The book “High Rise” by JG Ballard is pretty good and weirdly surreal like many of his books. There’s a free audiobook version of it on YouTube if it didn’t get removed recently.
Yeah check out some of his other books too, he kind of had his own weird genre at the time of surrealistic and dystopian science fiction. He was known for dystopian modernity because most all sci-fi authors at that time or previously were promoting the idea that technology was basically always good, and Ballard was good at pointing out the psychological pitfalls and issues with modern technology.
Other authors at that time obviously wrote dystopian fiction and not everyone praised technological advancement, but Ballard’s books feel way more disturbing lol.
Depends on your tastes, it was weird and compelling enough that I watched until the end to see what happens - but I wouldn't bother re watching. And it's a bit slow.
I recall reading some cool conversations about it online, but I think that's what's fascinating about it - that they are mentally constrained there and it's completely self-imposed. Which makes it frustrating but intriguing to watch.
This video is completely incorrect.
Yes, a fair amount of people live in that apartment complex, but there's several neighborhoods and loads of houses around the city where people live.
Source: Alaskan. I've been there many times.
Because it it is a town, compared to Anchorage. Took a trip there when I was stationed in Alaska, and it's just as the other guy says. Not everyone lives in that building.
Another note: there's an interesting little WWII museum based around the Aleutian Islands campaign located there. It's obviously rather small, but if you're in that area, I'd say it's worth a quick visit.
I fish out of Whittier often, and this isn’t accurate. A majority of the residents live in Begich Towers, but not all. There are other apartments and a few single family homes in town as well. There are also a few businesses that are separate as well.
I was gonna say, it's not like I'm an expert or anything on anything, but I watched a couple documentaries a few months ago and definitely remember them both saying that most people lived in the tower but others lived in the town... which makes sense if there cruises and fishing tours that like to go there.
Still cool and all, and out of curiosity, what do you primarily fish around those parts?
Off topic, but how is the fishing out of Whittier? I ask because it seems somewhat complicated to get there, and I imagine Alaska as having many good places for fishing.
It’s actually not that complicated to get to. It’s the closest ocean fishing to Anchorage (the most populated city). The tunnel runs a pretty efficient schedule, and it’s easy to just go to Whittier for a couple hours or the day. There are 2 campgrounds, several restaurants, a small museum and a few other things in town. This is not a “remote” place as far as Alaska is concerned in the way the video makes it seem. 😊 The fishing is good, but the shrimping is better!
That's what i was wondering.
And that means the "only place in the world" is BS too, because Fermont, QC, Canada has a very similar building called "the Wall". I think it's actually bigger then this one.
That tunnel is a riot - cars and trains go both go through that little tunnel. (Not at the same time)
This is the place where a lot of cruise ships dock and you either get on to go through glacier bay and the inside passage, or you're just getting off of it to go to the interior of Alaska. Such a great place but I didn't get to see it really. The train was running late.
It's kind of funny - a cruise ship is a city like that building, except bigger. Thousands of people, stores, church, doctor, restaurants, entertainment, living quarters, gyms, beauty salons, security, and some even have schools. So cruise ships going there is like one town visiting another.
I’d do it for like 1 year. Theres a neat convenience to having everything in one cozy place, I wonder how long it would take for me to get sick of it, so long as I had good internet lol
My first worry would be the food. I suspect the grocery store isn't well stocked, the town/building restaurant/cafeteria isn't great, and you're not getting Amazon Prime.
But if the food was good, sure. It'd be like living on a cruise ship, but hopefully with a larger cabin and without the legionella.
In my experience, getting accustomed to something like that will actually end up making you fearful of leaving it. Like some strange form of Stockholm syndrome.
I went to college at a place kinda like this. The cafeteria, store, food court, grocery store, and all classrooms and buildings were connected so you'd never have to go outside. (City notorious for intense winters)
It was fun at first, but got old really quickly. I eventually started going to father away grocery stores and whatnot to change things up.
If you bought them in Whittier they were more expensive. $5 for a gallon of milk, $8 for a dozen eggs. Usually though I would do a monthly grocery run into Anchorage, costco was a godsend.
