Elbow Room closed its doors
“Deadliest Catch” fans came to know this hot spot in Unalaska, AK, as the bar where the “Deadliest Catch” skippers gathered around a round table (season 3) and placed the now famous bet as to who would bring in the first 100,000 pounds of crab in the least number of pots. It was called Latitudes. But long before that it was the infamous Elbow Room, a place that was known from coast to coast as the rowdiest bar in the U.S. There’s plenty of stories about it, it was written about in novels, it has it’s own website, and I imagine it will be talked about for several generations. I’ve never been there, but I wonder how many fishermen feel like they’ve lost an old friend. Listen to this audio file as Charles Homans bids farewell to the famous watering hole…
On Sunday, residents of Unalaska/Dutch Harbor bid farewell to one of the most notorious drinking establishments in modern Alaskan history. It used to be called the Elbow Room, a bar that was synonymous with the high-rolling, often violent culture of Bering Sea crab fishing in the late 70s and early 80s. It was renamed Latitudes in its final years, and remained a local institution until it closed once and for all this weekend. KIAL’s Charles Homans stopped by for the bar’s last hurrah on Saturday night, and filed this story.
Patrons pack the dance floor at Latitudes one last time on Saturday, November 3. The bar closed its doors once and for all the following day. Photo courtesy of Charles Homans/KIAL News
Filed under: Dutch Harbor, Unalaska | Tagged: Alaska, bars, The Elbow Room, Unalaska
Latitudes was just a block or two down the street . . . I hardly ever went there but I liked the idea that it was there and I’m sorry it closed. The last night was a fun time . . . .
I was sad to hear this. I actually feature that bar in the sequel to my book. Too bad it’s not there anymore.
I’ll miss the stories.
If I remember correctly, I think Sig Hansen mentioned he lost his ” innocence ” at that bar during one of the After The Catch shows. Does anyone else remember that? I wonder how many others went through such lifetime milestones in there? I can’t wait to read how Jen incorporates it in her sequel ! So sorry to hear it is gone!!!
Oh nothing like Sig’s story. But it isn’t finished yet. Want something involving a bar stool Cris? LOL.
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I,m sorry to hear it closed I would have loved to have gone there someday. Steve are they thinking of opening up another tavern/bar in it’s place in the future.
Hey, I got kicked out of that bar! Probably in 1994 or around there. It had tamed quite a bit by then and one of the Norwegians tried to grab a waitress. Unusual behavior for a fisherman, don’t you think?!
if the building of the old elbowroom is still there
why not make a musiem out of it and use the proceeds for the people there that need help except
for three years in the early fifties i was raised in
se alasks even then there where people that needed
help of some sort lots of tourest would like to see
it as it was i would bet a lot of them would pay $5.00
to see it
Dam, back in the day you either the Unisea Inn or the Elbow Room to drink at. And, if you were on the Dutch side of the island you had to take a water taxi across to Unalaska or jump in a skiff; then you had to worry about falling into the water getting in or out of the skiff. Dutch Harbor will never be the same.
Unalaska school class of 79-80
I was a bartender in Tommy’s ElbowRoom in Fairbanks, in the late 80’s and early 90’s. I believe during a native convention was the reason but a man named Pete. A very nice talkable native man named Pete came to me with a trash bag full of ElbowRoom t shirts and Sweatshirts. He said that is the view from the window. I had to leave AK in 93 due to health but wore that sweatshirt until it fell apart. Can’t afford another one because I am disabled but always wondered what happened to good old Pete. I never got to visit him there. If anyone knows the man who delivered the goodies to the ElbowRoom (Pete) tell him Ralph the bartender says hello and hello to all my old Alaskan friends. I miss the people most!!