A friend who was born and raised here was trying to find a way to sum up their hometown when asked by a tourist what it was known for … and he struggled to come up with an answer … “Anchorage is just … here?”   It’s a city that doesn’t seem to be defined by anything specifically, at least not in the same way that Chicago is known for epic hot dogs, St. Louis for its signature gooey butter cake, and Kansas City for its saucy BBQ.   I’m not sure that enough people really know about the world’s largest chocolate waterfall hiding in a quiet tourist shop behind the Anchorage airport for this to count. I did go out of my way to find the goopy looking, 20 foot waterfall on one of my tourist days in Anchorage though.

Anchorage is known for being a central transportation hub to the rest of Alaska.  It might be defined and known for the natural features that flank the city … towering mountains bordering one side, icy waters and mudflats flanking the other side, a sprawling marsh softly hugging the southern edge, and wide valleys hosting the highway stretching north.  

LGBTQ Culture in Anchorage

Being the gateway to Alaska, it feels like this city is a colder extension of the lower 48 in many ways. Anchorage is home to more than 40% of Alaskan residents, and shares space with a major military post full of transient people.  Anchorage is often a prime choice for urban dwellers coming from the lower 48 who are looking for a change in scenery but not wanting too much of shock to their comfortable lifestyle and urban amenities.   Even the warm-weather, “city-boy” I’m married to started day dreaming about making Anchorage his new home, maybe skiing the miles of manicured cross country trails to a warm coffee shop in the winter.  All of these dynamics lend to the sense that Anchorage’s small queer community is just as colorful and vibrant as any other more liberal leaning, larger cities in the lower 48. 

It’s not hard to find a drag or caberet show during any given month, or even any week during the summer. An unassuming bar and performance venue named Mad Myrna’s is the local hub for drag shows and queer community.  The famous, dazzling and earthy environmentalist drag queen, Pattie Gonia, even made her way up to Anchorage during my last stretch here to perform at different local bar and stage!   And I got to meet her at an intimate lunch workshop before the show – just insert a swoon here (and yes, I know she’s a gay man).  

Queer friendly bookstores/café combinations like the Writer’s Block also welcome all and openly showcase a huge range of LGBTQ+ books lining the floor to ceiling bookshelves of the café.

The city population here is just large enough to support a couple robust specific interest groups that are exclusively queer too, such as a queer running group I joined in on a couple times.  Wow – was I out of running shape though, and perhaps out of place in this group of mostly gay, fantastically athletic men who left me in the dust after … ohh, only 30 seconds into a five mile run up a gorgeous coastal trail.  They did find me again on their way back, as I finished shuffling through about 3.5 miles out of the 5.  The group does pride itself on welcoming queers from all walks of life, and all levels of fitness as well.  

I don’t think there are officially any queer climbing groups in Anchorage yet, but every other queer friend/acquaintance I made in Anchorage under the age of 40 seemed to be into climbing. This made the only climbing gym in town a place for familiar faces, even with my very sporadic visits here.  

And of course the Anchorage Pride Fest was impressive.   The rest of the state seems to purposefully plan its events on different weekends than Anchorage Pride, so it doesn’t conflict with people wanting to travel for the big event in Anchorage.  It’s what “outsiders” envision when they think of Pride Festivals … hundreds to thousands of attendees, an endless parade stretching through downtown blocks, a sprawling field of vendors, a stage of revolving performers.  That being said, I think I personally enjoyed the small gatherings south of Anchorage more being a small gathering person … I took in the sights and sounds of Anchorage Pride for as long as I could, then left early as my system went into sensory overload. 

Anchorage for my Fellow Nature Nerds

While I’m saying that Anchorage isn’t defined by much in terms of specific cultural quirks that it’s known for, the natural areas and landscapes around Anchorage are unlike most U.S. cities you’ll visit.  I’m running through my memories of other U.S. cities that I’ve spent time in … and really can’t think of any south of Alaska with that many parallels to Anchorage.  I mean, where else are you going to see a moose wandering through a city park?   Or belugas swimming off the shore?   Or a bear running next to the highway entrance ramp on your way back from a photo session?    Every other time I walked through a large city park that jutted out into the mudflats on the inlet, I would encounter a moose, sometimes two.   Never actually saw the belugas myself though …  and wasn’t for lack of trying! 

Park on the East side of the city, and you can start a walk up a mountain and be in a tundra environment within 10 minutes … or into a valley leading to gorgeous alpine lakes.   I took up some new friends on an invite to park at a trailhead on the edge of the city, and just take an ‘easy’ 8 mile walk into the mountains after they finished work on a Friday night.   It was August, and the sun was still up until 10PM.  On the walk out, we met a moose moseying through a wide open field as the wind rippled the long grass. We made it to our tent site just in time for the sun to light up a lake in the basin with a gorgeous, golden glow.  Then met a different moose on our way back the next day.  I’m not sure I can think of a better way to kick off a weekend.  

If you not into super ambitious hikes, there’s no shortage of connected walking/biking trails in the middle of Anchorage that turn into cross country skiing trails in the winter.   The southern edge of the city is home to boardwalks and wetlands that fill the space between the highway and the mountains, hosting an incredible array of birds.  A young transgender person I photographed chose this spot as their photo location, so I was stoked to have another excuse to birdwatch there.   Of course, that day was particularly uneventful in the local bird world, but enjoyed a couple more hours learning about the unique gender and life experiences of another human being (see social media and galleries for more stories from Anchorage dwelling Alaskans!) 

June – September 2023

Thank you for being here on this stretch of the journey with me!  To journey further north, check out Eagle River and the Matsu Valley region.