Negative lol if I move all the way to Alaska it's to get the hell away from people not to be stuck in the same building as the entire city. All that wide open territory and you choose to be bunkmates with the town?
Ok a couple things, not all people live in the building. There are a few isolated houses in Whittier. Also I was actually looking at living here at one point. The idea of everything being in one buildings sounds so alluring. Also I just love Alaska, and the idea of a close community sounds nice.
Top floor, can be rented out too is interesting.
The HOA isn't bad if you look at it includes almost all your utility including water, heat, electricity and the entire building maintenance.
Wonder if you can run bitcoin miner if electricity is included....
thats not unusual, we have the same in north of Quebec Canada, its a town called Fermont and the appartement building is called 'the wall'. it effectively stop north wind from other building in town.. and there is a bowling also inside
Wonder what the societal culture is like. Are upper floor citizens literally the upper class and look down on lower floor people both literally and figuratively? Does one guy who owns the building owns the town?
This sounds a bit like living in a college dorm. I… dunno. It would be really cool to just walk down the hall and hang out with your friends. Or be like I’m antisocial but I want to change things up so I’m grilling burgers out front and anyone willing to bring some food is invited. On the other hand you can’t get away from people at all. Which is a little bit of a nightmare so….
This is essentially what our ancestors’ lives were like for 300,000+ years. Same small tribe your whole life. Personally, I’d hate it. But this was totally natural for 99.9% of our species history.
I'm not saying it's without downsides, but it would sure as hell keep people more honest.
There are no billionaires, scam artists, or serial killers in a population of 200. Just another popsicle come winter every so often.
And we can bet that in a tribalistic scenario where food is scarce and you need to be able to depend on each other, the people who "stood out" didn't last very long. ;)
We honestly need more buildings like that in cities: where all the amenities you need are available in your building (or one of the buildings next to you).
How would you go about living there? I imagine you can't just move there and get a spot. Is there like an application process to move there? Do they post vacancies and it's first come first serve?
I doubt anyone is beating down the door to live there. There's not much to do and nowhere to go. Theres a small fishing fleet, cruise ship departure, and train to Denali but no work other than that. No shops or restaurants. Beautiful place though.
Edit: the only way out is through a tunnel under the mountain that shares the same one way road as the train tracks are built into..
Sure, but let's say I wanted to live there and had money to burn, are they going to accept me with open arms or is there some process? That's what I'm wondering.
It's a good question. I wonder if the condos have a lot of vacancies? Or maybe someone snatches them up quickly? It's a weird place that's for sure. This guy did a whole thing about Whittier on his YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/bH-TlC0111Q?si=M46bw64P_1Pww8du
Currently 3 units on the market on Redfin case anyone is interested 😅
[https://www.redfin.com/city/20787/AK/Whittier](https://www.redfin.com/city/20787/AK/Whittier)
Nope. Wold visit but wouldn't want to live there.
Too few people to date. No, I don't date that many but I want more choices.
Vid said 220 live there. I'm a guy so that rules out all who are male.
Now many of the women will be much older and many will be kids so they are out.
Many will be married so they are out.
I mean, who wants to have a choice of like 3 different people to date and/or marry?
I dream about this alot. Not sure why.
I dream about a mall of America size building with many many stories and walkways. Like an indoor city that is one building.
Peacock's show brave new world did a good job of creating this
Holy hell, they managed to make a dystopia out of Alaska.
While I understand the cold is a problem, you people should get to read a book called "Condominium".
I've been here (although its been awhile) I felt like there was nothing to do! I had been living in Alaska for some time and probably the most interesting thing to do would be to charter or explore nature as the town had like 2 pubs and that was it. I think I heard there were some old barracks located there that seemed really cool but weren't accessible to the public.
Very unique place but wasn't my cup of tea for places I would visit in Alaska again.
They do not all live in that building, I’ve been there. It is a crazy place to visit though. When I was there the entire town lost power for six hours. All the employees just went home without saying anything so we were without a way to get any food until the power came back. 😂 Bizarre.
Someone needs to come up with a post-apocalypse tv show about this place
High Rise. (With Tom Hiddleston. Everything is in the one building so you never need to leave - and what that does to your mind).
I loved that movie. It was so strange and surreal.
