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Pype
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The 1964 Earthquake: An Investigation into Scientific Inquiry, Restoration, and “Breakup”
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Yvette Pype
If I were to ask anyone who has been in Alaska for an extended period of time about “The Earthquake,” they would probably realize that I was referencing the 9.2 quake that struck Alaska on Good Friday, 1964. The Earthquake destroyed and damaged infrastructure across Alaska and took the lives of 115 (Barry 2010). My research looks at one small part of this impactful event: a photograph of a cardboard sign, which was attached to a building in Anchorage.
For my project I analyzed a sign that was posted on the front of Mac’s Foto Shop—a business in Anchorage, Alaska—following the 1964 Earthquake. Mac’s Foto was originally located on Fourth Avenue. However, that section of town was badly damaged during the Earthquake in what has become known as the “Fourth Avenue Slide” (Urban Regional Research 1995). The Slide impacted First Avenue through Fourth Avenue and lowered the elevation of that area (Stark & Contreras 1998). Because of the “Fourth Avenue Slide” Mac’s Foto Shop relocated to a new location on Seventh Avenue and C Street. In order to let their customers know that they were open, Mac’s posted the following, “Mac’s Foto. Business as usual (more or less) in spite of early breakup!” (“Bob Pendleton Slides”).
Historically, this sign demonstrates a resiliency on the part of the people of Anchorage. Very few individuals who owned property in Anchorage at the time—including business owners—had earthquake insurance; however, people still repaired or rebuilt regardless of insurance coverage (Barry 2010). Nevertheless, I was not interested in this particular piece of history solely because of its historical value; the use of humor in the sign sheds a little light on the English language in Alaska.
The writers of the Mac’s Foto sign used a pun off of the term breakup to announce the new location of the store. Now, the term breakup in this instance is not referencing the end of a romantic relationship. In Alaska, breakup often refers to the time of year where the sea ice begins to break apart. Anchorage experiences a version of breakup; you can tell when the it has arrived because the snow melts and everything is a soggy mess. The Mac’s Foto sign uses the season of breakup to make a pun off the fact that the ground literally broke apart during the earthquake.
In order for a pun to be understood, the reader needs to recognize multiple meanings of a term. In this case, the reader would need to know the implication of breakup as both the ground cracking as well as the season of the year. The sign shows that this Alaskan understanding was alive and well in Anchorage in the year 1964.
The 1964 Earthquake happened in relatively recent history and is still very much an event that is on the mind of people in the Anchorage area. Likewise, breakup as a season is still with us all these years later.
Works Cited
Barry, M.J. (2010). A day of disaster: The Great Alaska Earthquake of March 27, 1964.
Naples, FL: Whitehall Printing Company. Bob Pendleton slides, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of
Alaska, Anchorage.
Stark, T.D. & Contreras, I.A. (1998). Fourth Avenue landslide during 1964 Alaskan earthquake.
Journal of Geotechnical & Geoenvironmental Engineering. 124(2). 99. Urban Regional Research (1995). Configuration of vulnerability:
Reconstruction to the present Anchorage bowl 1964-1994. Seattle, WA.: Urban Regional Research.