There are two Girdwoods. There is the world class ski resort. The community surrounding the resort was formed when the community of Portage, at the end of Turnagain Arm, was innundated during the 1964 Alaskan Earthquake. The old Girdwood was a former supply center for the miners working the placer deposits of the streams flower out of the nine glaciers surrounding the communities. It is full of exotic and experimental "hippie" homes.