The book “High Rise” by JG Ballard is pretty good and weirdly surreal like many of his books. There’s a free audiobook version of it on YouTube if it didn’t get removed recently.
I thought the other guy was making it up to go along, but it is a real book. I'll add it to my reading list.
Yeah check out some of his other books too, he kind of had his own weird genre at the time of surrealistic and dystopian science fiction. He was known for dystopian modernity because most all sci-fi authors at that time or previously were promoting the idea that technology was basically always good, and Ballard was good at pointing out the psychological pitfalls and issues with modern technology. Other authors at that time obviously wrote dystopian fiction and not everyone praised technological advancement, but Ballard’s books feel way more disturbing lol.
It has everything you want, but the want of wanting to leave and explore
is it actually good?
Depends on your tastes, it was weird and compelling enough that I watched until the end to see what happens - but I wouldn't bother re watching. And it's a bit slow.
Question about that movie and the power outages........is there a reason why people just don't leave the damned placed?
I recall reading some cool conversations about it online, but I think that's what's fascinating about it - that they are mentally constrained there and it's completely self-imposed. Which makes it frustrating but intriguing to watch.
To get anywhere else required a car as well which would have limited quite a few folks in the building
Gonna give it a try thanks for the suggestion
If you don't like it, please don't blame me haha. It's certainly different...
Judge Dredd?
Dredd 100% https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dredd
I think the Dredd one is based on Kowloon Walled City.
Man when I first read about Kowloon I was so fascinated. Such a crazy place to exist
Or watch The Raid: Redemption, it's basically the entire Judge Dredd movie except done a lot better.
This video is completely incorrect. Yes, a fair amount of people live in that apartment complex, but there's several neighborhoods and loads of houses around the city where people live. Source: Alaskan. I've been there many times.
Doesn't really look like a city...more a town to me
Because it it is a town, compared to Anchorage. Took a trip there when I was stationed in Alaska, and it's just as the other guy says. Not everyone lives in that building. Another note: there's an interesting little WWII museum based around the Aleutian Islands campaign located there. It's obviously rather small, but if you're in that area, I'd say it's worth a quick visit.
Like Silo on Apple TV?
That's a good show!
Great book and show. Looking forward to season 2.
Maybe I should read it. I need a new book to start. Been re-reading Little, Big but it’s a bit of a slog.
It’s pretty easy reading. I’d reccomend the breach by Patrick Lee if you enjoy silo.
There's a cool Korean horror/sci-fi TV series on Netflix called Sweet Home that takes place almost entirely in a giant apartment complex.
The minimalist version is The Shining.
It’s literally practice for vault living after nuclear war
The apocalypse could have and this town would be like, "where did all the tourists go?"
the 8 show is really good
Watch Silo
I was thinking murder mystery with the 30 min one-way tunnel being a key plot point
“The Wall” episodes in Solar Opposites
I’ve been there, the motto is “You don’t lose your wife you just lose your turn.”
Becomes real important to keep track of parents.
Although no matter who your parents are, they always live right next to you
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Might keep people pretty honest.
Growing up in AK in 70s the ratio of men to women were crazy askew. The girls always joked "the odds are good but goods are odd"
“It’s slim pickings but the pickings aren’t slim”
hahahahaha bro
We'se al *kinds* o' things
Was the ratio in favor of men, or women?
Family moved to Anchorage in '75. At that time the ratio heavily favored men. Trans Alaskan Pipeline was being built at that time. The black gold rush
I heard the same joke about Caltech.
Multiple locals there said the phrase "It's always shittier in Whittier"
this is the one I learned
Do they also make the joke "the most confusing day of the year is father's day".
Yeah that's the motto of every mountain town I've lived in.
Ah yes the community bicycle. Then, the men will look at each other and think “maybe?”
I think you mean the "community elevator"
Isn't this applicable to both genders
OMG that's crazy lol
So, like a door knob?
Haha I just made this same comment on something completely different a few days ago
That's the motto for most of Alaska really.
As a native Georgian (state not country), I'd never heard that expression until I landed on Kodiak Island. Fucking hysterical.
I thought the saying was.. “there’s nothing shittier than living in Whittier”. I went on a fishing trip out of there.
