Located in the heart of historic Spenard, Chilkoot Charlie's first opened its doors on January 1, 1970 in what had been The Alibi Club. "Koot's," as it is affectionately called by locals, began as a neighborhood watering hole with a live piano bar. The bar was very limited in size then, occupying only the part of the building that is now the South Long Bar. Owner Mike Gordon and a partner bought the bar having convinced themselves that an Alaska-Theme bar would be successful in Anchorage. Upon purchasing The Alibi Club, Gordon promised the doubtful former owner, Skip Fuller, that he would triple the gross sales within a year. At the time, Gordon was also working at KHAR radio and NY Life Insurance Co. in Anchorage. It was at KHAR that he met Alaskan author and radio personality Ruben Gaines, and the two quickly became friends. It occurred to Gordon one day that one of Gaines characters, Chilkoot Charlie, would be an excellent icon for his new bar. It had once been suggested that the bar should be named the Humpie Bar or Chilkoot Charlie's. Gordon invited Gaines to lunch and told him the idea. The bar would get exclusive rights to the name Chilkoot Charlie, and in exchange, Gaines could sell his books, cartoons, records, etc. from the bar. Gaines thought it was a great idea, and with a hand-written contract, Chilkoot Charlie's was born. It is interesting to note that this one lunch meeting has arguably done as much to add character and flavor to Spenard and Anchorage as a whole, as any other event to date.