Page 30 - Travel Guide Fly Alaska Winter Edition

Club Paris Come for the Steaks, Stay for the Spirits

Before the Steaks, There with his French bride, and one does not exactly cooperate
Were… Other Occupants can only imagine what she with burial schedules, bodies
If buildings could talk, Club thought of Alaska. In a tongue- were reportedly placed in a
Paris would probably clear its in-cheek nod, they opened a tent out back until the spring
throat, lean back, and say, “You bar and restaurant called Club thaw. Sometimes frontier living
might want to sit down for this.” Paris. However, long before requires unorthodox solutions.
Club Paris is over 100 years it was a beloved steakhouse, Fast forward a few decades,
old, which in Alaska years is the building served as a and enter brothers Stan and
basically ancient. After World mortuary in the 1930s. And Scott Selman, the owners,
War II, a GI returned home because winter in Anchorage caretakers, and unofficial tour
guides to the afterlife. Stan will
tell you—cheerfully—that the
place is definitely haunted. He
doesn’t whisper it. He doesn’t
hedge. He just shrugs and says
with a wink that he “serves
all the spirits.” Cocktails for
the living, ambiance for the
lingering, and maybe a quiet
nod to the folks who never
quite checked out.
How You Accidentally Buy a
Restaurant
Stan’s family story is pure
Alaska. His dad, Charlie, came
north in the 1960s to work in
oil and gas as a geophysicist,
which meant long days, hard
work, and a serious need for a

28 ® WINTER EDITION