KING KO INN

king salmon, Alaska

"You can't just let nature runwild" - former Alaska Governor Walter Hickel

News From The King Ko

King Ko Is Location For New Romantic Adventure Series

Author Monica McCabe is writing a new romantic adventure series about Alaska. The first six installments of this series are based upon the author's experiences while working at the King Ko during the mid-eighties. These installments are now available on the internet. The first five, entitled "King Salmon, Alaska", "The Flying Tigers", "Tundra, Whales & Beavers, Oh My", "King Ko Vice" and "Wild Alaska" may be found on the Music City Romance Writers website while the final King Salmon installment, "Last Call At The King Ko Inn" can be found on the author's own website. This marks the first time that the words "romantic" and "King Ko" have every appeared together in the same sentence. While we cannot confirm (nor deny) the accuracy of Ms. McCabe's stories - we do agree with her descriptions of the unmatched beauty and excitement of Alaska. Her tales are all part of the mystique of doing business for over 50 years in the Alaska bush. We are honored that she chose to retell her experiences while working at the King Ko - albeit 23 years after the fact. Unlike Las Vegas, what happens at the King Ko does eventually get retold - but only in the form of legend with names withheld to protect the . . . participants.

Say What ??

Now that the Presidential primary season is under full swing, we are continually amazed at the incomprehensible rhetoric that is spewed by the top candidates on a daily basis. In honor of all our major candidates, regardless of their sex, race or lineage, we reprint a political statement made by one of last year's Miss Teen USA contestants. When asked the question, "recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?”, the young lady from South Carolina responded as follows:

“I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because uh some people out there in our nation don’t have maps and uh I believe that our, I, education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq, everywhere like such as and I believe that they should, our education over here in the US should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for us.”

Spoken like a lifelong politician! To watch the original rendition of these memorable words, use the controls below:

No, We Are Not Being Sexist - Here's Proof!!

Please don't acuse us of being blatantly sexist (or anti-blonde) in the above article. We're serious in our admiration of Miss South Carolina and our analogy to national politicians. Miss South Carolina may have a future in politics after listening to the following discourse on important national topics:

A Call For All Beatles Photos

Many visitors to our site refuse to believe that the Beatles actually made their U.S. concert debut in King Salmon at the King Ko (then known as the Skytel) on February 6, 1964 as stated on our History page. While we have even attached a copy of the original concert poster for the event, many visitors have demanded further proof. If anyone happens to have a photo of the Beatles while they were visiting King Salmon in 1964, we would sure like to have a copy of the picture to post on our website. Ideally, the picture will be of the group performing at the Skytel (remember it was 1964 - the Skytel had not yet been remodeled and renamed the King Ko), but even if it just places them in Naknek/King Salmon we may get the naysayers to change their tune. Just email us your pictures at alaska@kingko.com and we will get them promptly posted. Your creativity will be appreciated. For your reference, we have attached a picture of the Skytel, circa 1950, and the Alaska Peninsula Highway sign in Naknek from back then. As you may recall, we took the Beatles on an afternoon tour of Naknek shortly after they arrived in King Salmon and, during that tour, they visited with Grace Slick at her home in Naknek.

The Polo Pony Confession

It's been about ten years since we first included a picture of a polo competition on our Tour page. The picture is captioned "Polo on our newly seeded field." This picture gained notoriety several years ago when a guest from a nearby hotel dropped by to visit our polo facilities and take in a match. She said that she was visiting from Texas. A couple of years later, another lady - also from Texas - dropped by for the same purpose.

Over the years we have received numerous employment applications from "cowhands" who hoped to take care of our polo ponies while working in Alaska. These applicants were usually from either Montana or Wyoming. Their inquiries were generally treated lightly by our staff - an inside joke that not everyone gets. Then came a call from our insurance company last spring. They were auditing our account and had begun cross-checking our insurance application against our website. They noted that our application had not disclosed that we were holding polo matches on our grounds and that we had failed to disclose a horse barn on our premises. They questioned whether they could continue to insure us in light of our failure to disclose such significant risks. At that point, we realized that our "little joke" could become a big problem. We later learned that the story of our polo ponies had circulated at a national insurance convention in NYC last summer. It seems that the insurance auditor was rather embarassed by the experience.

FOR THE RECORD (this is the confession part), the polo picture that appears on our Tour page is meant to be a joke. King Salmon is located at the north end of the Aleutian Islands - in tundra. It is great grazing land for caribou and moose. Lichens and berries are plentiful. It is not desirable land, however, for raising or maintaining polo ponies. Indeed, the nearest polo pony to King Salmon is probably located somewhere in British Columbia or south of there - more than 3,000 miles away. Please do not plan your summer trip to Alaska around watching or participating in a polo match at the King Ko Inn. You may be the only spectator or participant, you may end up on the back of a caribou instead of a polo pony, and you will be uninsured while doing it. Having said all this, we expect to get at least three more "horse handler" resumes for the coming season. We will post the resumes for your enjoyment when they come in. We sincerely hope that this confession does not undermine the trust that you previously placed in the King Ko Inn. We feel better now.

