Open & Shut: West Berlin ends its run, and Anchorage gets a smash-style burger spot, a smokehouse and a sewing shop

Open & Shut is an ongoing series looking at the comings and goings of businesses in Southcentral Alaska. If you know of a business opening or closing in the area, send a note to reporter Alex DeMarban at [email protected] with “Open & Shut” in the subject line.

SHUT

West Berlin: This German restaurant in Mountain View is closing on New Year’s Eve after 11 years, following the death of founder Bill Ho’Opai after a heart attack. He was 72.

Uncle Bill, as many called him, opened the restaurant to share his love for German food, family said. He discovered that love while serving in Germany in the U.S. Air Force before moving to Alaska in the 1980s.

The restaurant was his primary focus in recent years and he wanted it closed when he passed, they said.

Ho’Opai and his sister Charlene Goeas, who are Native Hawaiians, also founded Hula Hands in Mountain View a quarter-century ago. The Hawaiian restaurants, including the one on Fireweed Lane, will continue operating under normal hours, Goeas said.

The restaurants made Ho’Opai a beloved figure in Mountain View. His passing drew an outpouring of tributes on social media.

“A hui hou uncle Bill,” one person wrote on Facebook, “until we meet again” in Hawaiian.

“Rip my friend your loco moko is legendary,” another wrote.

Ho’Opai was a neighborhood hero who brought jobs and investment to Mountain View, the Anchorage Community Land Trust said on Facebook.

Hula Hands opened in 2000 when Mountain View Drive was an often-empty commercial corridor, the post said.

In 2014, Ho’Opai opened West Berlin in a partnership with the trust, which owns the building.

West Berlin further transformed Mountain View, the post said.

“Bill proved to the community that you can launch and run a successful business in Mountain View,” said Emily Cohn, who is with the trust and wrote the post. “Because of that he’s been a role model to many other business owners here.”

The restaurant was especially known for Ho’Opai’s homemade rahmschnitzel, made with paprika cream sauce, plus German beers and soft pretzels made from scratch.

But another side of West Berlin came from Ho’Opai’s generosity, family said.

“Uncle Bill” often hired people who needed second chances in life, they said. He let some of employees stay in his home in Mountain View until they could get on their feet, Cohn said.

He was also a big supporter of the German charter school in Anchorage, the Mountain View Community Council and other groups, often donating money and food for events, they said.

“He sponsored football teams, race cars, volleyball kids,” parent-teacher associations and other efforts, said Corinna Kanaina, his niece and manager of the restaurants.

“He looked forward to each year putting on the Oktoberfest in his restaurant,” Kanaina said. “I know that that is going to be a huge miss for everyone in the school.”

Ho’Opai never stopped working, family said. He recently made plans to open another German restaurant.

“He was very ambitious and his mind was always going,” Goeas said.

A memorial for Ho’Opai is planned for Jan. 23 at Muldoon Community Assembly church, Kanaina said. The West Berlin and Hula Hands Facebook pages will provide more details about the service soon, she said.

Rage City Vintage: This seller of secondhand vintage items and art closed in Spenard on Christmas Eve.

The economy has tightened in the last year, and people seem to be spending less, contributing to fewer sales, said co-owner Mackenzie Tubbs.

Tubbs and Emma Hill opened Rage City Vintage three years ago, selling merchandise from artists, crafters and collectors on consignment.

The shop sold items from more than 200 vendors, according to Alaska Public Media.

It also hosted community events like dance parties, art shows, open mic nights and musicians, and promoted other activities in the neighborhood.

Spenard Song Circle, a nonprofit entity owned by Tubbs and Hill that organized many of those activities, will continue to hold events at venues throughout Anchorage, Tubbs said.

The shop brought people together, said Courtney Griechen, a regular at Rage City and a musician and artist who sold her work there.

Griechen said Rage City provided an important social outlet for her, after growing up in a small town in Southwest Alaska.

“It’s really a community gathering place,” she said last week as customers snatched up T-shirts, hoodies, jewelry and other items in the closeout sale.

