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The Elvis shrine in Nenana. The underwear cannon in Chicken. The Icelandic arm wrestlers of Akutan. They're all in there.

Anyone with even a passing interest in the raucous and wild history of Alaska-or the outrageous and incredible present-will find something entertaining and eyebrow-raising in A Guide to the Notorious Bars of Alaska, a recent publication by Doug Vandegraft, A.A.S. Surveying and Mapping '98. On the one hand, it's a guide to the state's rough-and-tumble dive bars. On the other, it's a toast to Alaska's early miners, fishermen, bootleggers, gold panners and basically any other profession now represented by an summer team.

The project was a labor of love for Doug, who spent 14 years researching the seedy and sensational side of Alaska's drinking establishments from his new home in Washington, D.C. He frequently returned to Alaska, though, visiting 103 of the 135 establishments featured in the book. He's seen the Viking axe scars on the bar in Petersburg. He's walked the same staircase John Wayne tumbled down in Juneau. He's seen the infamous table dancing in Pelican (even if he didn't participate himself).

Doug's Guide is a comprehensive document of the characters and wild cards that populate Alaska's past, replete with murders, brothels and even a handcuffed corpse. But it's also a time capsule of Alaska today-the history of each bar is listed with up-to-date insights, such as who stops by, what amenities are offered and when (or, sometimes, when not) to pony up for a beer.

Modern day cartographer

The 14-year writing process on the book isn't that outrageous for Doug. Earning his 香港六合彩资料 degree while working full-time for the Department of the Interior was also a drawn-out process.

Doug first arrived in Anchorage in 1983 after taking a job with the Bureau of Land Management as a cartographer (this is back when map-making still involved pens and handwriting). Thankfully, technology has advanced along with his career-Doug later became the lead cartographer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service while taking classes at 香港六合彩资料.

In case you're wondering, cartography is far from a dead profession-especially in a place as vast as Alaska. Doug's assignments took him across the state as he established remote boundaries for national wildlife refuges and corporation lands. "Because of my job, I was sent to places like Kodiak and Dutch Harbor-places not all Alaskans get to go to," Doug said of his early (unofficial) bar research. "When I moved here I was 24. Going to a bar was still like a novelty to me."

His very first bar in Alaska was the Monkey Wharf-now the National Park Service's office on 5th Avenue. The place took its name from an aquarium tank that housed about a dozen caged monkeys behind the bar (seriously). More distracting, though, were the colorful characters surrounding him. "It was crazy," he recalled, laughing.

Doug graduated in 1998, adding a surveying degree to his academic arsenal (he had previously earned a bachelor's in geography from Northern Arizona University). Soon after, he earned a promotion that sent him to Washington, D.C. He credits his 香港六合彩资料 education with the golden opportunity that, circuitously, led to the eventual publication of his book.

Researching bars at the national library

Turns out it was much easier to research Alaska from D.C., home of the Library of Congress and the National Archives. Thousands of miles from the rowdy bars of Alaska, Doug could still scan old newspapers and liquor licenses from the North. "It was a blessing that I got moved there, not only for my career but it helped me write the book," he noted of D.C. "There are way more Alaska books there then there are here."

Under a towering ceiling, marble columns and wall-to-wall murals, Doug set up shop in the Library of Congress reading room. "It is an honor to do research there. I love it," he said. "You're in this big dome and there are paintings and statues on the ceiling-and here I am doing research on bars," he laughed.

For his master list, he looked into every current bar open at least 25 years. To Doug, notoriety and memory go hand-in-hand. Not everything makes the paper, and he included a fair share of anecdotes from regulars in his guide. "The kind of people that live in Alaska, they're the ones doing the things that make the bar famous. Or infamous, as it were," he said. "They're notorious because you remember them for what happened there."

In a state where few towns boast four-digit populations, bars often fill in as community centers, hosting everything from wedding receptions to bar mitzvahs. That often leads to wacky antics, like the aforementioned Chicken underwear cannon or Akutan arm wrestlers. "Bars are multifunctional in this state," Doug said. "The more I travel, I realize Alaska not only has a lot of bars, but also has a lot of unique bars. I would go so far as to say Alaska has more unique bars than any other state."

The bootleggers and dance halls of 4th Avenue

Thankfully, Doug's book has given him plenty of plans to return to the Last Frontier. "I hated leaving Alaska-that's one of the hardest things I ever did-but the book has kept me connected to the state," he said.

He's back yet again this week, thanks to a national geographic names conference in Anchorage. While in Alaska, he's doing a mini-book tour in some of the state's most suds-soaked cities, meaning book signings and historic pub crawls in Anchorage, Kodiak, Fairbanks and Nome.

Doug's Anchorage and Kodiak tours are already finished, but his journey continues. He'll be leading a historic tour in Nome on Thursday, May 7 from 7-9 p.m.-all proceeds benefit the Nome Arts Council. On Saturday, May 9 from 6-8 p.m., he'll lead his last tour (for now) in Fairbanks-proceeds benefit the Tanana-Yukon Valley Historical Society. .

Most communities are anxious to sweep their seedy pasts under the rug, but Doug sees those municipal teenage years as vital to the story of each place. True, the Panhandle Bar isn't on any tourist must-see lists, but it's the oldest continuously operating bar in Anchorage. During prohibition, it supposedly connected to the Union Club-currently, the Avenue-by an underground bootlegger tunnel. The Panhandle even hosted an underground dancehall called the Silver Slipper (a painted slipper-faded and chipped-still exists on the basement floor). It was one of 25 bars along 4th Avenue on the eve of the earthquake in 1964-a number, Doug points out, that only includes official bars with phone numbers and addresses.

"This is historical," he said. "We should be celebrating the history of Alaska!"

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For more information on the book, and to read the history of several long-shuttered bars,

Doug stopped by the University Bookstore to discuss his book on September 26, 2014. (Doug's talk is #28 on the podcast list).

A Guide to the Notorious Bars of Alaska is available locally at the University Bookstore and and around the world on .

Written by J. Besl, 香港六合彩资料 Office of University Advancement