Retrospect: The Q, part 0

Self-tutoring about people and events from the past: the tutor mentions a fixture at a base he lived on.

The Q was a residence – the only one for nonmarried personnel that I know of – at an American base I lived on in the early to mid 80s.

That base was at an isolated location, on purpose. About 1100 people lived on it, yet the Q might have been around 13 storeys – it was the highest building for many miles. In fact, you might have had to go as far as St John’s, about 70km away, to find another building as high.

The reason for the strangeness of the Q’s height is that land was very affordable in that region of Newfoundland at that time. (I don’t imagine much has changed, in that way.) Therefore, there was, in theory, no need to build a high tower. The US Navy had the resources to do so, of course. Why they chose to, I don’t know, but that’s what they did. So there stood the Q, 13 floors, in an area where more than two floors was rare. The Q was an impressive sight, day or night.

An interesting aspect of the Q came from its being on a naval base. Although on land, since it was a US Navy base, it was conceived as a ship at sea. Therefore, the base had a Captain, for instance. Moreover, the Q had a “quarter deck” – a front desk occupied by someone 24 hours. Any time, day or night, you could walk into the Q and someone would be there, ready to give change for the vending machines or whatever. It was an interesting situation, given that locally, in such a small, isolated place, 24-hour presence wasn’t common.

The Q had a convenience store as well, which included, I think, movie rental. We never rented movies there, but I recall you could. It was a very small store, so its walls were jammed with shelves and you had to walk around numerous free-standing displays.

A couple of times I visited people who lived there – you had to sign in and out. It was a busy place, the Q was – you’d see people in the halls, coming and going. The base had three shifts, and ran 24 hours a day, so people came and went at any hour.

The Q would have seemed much taller than it even did, except that it was nestled beside a hill whose height actually rivaled it. Known as “suicide hill,” it had a steep path that pedestrians navigated down to the Q’s entrance. Situated on top of the hill were houses of base families, whose occupants would go to the Q’s store, for instance. The Q had a video arcade as well – many nights I would meet a couple of friends and we’d walk down Suicide Hill to the Q. I don’t, by the way, believe any suicides happened on Suicide Hill. Moreover, although its path was steep, it went straight up the plane of the hill, so you couldn’t “fall off” the path. My understanding was that it would be “suicide” to try to run down the path at night, since it was steep and rocky. You wouldn’t die, but you’d likely get pretty well banged up. (Yet, believe it or not, some people purposely played that game.)

On an American base, security is a big issue. Some places are surrounded by wire fencing, but still others you come to understand you’re simply meant not to go. I think I wondered what, if anything, was behind the Q, but never walked around it. I regret that now, since I’m left wondering.

I heard the Q no longer stands, although parts of the base are still used in private enterprise now. I’ve seen recent pictures – you could return there and see where the Q was, and perhaps guess at anything that might have been around it, decades ago.