The Nuggets We Find If We Just Look Around
When we first moved to Anchorage in the early 70’s there was a biker bar named Chilkoot Charlie’s, or Koots as it is affectionately known. If a shooting or stabbing on a weekend night took place, it was probably in the parking lot of Koots. By the mid 80’s it had started cleaning up its reputation and it slowly turned into a place to drink and dance. One of my best friends from high school, Jeff, even worked there as a sound guy for several years. As I recall one of the biggest draws was a performer called Tommy Rocker, and he was great. The place was always packed when he was performing.
So fast forward to today. I have a date and I’m looking for something fun. So what do I do? I start surfing for any live music. I get to the Koots webpage and who’s performing tonight? Tommy frickin’ Rocker!!!! The guy was back in Alaska visiting and was performing one night only! I called Heather to see if she was game and she said she was all in.
What a great time! I danced as much as I could with my heart condition, which wasn’t much, and we people watched and enjoyed what for me were some good old times.
When Tommy was done performing Heather and I wandered around and settled into the old Bird House replica bar Koots erected. If you know, you know. Had some great conversations and lots of laughs.
At one point I was standing at the bar waiting to order drinks when I looked down. One of the Koot’s traditions is pictures under the glass so I started looking through them. What do you know, there was my old friend Jeff’s face looking back at me! The picture was at least 35 years old. I kept looking and found several more.
One of the great things about growing up in Anchorage is that so many people are still there. One of the others is that iconic places with their own niche just seem to be timeless.
Take some time to reconnect with the places and people from your past. Social media and the internet make it so much easier these days. Take your time and keep your eyes open. You never know what gold nuggets you might find along the way.