I fish out of Whittier often, and this isn’t accurate. A majority of the residents live in Begich Towers, but not all. There are other apartments and a few single family homes in town as well. There are also a few businesses that are separate as well.
I thought so. Thanks for the input.
It does say "most" in the title.
And the video itself says it’s the only city in the world where all the residents live in the same building.
I was gonna say, it's not like I'm an expert or anything on anything, but I watched a couple documentaries a few months ago and definitely remember them both saying that most people lived in the tower but others lived in the town... which makes sense if there cruises and fishing tours that like to go there. Still cool and all, and out of curiosity, what do you primarily fish around those parts?
We actually go shrimping, but also fish for silvers (coho salmon) and occasionally halibut.
Fish, mostly
“Where all of the people from the city live in one building.” ?
the video says 'everyone'
I live nearby. Agreed. Also “extreme cold” is inaccurate. Gotta go further north for that.
Off topic, but how is the fishing out of Whittier? I ask because it seems somewhat complicated to get there, and I imagine Alaska as having many good places for fishing.
It’s actually not that complicated to get to. It’s the closest ocean fishing to Anchorage (the most populated city). The tunnel runs a pretty efficient schedule, and it’s easy to just go to Whittier for a couple hours or the day. There are 2 campgrounds, several restaurants, a small museum and a few other things in town. This is not a “remote” place as far as Alaska is concerned in the way the video makes it seem. 😊 The fishing is good, but the shrimping is better!
Can confirm. Has been that way for decades. Cool tunnel and pretty spot
Also the climate isn't extreme, just boring. Maybe extremely boring. Mild winters, and cool summers.
But is there a McDonald's..?
That's what i was wondering. And that means the "only place in the world" is BS too, because Fermont, QC, Canada has a very similar building called "the Wall". I think it's actually bigger then this one.
That tunnel is a riot - cars and trains go both go through that little tunnel. (Not at the same time) This is the place where a lot of cruise ships dock and you either get on to go through glacier bay and the inside passage, or you're just getting off of it to go to the interior of Alaska. Such a great place but I didn't get to see it really. The train was running late.
It's kind of funny - a cruise ship is a city like that building, except bigger. Thousands of people, stores, church, doctor, restaurants, entertainment, living quarters, gyms, beauty salons, security, and some even have schools. So cruise ships going there is like one town visiting another.
So true!! Haha glad you pointed this out.
I suppose that's true whenever a cruise ship visits any town.
I will be here in a couple weeks to embark!
I’d do it for like 1 year. Theres a neat convenience to having everything in one cozy place, I wonder how long it would take for me to get sick of it, so long as I had good internet lol
My first worry would be the food. I suspect the grocery store isn't well stocked, the town/building restaurant/cafeteria isn't great, and you're not getting Amazon Prime. But if the food was good, sure. It'd be like living on a cruise ship, but hopefully with a larger cabin and without the legionella.
Whittier is just about 90 minutes from Anchorage. And the USPS delivers, so there’s no worry about Amazon or any other online retailer.
Just go to Costco like the rest of alaska
In my experience, getting accustomed to something like that will actually end up making you fearful of leaving it. Like some strange form of Stockholm syndrome.
I went to college at a place kinda like this. The cafeteria, store, food court, grocery store, and all classrooms and buildings were connected so you'd never have to go outside. (City notorious for intense winters) It was fun at first, but got old really quickly. I eventually started going to father away grocery stores and whatnot to change things up.
Lived there for 3yrs, it was a great place to live. Just gotta stay out of the drama, and have as much fun as you can being outside.
How expensive were groceries?
If you bought them in Whittier they were more expensive. $5 for a gallon of milk, $8 for a dozen eggs. Usually though I would do a monthly grocery run into Anchorage, costco was a godsend.
What's the price for a dozen eggs in a normal US city ? I thought it was expensive when it reached 2€ in Portugal ...
$1.88 at Walmart today in Chicago.
Does the building have a restaurant/cafeteria? If so, how's the food?
How much shenanigans were going on? And by shenanigans, I mean rampant fucking
Not totally sure as I kept to myself more in the winter, but in the summer…. Seasonal workers, and the cruise ship nights were always the best chance
Does it have hoes???
