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| Bamboo Room, Haines, Alaska |
Not only do people have stories, so do some of the buildings. For example there is the Bamboo Room and Pioneer Bar & Grill, in Haines, Alaska. The two establishments are housed in the same building, shown below, and they serve some of the best halibut fish and chips I have ever tasted. We ate there three times this trip. Much of what is written below is taken directly from the Bamboo Room menu with a few of my own embellishments.
As the story goes, the building was built in the 1890’s and was once the Hotel DeFrance where the proprietor specialized in French food. Alaskan frontier and French food, how does that figure?
“You have a chance to make a few dollars, but Lou, do not turn tricks any more. It is ruining your health. If it did not, you would not have suffered as much when you had your teeth removed.”
Marty and Helen Tengs purchased the property in 1953 and ran it for fifty years. The dining area, which is the present day Bamboo Room, was a card room frequented by patrons of the Pioneer Bar and Liquor store. Marty insisted on good liquor and proper grammar while presiding over card games, chess matches, parties and politics. And you thought the frontier was unrefined! Marty’s poker games were a hallmark of the Pioneer during this permissive time.
In 1960, Marty rented the card room to Fran Fox to start a restaurant. Fran hung a bamboo curtain to separate the dining area from the bar and called it the Bamboo Room.
Today, Christy Tengs Fowler and her husband Bob Fowler own and operate the business. They grew their own crew: sons, Chevy and Marty. Grandma Helen lives with the family upstairs. She still does the can-can.
And, as Paul Harvey says, now you know the rest of the story.
As the story goes, the building was built in the 1890’s and was once the Hotel DeFrance where the proprietor specialized in French food. Alaskan frontier and French food, how does that figure?
In the 1930’s, then owner, Lou LaMoore, operated the place as a popular restaurant, dance hall, brothel and boot-leg joint. Lou’s Pioneer Beer Parlor traded in it’s own currency, called “Bingles.”
Below is a letter, written by one of Lou’s lovers, that was found in the attic of the building.
“You have a chance to make a few dollars, but Lou, do not turn tricks any more. It is ruining your health. If it did not, you would not have suffered as much when you had your teeth removed.”
Marty and Helen Tengs purchased the property in 1953 and ran it for fifty years. The dining area, which is the present day Bamboo Room, was a card room frequented by patrons of the Pioneer Bar and Liquor store. Marty insisted on good liquor and proper grammar while presiding over card games, chess matches, parties and politics. And you thought the frontier was unrefined! Marty’s poker games were a hallmark of the Pioneer during this permissive time.
In 1960, Marty rented the card room to Fran Fox to start a restaurant. Fran hung a bamboo curtain to separate the dining area from the bar and called it the Bamboo Room.
Today, Christy Tengs Fowler and her husband Bob Fowler own and operate the business. They grew their own crew: sons, Chevy and Marty. Grandma Helen lives with the family upstairs. She still does the can-can.
And, as Paul Harvey says, now you know the rest of the story.
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