Digital Bob Archive

Jaxon's Rink was the largest auditorium in Juneau when it was built in 1913, and it had its ups-and-downs as a downtown entertainment center for three years under two owners. Perry E. Jackson, who had opened the original Grand Theater in 1910 and had moved south after selling it in 1912, returned in 1913 and acquired a piece of tidelands a short distance north of Ferry Way.

Jackson had pilings driven and on them put a structure 115 feet long and 54 feet wide with an 18-foot ceiling. The roof was supported by massive wooden trusses the width of the building so that pillars were unnecessary. A ceiling of pressed steel covered the trusses and a balcony was hung from the trusses on rods and was capable of seating 200 people in opera type chairs.

The floor was of hard maple and an area 52 by 102 feet was used, at various times, for roller skating, dancing, basketball and indoor baseball. The capacity was said to have been 250 skaters at one time. Also on the lower floor were the women's and men's rooms and the Chocolate Shop where refreshments could be purchased and from which they would be delivered to those seated on the balcony at no extra charge.

From a movie projector on the balcony pictures could be thrown on the opposite end wall during skating or dancing. The structure was said to have cost $8,000 and Jackson spent another $3,500 for a Welte Orchestrian to provide music for the skaters and dancers. This, said a news story, was equal to a full 15-piece
orchestra and had 300 pipes measuring from one inch to eight feet. With it came 25 music rolls, each containing five melodies including dance music, marches \"and other favorites.\"

Because the rink was some distance off what is now South Franklin Street, it was reached by a long, narrow corridor. It opened on August 22, 1913, with the Juneau High School Band playing and a reported 700 paid admissions.

An earlier roller rink in the back of a saloon had long since closed and Jaxon's Rink was very popular when it first opened. For a time the admission charge was 50 cents for men, 25 cents for women and 10 cents for anyone who merely wished to sit on the balcony and watch the skating or dancing and the movie. For dances, men paid 25 cents and women were admitted free. Alternatively, there were dance tickets for the men at 10 cents each or three for a quarter.

Skating on Monday nights was reserved for Natives only, but anyone could sit on the balcony. That may have meant that Natives were excluded on other nights.
The movies usually consisted of three or four reels - no titles were advertised - and were changed three times a week.

By August 1914, when Jaxon's Rink had been in business for a year, its popularity had so declined that it was open only three nights each week. A couple of months later Jackson sold the place to the newly organized Alaska Amusement Co. and left Juneau with his family. Before long he had a position with the Panama Pacific Exposition at San Francisco, but he was due to return to Juneau to open one more movie house.