The closure is a loss for Spenard too, she said.

“It’s sad,” she said.

OPEN

City Boy Burgers: Blair Hicks started making smash burgers last year on a small electric griddle he bought from Walmart, his three boys serving as food critics.

”Kids are super honest, so they’re the perfect people to test it on,“ said Hicks. ”So I told them to keep critiquing them until they felt like they were wild.”

Hicks and the boys, ages 5 to 16, apparently found the right formula.

City Boy Burgers took off after getting a humble start last year at the Sunday O’Malley farmers market.

Strong reviews rolled in. After a run as a weekend food vendor at Williwaw Social, City Boy Burgers opened in its own digs last month in Mountain View.

“From day one, it’s been a smash hit,” Hicks said.

Lines have formed out the door since Hicks opened the spot, he said. It’s where Spinz Pollo a la Brasa operated, in the business center at 3024 Mountain View Drive, near McDonald’s.

Customers are devouring the signature burgers with house sauce, caramelized onions and cheese on a brioche bun, he said. They like the Jalapeño Boy burgers, the patty melts, the chicken wings and fries too, he said.

That’s pretty much the whole menu, which doesn’t exist online yet.

Last Thursday, nine customers spilled in for the dinnertime opening. They’d waited outside in idling vehicles, in near-zero temperatures.

Robert May arrived 30 minutes early. “My friend said it’s great, so I thought I’d come down and try it,” he said.

Nick Kraska came to buy double-patty signature burgers because they’re “so good,” he said.

“This place is always slammed,” he said from the line.

Hicks said everything is made to order, a key attraction.

“We don’t have no pre-cooked patties,” he said. “We don’t have a fry warmer to keep the fries warm. So everything is fresh off the grill, fresh off the fryer.”

Hicks, 38, has worked in restaurants since his teenage years.

He said he’s surprised how fast City Boy has grown. The start at the farmers market was key, he said.

“I’m just super thankful for this community,” he said. “Without their love and support and positive feedback, we wouldn’t be open.”

City Boy Burgers is closed Sunday and Monday.

It opens at 5 p.m. otherwise, giving Hicks and employees time to fetch their kids from school.

It closes at 11 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, and at 3 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays to serve late-night crowds.

Winter Solstice Sewing and Crafts: Marnie Kaler opened this shop to fill the gap for sewers after crafting chain store Joann shut down earlier this year.

Winter Solstice Sewing and Crafts sells an array of garment fabrics, yarn, quilting cottons and notions like fabric scissors and rotary cutters.

Fabrics include satin or taffeta for gowns and other fancy items, and weatherproof materials like Polartec for outdoor gear.

She also sells sashiko patterns for decorations or repairs, plus craft supplies that include materials for making Ukrainian eggs or block printing to jazz up material.

Kaler, a “serial crafter” who worked in higher education, had long dreamed of opening her own sewing and craft store.

When Joann closed, friends urged her to act.

“I had been saying for years that I could do it better than Joann’s. Famous last words,” she said, laughing.

It’s a tough time to start a sewing shop, Kaler said.

The demise of Joann, an industry giant, forced some suppliers out of business, she said. Shifting tariffs made planning difficult, too, since it’s hard to know what some fabrics will cost.

Still, the crafting industry is growing for small stores like hers, Kaler said. That’s partly because crafters need to touch and feel their material instead of buying it online.

There’s also demand for sewing skills, following cuts to home economic courses in schools.

“A lot of people want to know how to sew, but they just never had the opportunity to learn,” she said.

Kaler said she’s hired knowledgeable employees who can find the right garment fabric for an outfit or give guidance on challenging materials like satin.

She’s big on supporting the crafting community, too.

The shop has held classes for making things like bowl cozies, tote bags and silk-tie purses. Students bring in their sewing machines or rent them from the store.

Winter Solstice also started a garment school of sewing so people can learn skills like adding sleeves to shirts or sewing darts to create contours in apparel, she said.

