This book is for anyone interested in Juneau, Alaska's seamier side. It details the life and memory of a hotel built to impress, but destined to pander to Southeast Alaska's lowest tastes. As it was inaugurated, the Alaskan Hotel was described by the papers as "a pocket version of the finest hostelry on the West Coast." The high fashion and glitz was a paltry concealment for the legal prostitution and sale of illicit substances that went on there throughout its history. The Alaskan Hotel survived the 1918 imposition of "Bone Dry" Prohibition, enacted in Alaska two years before the Volstead Act of 1920. The original owners, John and James McCloskey, decided to turn the bar into a cafe for sodas during that period, like most "speakeasies" of its time. The Alaskan Hotel was a brothel twice in her history, first legally and secondly as the rough-and-ready Northlander, which was shut down and condemned in 1977 by the Fire Marshal and the Litter Control Board. The end result is due to an extraordinary couple who bought the place and turned it into their private restoration project. Just as anyone who has passed through her wooden gates feels that the Alaskan Hotel is a place of cultural importance to our people, this book proves and cites the details of her unique role. The photo below shows the construction of our Victorian reproduction bar, as built by Micheal T. Adams in 1982; it forms an integral part hotel's restorative history.

Certain elements of the Alaskan are so well-preserved that long-time Juneau residents comment on how little the place has changed. Sizzling with real characters and life stories, "The Life and Times of the Alaskan Hotel" is a must for any bookshelf containing works of Alaskan history.