Lots of memories in that photo...I lived there! I lived in one of Paul Herveat's apartments over Surplus Outlet and the Sherwin Williams paint store, which would be the building at the very left-hand edge of the photo. In fact, I still have daily memories of that time. Herveat was known for being cheap and not keeping much pressure in the boiler, so very little heat made it up to the apartments on the second floor. My apartment was at the back of the building and overlooked the Portage. When the winter winds whipped down the canal, it got blue-fingernail cold.
The apartment had an extra-long (5.5 ft), cast iron, lion's paw bathtub. If that tub could talk, I'd be in big trouble! The bathroom was a sizeable 8' x 12', and because it had a radiator but no exterior windows, it was the warmest room in the place. I think my friends and I did everything but eat there. I remember a couple good parties! Lined with floor pillows, the tub would comfortably seat three.
I left Tech for a year to recover from brain overload, and after my return, I moved back into the same apartment building. Herveat sold the building, and and the new owners decided to do a bit of remodeling, starting with the bathroom of my old apartment. The cast iron tub sat in the hallway for a week, so I asked the landlord what he was going to do with it. He told me if I wanted it, to haul it away and it was mine. I immediately called a couple friends, and we put the tub into the back of my F150, where it provided traction weight for the winter. Everybody joked about "Lisa and her bathtub-drive truck!"
That spring, I took the tub home, and it got stored upside down, on a pallet behind a shed, in my mom's yard in Wisconsin, for the next 20 years. Fast forward to 2003, when I had a bunch of my grandparents' furniture shipped up to me here in Alaska. My mom wanted the space back, so she drove that tub down to Illinois, where it got added to the shipment going north. When I got running water in 2004 (which was a big deal after 15 years in a dry cabin about five miles outside Fairbanks), that bathtub was one of the first things that got hooked up. I may be thousands of miles away, but I think of Houghton and Tech every day when I look at my antique bathtub.
Other memories I have from that photo:
*Lakeview Lounge is where I learned to play Pong, the only video game I've ever been good at!. The Lakeview is also where the rock band Head East went for a drink after they did a concert in the ice arena. When the bar closed, a friend brought most of the band and their road crew over to my place because it was only half a block away and he knew I wouldn't mind. The party continued until morning.
*I bought a large basket-style clothes hamper real cheap at Newberry's going-out-of-business sale. I cut out the bottom, attached suspenders to the top so I could wear it, turned the lid into a hat, and dressed up as a Basket Case for Halloween that year. Lots of fun, but not so good when it came time to get rid of used beer.
*I see the parking deck is there, but I don't see the Golden Arches. When the McDonalds first opened, folks were very confused about needing to go onto the parking deck in order to get to the drive-thru. McDonalds later put up a small Golden Arches sign at the entrance of the deck indicating the way to the drive-up window.