Imperial Bar (Imperial Bar and Grill)
Juneau, Alaska · Gilded Age · Est. 1891 · Open today
Since 1891
The Imperial traces to 1891, when brothers Thomas and Oscar Ashby — who had arrived in Juneau from Missouri in 1884 — joined William Leak to build a saloon on pilings on the Juneau beachfront; it opened as Ashby and Leak and was soon renamed the Missouri, then the Louvre. J.J. Stocker opened it as the Imperial Saloon and Bar in 1914, and after Prohibition ended in 1933 he expanded the building into roughly its modern form. The bar has survived fires, shootouts, and bar fights, and at one point a brothel operated upstairs. Today it operates as the Imperial Bar and Grill on Front Street, serving locals and cruise-ship visitors beneath its original stamped-tin ceilings, and is widely cited as the oldest operating bar in Alaska.
Local legend (rumor, not confirmed) holds that Robert Stroud, the 'Birdman of Alcatraz,' once tended bar at the Imperial, and the bar hosted Juneau's final New Year's Eve party before Prohibition took effect.
What to order: Its 1890s-era interior with original stamped-tin ceilings, a long historic bar, and pool tables — now paired with Alaskan beers and burgers from the attached Imperial Grill.
How solid is the claim?
Alaska’s oldest bar — the evidence
Imperial Bar (Imperial Bar and Grill) in Juneau is our featured pick for the oldest bar in Alaska, with a claimed founding year of 1891. Widely cited — including by Alaska bar historian Douglas Vandegraft — as the oldest bar in continuous operation in Alaska, though the claim carries minor gaps: early name changes (Ashby and Leak / Missouri Saloon / Louvre before becoming the Imperial in 1914) and a Prohibition-era closure. Rival claims from Nome and Kodiak have weaker documented continuity.
Competing Claims
Other Alaska establishments with a stake in the title:
Sources
- 1. Imperial Bar and Grill — Alaska's Oldest Bar (official site, history page)
- 2. Roadtrippin' 2025: Visiting Alaska's oldest bar — Alaska's News Source (June 2025)
- 3. Rooted In Community: Imperial Bar has a long history — Juneau Independent
- 4. Sizing up Alaska's classic bars, past and present — Anchorage Daily News