Anchorage, Alaska

The Historic Anchorage Hotel sits in downtown Anchorage as one of the city’s oldest surviving hotel properties. The original wooden Anchorage Hotel was built in 1916. An annex—what you see today at 330 E Street—was added in 1936 as Anchorage grew from a tent city into Alaska’s commercial center. The Annex and its history are recognized in the National Register of Historic Places. 

When it first opened, the Anchorage Hotel stood out as a two-story “high rise” among the tents and small wood buildings of the early town. For decades it served visiting dignitaries, railroad passengers, and early business leaders. The hotel’s guests over the years included well-known figures such as Will Rogers and Wiley Post, who stayed there shortly before their fatal 1935 crash. Artist Sydney Laurence and other prominent Alaskans also favored the hotel as a downtown anchor for civic life.

Like much of downtown Anchorage, the hotel has weathered boom times and hard years. The original hotel eventually gave way to newer buildings, and the annex changed hands and names across decades. By the late 20th century the property had fallen into disrepair, but careful restoration efforts revived the building. Today, the Historic Anchorage Hotel operates as a boutique downtown lodging that highlights its vintage character while providing modern amenities. The property remains locally promoted as Anchorage’s only “historic hotel.”

The story behind the hauntings

The hotel also embraces a well-known haunted reputation. Local lore and the hotel’s own materials connect many of the reported phenomena to the death of Anchorage’s first chief of police, John J. “Black Jack” Sturgis. On the night of February 20, 1921, Sturgis was found near the hotel with a fatal gunshot wound to his back, fired from his own weapon. The circumstances of his death remain a dark chapter in early Anchorage history and helped seed later ghost stories.

Guests and staff report a range of unexplained experiences: sudden cold spots, the smell of cigar smoke or pipe tobacco where none exists, the feeling of a uniformed presence near the entrance, pictures shifting on walls, and shower curtains swaying with no breeze. Many local ghost-tour write-ups and feature pieces list the Historic Anchorage Hotel among Anchorage’s top haunted locations.

Popular accounts and cultural mentions

The hotel’s haunted reputation has made it a fixture in travel and pop-history writing about Anchorage. It has been featured in roundups of haunted wedding venues and local “most haunted” lists, and its staff and promotional copy do not shy away from suggesting guests may experience something otherworldly during their stay. These mentions help the hotel occupy a dual role in local tourism: a functioning downtown inn and a destination for visitors drawn to Alaska’s historic (and spooky) past.

Visiting the Historic Anchorage Hotel

Today the building offers guests easy access to downtown Anchorage’s museums, the Alaska Railroad Depot, shopping, and restaurants. Travelers who are curious about local ghost lore will find the hotel comfortable to visit and willing to share its stories; the hotel itself notes that reports of unusual activity are part of the property’s long-standing identity. If you go, expect vintage charm, a central downtown location, and a good story to tell when you check out.