Duck Inn, Anchorage 1958

It must have been fun to eat at the Duck-Inn in Anchorage, Alaska, in 1958.

Home of the Jumbo Floating Henry Burger, (floating because it never lets you down) a cheerful Duck was also on the front cover of the menu advertising the hosts, husband and wife team Art and Mary Berch.

The two restaurateurs put considerable effort into making the menu entertaining. Every item on the menu was listed in the voice of a gruff old timer, and there are mis-spellings and jokes galore.

In the early 1950's, Anchorage had only two paved streets, one stoplight, two small skyscraper apartments and a new high school, but the city was booming by the end of the decade.

The new Anchorage International Air Terminal had been completed, greatly reducing the city’s geographical isolation. Anchorage was the first American city to have non-stop passenger service to both Europe and Asia and Pan Am operated its Clipper Service from Anchorage to other American cities.

Oil prospecting became big business after the federal government sold oil leases for areas near Anchorage, and a new Distant Early Warning System was constructed with Anchorage becoming critical to the military containment of the Soviet Union.

In 1959 Alaska was granted Statehood and the following year the Historical Marker Database noted that the population had grown to almost 83,000 people and that some 18 oil companies had opened offices in the city.

As an added bonus for Anchorage becoming a major refueling stop for polar air routes, renowned artists of the era like Ray Charles, Nat King Cole and Billie Holiday performed in Anchorage while on scheduled stopovers for other concerts and performances.

We like to think the Duck-Inn would have been a popular place in this booming American city for people to go to find good food and hospitality.