One of the most historic establishments in Alaska, the Red Onion Saloon in Skagway, is changing hands after the 2024 summer season. Jan Wrentmore, owner of the Red Onion Saloon for 46 years, is handing over the garter to Tracy LaBarge, owner of Tracy’s King Crab Shack in Juneau.
“I couldn’t be happier to hand this business over to Tracy,” said Wrentmore. “She is a strong Alaskan woman and I have total confidence that she will take good care of the Red Onion. There is a new madam in town.”
Wrentmore is enthusiastic about the business remaining woman-owned and woman-operated.
“I bought the business from a woman in 1978, I bought the liquor license in 1980 from another woman and I bought the courtyard land behind the Red Onion from a third woman.”
Wrentmore had reached out to LaBarge in the past.
“I was waiting for the right person to come along. There’s been a lot of interest over the years, but I always hoped Tracy would step up and she did,” she said.
“I have always admired what Jan has built,” said LaBarge. “When she approached me years ago, I was beyond flattered and so excited at the prospect of owning it, but I had too much going on. Then 2020 hit and there was no way, but, as fate would have it, we started talking again and here we are. When I saw the Popcorn Wagon in the courtyard, I thought for sure this was meant to be.”
Wrentmore, an iconic businesswoman, came to Juneau in 1970.
“I was working for the State, and friends told me that Marjorie Brown wanted to sell her gift shop in Skagway,” Wrentmore said.
Her friends convinced her contact Brown.
“I had no idea what I was getting into. I operated it for two summers, going back down to Juneau to work for the legislature in the off-season,” Wrentmore said.
The original Red Onion bar was pushed against the wall in the back of the gift shop. Wrentmore thought it was such a waste and determined the the bar should really be a saloon again.
“In August of 1979, the Igloo Cocktail Bar across the street burned down, so I wrote to the lady who owned the license, and she sold it to me,” Wrentmore said.
Wrentmore said the Red Onion Saloon opened for business on July 4, 1980. A few years later, after a major restoration, the brothel museum above the bar opened for tours.
“There are so many parallels in our lives,” said LaBarge of Wrentmore. “How we came to Alaska, the people we know in common, the way we started businesses, the struggle, the learning curves. So many strong women who helped us along the way.To carry on this tradition is such an honor and a blessing.”
LaBarge moved to Skagway in 1992, living and working there for years before moving to Juneau in 1996.
“This is a full-circle moment for me,” she said.
“I worked at Grayline and the Popcorn Wagon and have many memories of the Red Onion back then. I fell in love with Alaska that year and I have been here ever since.”
Wrentmore will only semi-retire. She has one more project that is close to her heart – Burro Creek Wilderness Lodge located on a 120-acre homestead on the west shore of Lynn Canal. The property has significant energy potential and Wrentmore is in conversation with the Municipality of Skagway for a joint, public/private venture to develop the hydroelectric power and bring electricity to the Port of Skagway.
The Red Onion will change hands in November, and Wrentmore will continue to be a mentor.
“The long- time staff are amazing, and I have no plans to change anything there, just carry on Jan’s legacy,” said LaBarge.
The Red Onion Saloon was built in 1897 and operated as the finest brothel, dance hall and saloon during the great Gold Rush. Many of the original features are intact.
The saloon building used to be located on the corner across from where the Elks is now.
“It was moved six blocks down State Street then around the corner – and they got the building in backwards. So they took the front of the building up and the back of the building and switched them around,” Wrentmore laughed.
“As we went through our various restorations of the building there were many little features in there that confirm that story,” she said. “George Rapuzzi told me himself about helping move that building and I think that was 97 I’m not positive.”
Tracy’s King Crab Shack began in 2006 as the realization of a dream Tracy LaBarge quipped to her friends on a particularly rough crabbing day out on the water: “I’m just going to buy a hotdog cart and start selling you guys legs ‘One Leg at a Time.’”
Since then, Tracy’s has become two sit-down restaurants on South Franklin and Whittier in downtown Juneau.
• This story was originally published by The Skagway News.