Winter Solstice Sewing is located on the second floor of the building at 400 W. Potter Drive, west of C Street, formerly Eastside Carpet.

It’s open daily from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Arctic Smokehouse BBQ: Bill Martin opened this BBQ joint to share recipes he learned growing up in Texas and Georgia.

Arctic Smokehouse, in the Boniface Plaza south of the Glenn Highway, sells smoked prime brisket, pulled pork, ribs, chicken wings, turkey, chicken, sausages and other dishes.

Sides include cowboy beans, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, cheese grits, potato salad, jalapeño-cheese cornbread muffins, a full salad bar and house sauces.

Most items are smoked, Martin said. Every dish requires lots of preparation.

“Everything we do is from scratch,” made with fresh ingredients, he said. “My goal is to be the best at this, to provide the best food I can provide.”

Post oak wood is shipped from central Texas to add flavor in high-tech smoking ovens. Chicken wings are smoked, then placed in a special “air fryer on steroids.” Shoestring fries, dill-pickle chips and okra are also air fried.

“We eliminated all of the grease fryers, so we have no deep fat fryers,” he said. “It’s a healthier way to make it.”

Pork bellies and other meats are cooked in a large convection rotisserie. Butter beans, butter peas and acre peas are picked on Georgia farms and fresh-frozen before they’re flown up, he said.

Desserts include cakes, bread pudding with praline sauce, peach and apple cobblers, and banana pudding. Beverages include Southern sweet teas and soft drinks.

Martin runs a construction firm that builds FedEx facilities across the U.S.

But he’s wanted to open a barbecue joint his whole life, after learning the recipes from his late grandmothers in Texas and Georgia.

“I’m from the South where people have a lot of social gatherings,” he said. “They’ll have a lot of fish fries and that sort of thing. So that’s how I was raised, and everybody’s a five-star chef.”

Arctic Smokehouse is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday to Monday. It is closed for the holidays until Jan. 5.

It’s located at 360 Boniface Parkway, formerly home to That Wing Place, in Suite B12.

Chugach Mountain Roasters: This coffee shop, using beans from ethical farms, opened its second Anchorage spot last month.

It’s also planning a third location in a multi-shop retail market that’s set to soon open in East Anchorage.

The new Chugach Mountain Roasters is located in the lobby of the CIRI building, at Fireweed Lane and the Seward Highway.

The shop features the same coffee as the original spot in Spenard, but with more quick-grab meals like sandwiches and salads, said Lyle Kass, the owner along with his wife, Kerry McCourt.

It’s open Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The third Chugach Mountain Roasters is set to open in February at Boniface Parkway and Northern Lights Boulevard, he said.

The coffee shop will be part of a market that will include the first storefront for the El Green-Go’s food truck that serves Mexican-inspired dishes, he said.

Catalyst Cannabis Co. is organizing the project, which will feature seating for more than 60 people, said Catalyst founder Will Schneider. Catalyst is already operating there, at 5305 E. Northern Lights Blvd., in a former First National Bank Alaska location.

Kass said the market will be an attractive gathering spot for the east side of town, where Kass and McCourt live with their twin kids.

The area needs a relaxing hangout where people can get food or coffee, instead of having to drive 15 minutes to, say, a Midtown brewery or a downtown restaurant, he said.

Kass said he’s comfortable with Chugach Mountain Roasters’ rapid growth.

“We want to help create a city that has the amenities and feel of a place where people want to live,” he said.

The couple launched the business in Girdwood during the pandemic, delivering roasted beans to front doors and through the mail.

This year has been challenging with high tariffs on coffee beans, according to Kass. That followed weather problems that hurt Brazilian and Colombian coffee growers, damaging supply chains, he said.

Chugach Mountain has had to raise some of its prices, but the coffee remains a good value because it’s high-quality, he said.

A welcoming atmosphere has also helped with sales, Kass said.

“We make sure we ask people how their day is going so we can create those connections, because we’re all really just neighbors in this city, and everyone knows everyone,” he said.