in wake of World War II and is made up of 150 two-and-three-bedroom apartments - as well as a health centre, a police station, a shop and a church.

The majority of the population lives together in Begich Towers.
TikTok

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The former army barracks even used to boast a tunnel to the local school so that students had no excuses to miss class even in a blizzard.

While Whittier might sound almost fictional, it's completely legit - just ask the daughter of the town's mayor, Janessa.

She regularly shares content on social media explaining what it is like to 'live in one of the strangest towns' in the world, while explaining how the concept of Begich Towers works.

The local said in one clip: "There's a town where everybody lives in the same building...Um, I currently live in that building.

"In this building there's a post office, a church, a store and a building office. In the basement of this building, we have a tunnel that runs from this building to the school across the street."

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Expanding on how it came to be that the entire town just decided to live together, Janessa said there isn't much choice.

All the amenities residents need are inside the 14-storey building.
Getty stock photo

She said: "Whittier has been around since the 1940s. It was built around World War Two and it was a military bunker.

"After WWII many people left, but we still had a large population up until the 1964 earthquake.

"Whittier had a lot of damage after the earthquake, so many people left. One of the buildings here which was military housing was abandoned," the TikToker continued.

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"There are no houses here because you can't buy any property, because most of it is owned by the railroad.

"So that's why everyone lives in one building, because you cannot buy property to build a house."

Janessa added: "You can own your own apartment in this building, or you can rent from someone. But mostly everyone owns their own apartment.

"We do however have to pay monthly dues, but that also includes water, electricity, things like that."

Around five percent of the population live in another building, the Manor, which is much smaller.

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Janessa explained that Whittier has been a difficult place to grow up, especially in terms of dating and friendships.

Pointing out the fact that there's only about 20 people who are the same age as her, Janessa said: "Nobody really dates here because we all grew up together so that would be kind of weird."

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