Digital Bob Archive

Juneau may or may not have needed more hotels at the start of the 1913-1914 building boom, but whether needed or not four new ones were built and there were plans for a fifth that was finally built but on a smaller scale than had been planned.

The four were the Alaskan, The Cain which later became the Gastineau, the Bergmann, and the New Cain which became the Zynda and then the Juneau. The first of these was the Alaskan. It was erected by four local men, Charles Hooker, Jules B. Caro and brothers John and James McCloskey on the site of the old Cohen brewery. The unfurnished building was then leased to P.L. Gemmett and Frank McCoy who formed the Alaskan Hotel Company and bought the necessary furnishings. The hotel had 46 rooms, 14 with private bath, and a grill which was to be operated by A.T. Spatz, a well-known Juneau restaurant man. The name of the hotel was displayed on its roof by a lighted sign that could, in the days before the rock dump, be seen far down the channel. A wireless outfit was also installed to communicate with incoming steamboats to learn times of arrival and departure. This information was a convenience to the traveling public.

There was a gala opening, with the Juneau High School band playing, on September 16, 1913.

Gemmett wanted a hotel of his own and to that end he purchased a 100x100 foot lot from the Pacific Coast Company, on South Franklin Street opposite the City Dock. He had plans drawn for a 90x90 foot hotel building, three stories and a basement. The basement was to have a swimming pool, a billiard room and club rooms. There were to be several store spaces and the lobby on the main floor, and the other two floors would be rooms. \"It would,\" Gemmett announced, \"be a workingmen's hotel.\"

But his plans did not go well. Land titles in that area were a great jumble; E.
Torgerson contested the sale of the land to Gemmett and the upshot was that he wound up with only half of it, 50x100 feet. By the time that was settled, Gemmett and McCoy were not getting along, and Gemmett had to arrange to buy out his partner for $21,000. That cut deeply into the capital he had for building the new hotel.

As a result, in the spring of 1914 Gemmett leased the land to A.M. Goodman who put up a much smaller building than had been planned originally, and without the swimming pool. This was named the Scandanavlan Rooms, perhaps because it was next door to the Scandinavian Grocery, opened a year earlier. Originally there was some shop space on the lower floor; a tailor was listed as one tenant and a barber as another. Some years later the Crystal Baths were added. The building had a succession of owners and became The Summit several years ago. It is now known as the Inn on the Waterfront and Summit Restaurant.

As for P.L. Gemmett, his dream of owning his own hotel having faded, he gave up the lease on the Alaskan Hotel, sold the furnishings, and moved on to try elsewhere.