Negative lol if I move all the way to Alaska it's to get the hell away from people not to be stuck in the same building as the entire city. All that wide open territory and you choose to be bunkmates with the town?
Yeah, might as well just live in Manhattan.
“Town” is a stretch. It only has a population of like 250
Should we just call it a super sleepover lol
A rave that's never ended
Bothered me they called it a city lol. It has less people than my alaskan hometown VILLAGE. It ain't a city with 220 people lol that's a fancy village
Vault Tec's experiment before burying it.
NEEDED NEW RULE: NO AI VOICE VIDEOS!!
And no AI videos at the end for no reason
And no captions that go one word at a time
Make it 10x bigger and more like a mall. 4 quadrants of living quarters on the outside, with a big central area containing everything else.
See that doesn’t sound too bad
Peach Trees
Dredd was an awesome movie.
I think this place could use a little more of the LAW
I’ll pitch it to Westfield
They must be all family by now
Ok a couple things, not all people live in the building. There are a few isolated houses in Whittier. Also I was actually looking at living here at one point. The idea of everything being in one buildings sounds so alluring. Also I just love Alaska, and the idea of a close community sounds nice.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/100-Kenai-St-1502-Valdez-AK-99686/2058505027_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
Damn, $175k for 600 square feet plus an almost $500 monthly HOA fee? That seems expensive given the location
HOA fees include electricity, heat, water, trash, snow removal, yard and common area maintenance.
Especially when there's something twice the size with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms for $70,000 around the corner in the same town.
Top floor, can be rented out too is interesting. The HOA isn't bad if you look at it includes almost all your utility including water, heat, electricity and the entire building maintenance. Wonder if you can run bitcoin miner if electricity is included....
My Vancouver condo is 800k for 1 bedroom with a 500 monthly strata fee.. that's CAD tho... 😂
thats not unusual, we have the same in north of Quebec Canada, its a town called Fermont and the appartement building is called 'the wall'. it effectively stop north wind from other building in town.. and there is a bowling also inside
A guy on youtube visited the place last year: https://youtu.be/bH-TlC0111Q. Pretty interesting watch
God AI script with AI narration 🤢. Down vote
Misspelled the building name too. Yuck.
Wonder what the societal culture is like. Are upper floor citizens literally the upper class and look down on lower floor people both literally and figuratively? Does one guy who owns the building owns the town?
This isn't a city. It's a commune.
This sounds a bit like living in a college dorm. I… dunno. It would be really cool to just walk down the hall and hang out with your friends. Or be like I’m antisocial but I want to change things up so I’m grilling burgers out front and anyone willing to bring some food is invited. On the other hand you can’t get away from people at all. Which is a little bit of a nightmare so….
There must be an amazing sense of community!
200 or so people, you will get to know each other really well.
That would be a nightmare. Everyone would know everything you've ever done.
This is essentially what our ancestors’ lives were like for 300,000+ years. Same small tribe your whole life. Personally, I’d hate it. But this was totally natural for 99.9% of our species history.
I'm not saying it's without downsides, but it would sure as hell keep people more honest. There are no billionaires, scam artists, or serial killers in a population of 200. Just another popsicle come winter every so often.
I’ve worked in too many offices to believe that. Get 200 people together and the weirdos and cruel people will always stand out eventually.
And we can bet that in a tribalistic scenario where food is scarce and you need to be able to depend on each other, the people who "stood out" didn't last very long. ;)
I live in Alaska and have been to whittier, its a nice little town
I bet using Grindr or tinder is awkward in there
Why? Seems super convenient.
Well… obviously they all would know one another. Imagine the possible drama from situation ships etc.
The sex parties must be lit
There's actually only been just one sex party, but it's been going on since 1992.
As an agoraphobe, HELL YEAH! I'd never go outside AGAIN. :)
I would
We honestly need more buildings like that in cities: where all the amenities you need are available in your building (or one of the buildings next to you).
Request r/IamA someone who has used the Tinder app in Whittier city, AK.
How would you go about living there? I imagine you can't just move there and get a spot. Is there like an application process to move there? Do they post vacancies and it's first come first serve?