King Ko's Stables Now Recognized In WhitePages.com

Okay. Enough's enough. We have begun to receive telephone calls on our Anchorage office line regarding our horse stable and riding rates. It seems that WhitePages.com is now listing Arcadia Corporation (the parent company of the King Ko Inn) as one of 17 recognized riding stables in Alaska. Only one problem (actually two if you count the fact that we do not own any horses): The map provided with our listing locates us in Anchorage - right across the street from the Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery.

Unfortunately, we have not yet received any customer ratings in connection with our new listing. Hopefully, some of our "former customers" will take the time to log on and say something nice about our operation. You might even add a brief description of your midnight ride among the headstones or some other bizarre ride we took you on. Just a thought. We might as well make our new listing worth reading.

Just Call 866-234-DISH

For the last 20 years or so, we have offered a toll-free reservations line to our customers. Just dial 866-234-FISH (i.e. 866-234-3474) to speak to us. Unfortunately, last summer the traffic on this line suddenly became so heavy that many of our customers had trouble getting through. During this abnormal rush, the bulk of the callers we spoke to had southern accents and were looking to speak to a Dish Network representative. It seems that some Atlanta-area marketing genius produced several TV ads and designed a new paint scheme for all local Dish Network trucks, encouraging people to call 866-234-DISH (i.e. 866-234-3474) - rather than 888-234-DISH - for information on or to purchase Dish Network service. Our complaints to Dish Network initially fell on deaf ears. Later, however, we finally got their attention by offering the "Dish Network Escort Service" to every unsuspecting caller rather than telling them that they had reached a wrong number. We now understand that all of the incorrect TV ads have been pulled and all of the Dish Network trucks have been repainted. It has been some time now since we have had the opportunity to pitch our escort service to an unsuspecting caller. Our toll-free number is again available to our customers. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

Thanks To Alice McPhee !

Alice McPhee recently wrote to us from her home in Port Townsend, Washington, and enclosed a picture of the Beatles performing at the King Ko (then known as the Skytel) in February of 1964. She wrote:

"I was hired back in the 60's by the BIA to evaluate educational opportunities found in Native villages located on the Alaskan Aleutian chain. We ran into foul weather just outside of Anchorage as I began my first flight to the Aleutians. By the time we got to King Salmon, the weather was bad and my trip was stalled for two days while we waited for the weather to improve. There was nowhere to stay in King Salmon other than the Skytel - a tar paper old building with a restaurant at one end and a single room barracks at the other. Having previously retired from the Snowhomish School District, these accommodations were rather rustic for me to experience. I figured I would just cover up in my bunk bed at night and hope that my "roommates" did not realize that there was a woman sleeping in the same room. I left the Skytel that first evening to walk around King Salmon and, when I returned, the barracks had been turned upside down. The bunkbeds were all pushed to one corner and a makeshift stage had been fashioned out of old pallets in another corner. The local residents had gathered to watch four strange kids from Liverpool perform on the makeshift stage. To my amazement, these were the same four lads who would appear on the Ed Sullivan Show a couple of days later. Little did I know that, while visiting the Aleutians, I would be introduced to what soon would be the hottest act in America. I remember that there was a barracks full of [tipsy] patrons in the Skytel - the Skytel had no bar but the visitors all appeared to be drinking something in paper cups - all demanding that the band play requests such as 'Puff, The Magic Dragon' instead of 'that British s___.' Thirty-three years later, I look back at that evening as probably the most memorable evening of my life. While I recall taking 3 or 4 pictures that night, I have found only one to prove that I was there. Please share this picture with those who doubt your claim. Yes, Virginia, the Beatles did once perform on stage in King Salmon. Warmest regards, Alice McPhee"

"Should I Bring A Bathing Suit?"

Each spring we receive calls from customers wondering whether they should bring bathing suits for their stay at the King Ko. They note that they saw a reference on our website that the pool is found at the rear of the bar. That is true and we do recommend wearing bathing suits when shooting pool at the rear of the bar. To some, the alternative is to wear a Budweiser hat duct taped around your loin - an atire that the local authorities frown upon.

Who Is Visiting Our Website?

We often wish that we had better knowledge of our website visitors. For example, where are they from? Are they in Alaska, the lower 48, or in Europe (where many of our hotel guests come from)? Well now, with the aid of a magic little program, we can get that generic information. Check out the following link for a map showing the last 150 surfers who visited our site as of mid-February of this year. We'll periodically update the map to show how the distribution of visitors changes with the seasons