The Elbow Room Sign, Unalaska Island Postcard

The Elbow Room was built during WWII in the City of Unalaska, Alaska, and it was originally called the Blue Fox. When a local Unangan fisherman bought the bar, he renamed it the Elbow Room. The bar is a landmark structure, and some of the world's greatest (and worst) fishermen have got drunk in that bar, fought in that bar, been thrown out of that bar, and the old school fishermen all have fond, if drunkenly vague memories of being in the Elbow Room. Fisherman from the port of Dutch Harbour, Alaska had to skiff over to the bar in the early days of Alaskan commercial fishing in the Bering Sea. The bridge to the other side didn't exist at that time, connecting Amaknak Island, where Dutch Harbour is located, to Unalaska Island, where the Elbow Room was located. The bar was closed permanently in November of 2008 .