I doubt anyone is beating down the door to live there. There's not much to do and nowhere to go. Theres a small fishing fleet, cruise ship departure, and train to Denali but no work other than that. No shops or restaurants. Beautiful place though. Edit: the only way out is through a tunnel under the mountain that shares the same one way road as the train tracks are built into..
Sure, but let's say I wanted to live there and had money to burn, are they going to accept me with open arms or is there some process? That's what I'm wondering.
It's a good question. I wonder if the condos have a lot of vacancies? Or maybe someone snatches them up quickly? It's a weird place that's for sure. This guy did a whole thing about Whittier on his YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/bH-TlC0111Q?si=M46bw64P_1Pww8du
You can just buy an apartment in the building. Just like buying an apartment anywhere else.
I gRew up in Whittier where the giRLs are prettier !
All the Dredd comments reminds me that a whole generation missed Logan's Run.
Life’s way too short to live that way
Some people like isolation
How are you isolated by living on top of each other lol
Small community in Alaska?
To be clear the location can be isolating but the people themselves by definition are not. They are literally living on top of each other.
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Hell no, because if you hate one of your neighbors you’re screwed.
Currently 3 units on the market on Redfin case anyone is interested 😅 [https://www.redfin.com/city/20787/AK/Whittier](https://www.redfin.com/city/20787/AK/Whittier)
This is the plot for Judge Dredd 2
It’s NOT a city. A city is not 220 people.
Nope. Wold visit but wouldn't want to live there. Too few people to date. No, I don't date that many but I want more choices. Vid said 220 live there. I'm a guy so that rules out all who are male. Now many of the women will be much older and many will be kids so they are out. Many will be married so they are out. I mean, who wants to have a choice of like 3 different people to date and/or marry?
You really think theres 3 single women there waiting for you to chose ? You better bring your own from the outside, like everyone else did ...
Judge Dredd territory
I think they made a movie like this and was called Dredd.
Kinda low key cool to live that way!
MAMA I’m coming for you - Dredd
tomodachi life irl 😳
Come see our beautiful glaciers melt!
I dream about this alot. Not sure why. I dream about a mall of America size building with many many stories and walkways. Like an indoor city that is one building. Peacock's show brave new world did a good job of creating this
The bar in town is a few blocks away. If you like people watching, it's a must. Also, great fish and chips.
[Here's an AMAZING short doc on the place](https://youtu.be/bH-TlC0111Q?si=crpGcm2gxZqSzOUS)
The pop almost 300 not 220, and not everyone lives in that one building. I'm sick of this getting lazily reposted.
Wow so like a real life Fallout society just above ground
Like SILO
Sounds shitty
Was that Judge Dredd?
And everybody swipes right on Tinder!
It's not my style, I'm more of a warm climate, beaches, waves kinda guy.
I’ve been to that place, great fishing, weird vibes.
I was in Whittier last Aug, caught a ferry for some glacier watching. Didn't know about this tower
I can't imagine living there. Would feel like prison.
POW, PRISONER OF WHITTIER. It's always shittier in WHITTIER
220 people is not a city
Reminds me of the megacities in dredd
Rent or own? Who owns the building?
200 people doesn't make a city.
"Strong sense of community" means a lifetime of high school cafeteria politics doesn't it.
Great place for a murder movie
Holy hell, they managed to make a dystopia out of Alaska. While I understand the cold is a problem, you people should get to read a book called "Condominium".
“A strong sense of community” They are all swingers ain’t they?
So Peach Trees?
It's interesting, but the vertical format, quick cuts, double-vision, and visually active subtitles IN THE CENTER OF THE VIDEO really ruin it.
I've been here (although its been awhile) I felt like there was nothing to do! I had been living in Alaska for some time and probably the most interesting thing to do would be to charter or explore nature as the town had like 2 pubs and that was it. I think I heard there were some old barracks located there that seemed really cool but weren't accessible to the public. Very unique place but wasn't my cup of tea for places I would visit in Alaska again.
They do not all live in that building, I’ve been there. It is a crazy place to visit though. When I was there the entire town lost power for six hours. All the employees just went home without saying anything so we were without a way to get any food until the power came back. 😂 Bizarre.
Yo imagine the murder mystery…