Ketchikan Travel Guide

Introduction

Had they known about it, the film noir directors of the 1950s would have chosen the Ketchikan ( ketch-e-kan) waterfront for Humphrey Bogart to sleuth. The black-and-white montage: A pelting rain drains from the brim of his hat, suspicious figures dart through saloon doors and into the lobbies of concrete-faced hotels, a forest of workboat masts fades into the midsummer twilight along a shore where the sea and land seem to merge in miles of floating docks. Along Creek Street, salmon on their way to spawn swim under houses chaotically perched on pilings beside a narrow boardwalk; inside, men find comfort in the arms of legal prostitutes. Meanwhile, the faces of totem poles gaze down on the scene disapprovingly, mute holders of their own ancient secrets.

In fact, a 1954 B-movie crime drama, Cry Vengeance, did film in Ketchikan. Today the director hoping to re-create that scene would have his work cut out for him removing the T-shirt shops and jewelry stores with bright street-front...