Koot’s: The Anchorage Bar That Doubles as a Museum

On a busy weekend night, Chilkoot Charlie’s is all noise, dancing and crowded bars. In her 2014 Anchorage Daily News feature, reporter Michelle Theriault Boots described another side of the place you notice in daylight: Koot’s is packed with history and collectibles, like a museum that also serves drinks.

A collection hiding in plain sight

The ADN story listed some of what you can find inside: a Soviet medal for motherhood, a life-size replica of the Sputnik satellite, a Playboy issue naming Koot’s one of America’s best bars, and a rare 17th-century Russian Orthodox cross. Elsewhere were a Berlin Wall replica with real wall fragments nearby, a wooden boat sawed in half for the patio, a guitar signed by Natalie Merchant, and keepsakes from visits by Tiny Tim and ZZ Top.

Local history shows up too. The story mentioned old newspaper clippings about Alaska’s statehood fight and oil discovery, a 1955 page from a paper called “Spenard Life,” and a wall of biographies of past bartenders.

The Russian rooms

Owner Mike Gordon studied Russian history in college and made several trips to the Soviet Union while trying to climb Mount Elbrus. He began collecting there and added to the collection over the years. By 2014 the upstairs Russian displays held hundreds of pieces, from uniforms to porcelain, and Gordon believed it could be among the largest private displays of Soviet memorabilia anywhere.

The showpiece is the Romanov Room, with sky-blue onion domes, latticed windows and a large portrait of Russia’s last imperial family. Downstairs, the Russian Room was built to look like a czar-era ballroom, complete with a recreation of a famous Peter the Great statue.

From the Bird House to an “Alaskan theme bar”

Gordon and two high school friends ran the original Bird House on the Seward Highway in the late 1960s, a bar known for walls covered in bras and business cards. In 1970 he opened Chilkoot Charlie’s, named after a character created by Alaska storyteller Ruben Gaines, because he felt Anchorage was missing a truly Alaskan bar.

Over time the bar grew into neighboring buildings. Gordon worked with Anchorage artist Joe Hamilton on new spaces such as the Swing Bar. After the original Bird House burned down, he built a replica inside Koot’s; its wood stove was the only thing saved from the fire.

Why it matters on a night out

Plenty of people visit Koot’s just to drink and dance, and that’s fine. But if you have a few minutes between rooms, look at the walls. As the ADN story put it, wandering the building can feel like touring the national museum of an imaginary “Nation of Spenard.”

Details here come from 2014 reporting, so some displays may have moved or changed. Check with the venue for current hours and which rooms are open.