The man who's been to every old Alaska bar

Lots of people can claim to be an expert on the popular bars in Alaska. But Doug Vandegraft, A.A.S. '98, has quite literally written the book on them. A Guide to the Notorious Bars of Alaska released its third edition just a year ago and takes readers through the fascinating history of Alaska's bars, some of which have been around since the Prohibition days.

Vandegraft arrived in Anchorage in 1983 with a geography degree from Northern Arizona University and a new cartography job with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Cartography, which was still done by hand back then, took him all over the state to remote locations like Kodiak and Dutch Harbor, but his very first Alaska bar was right here in Anchorage: the Monkey Wharf.

After a few years at BLM, Vandegraft transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as their lead cartographer. It was during this time that he heard UAA offered courses for land surveying and automated mapping, so he did some research and realized it'd be pretty easy to get an associate degree.

He did a lot of surveying on campus while earning his degree, and he remembers what it was like to survey in the depths of winter. "In January, we would wear our headlamps and survey bike trails, but we could only stay out there for 45 minutes before we'd have to run inside and thaw out for a little while." He also recalls an engineering surveying class with an "incredible" professor who always asked what could be done to help him succeed. "I'm so grateful for the people who helped me. I didn't realize it at the time, but they were preparing me for my future," he says.

It took 14 years of research to publish the first edition of the Guide , and most of his research didn't even take place in Alaska. Then-chief surveyor of the USFWS, Patrick Carroll, worked with Vandegraft while he was taking classes at UAA. Carroll encouraged him to finish his degree, specifically so he could go straight into a chief cartographer position in Washington, D.C., and that's what Vandegraft did - he left for D.C. shortly after graduating.

D.C. proved to be the perfect place for researching old establishments in remote territories, especially because the Library of Congress and National Archives were readily available. When the first edition was published in 2014, Vandegraft took the opportunity to join the Alaska Historical Society, which he says has been "extremely supportive." At the Alaska Historical Society's annual conference, he gives a talk about his book and then leads a tour of the very bars he writes about. To be included in his book, the bars must be at least 25 years old - the same requirement for bands to be submitted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Vandegraft misses Alaska even though he left over 25 years ago. He worries that Alaska will continue to lose more of its historic bars and encourages socialization to support the longevity of this "endangered species." And in case you're wondering, his favorite Anchorage bar is Chilkoot Charlie's, widely known as "Koot's."