Or choose from the Good Morning Motherfucker and the Power Bottom-both floated with Red Bull.Īs for the crowd, “It’s a very mixed scene,” says manager Chris Jones, who began at Myrna’s as a bar back and met his husband there when he was 21. From the cocktail menu you can order A Classy Trashy, which tops Absolut mango, peach Schnapps, and orange, pineapple, and cranberry juices with a can of Champagne.
Gone is the vending machine dispensing beef jerky now there’s a full menu offering house pizzas, chicken and waffles, and soba noodle bowls. Its small patio was expanded to 3,000 square feet of outdoor space. Open since 1999, Mad Myrna’s got spruced up during the pandemic.
Black chairs and tables with mushroom lamps dot the floor and on the walls are large portraits of the performing divas, with appropriately gilded frames. On stage, dramatic jewel tone drapes lift to reveal a glittery silver curtain backdrop. The interior is a jewel box of colorful carpeting, which looks downright psychedelic under the cabaret lights and disco balls. There’s even a cheeky Instagram account, From its dull grey exterior, it would seem like the inside of Mad Myrna’s would follow suit. Sure, it’s surrounded by stunning feats of nature, but it’s a bit of an open joke that Anchorage itself is, well, bland. Like most of the places in Anchorage, it’s ridiculously laid-back.īut if it’s a glitzy over-the-top drag show you’re after, head down the block to the second gay bar in Anchorage: Mad Myrna’s, hosting some of the best queens in the world.Īnchorage is not known for its aesthetics. A plastic penguin mascot called Winston gets dressed up and placed around the bar for events like Kentucky Derby watch parties. There’s a pinball machine, a pool table, TVs playing sports games, and a massive back patio to soak up the endless summer rays. On a regular, non-Pride day, the Raven is more subdued, catering to an older crowd that drinks beers with names like Moose Drool. “They’re always in their underwear,” says Embley. As to be expected, people, and things, slip. Audience members would bid to slather up the contestants, who would then go at it in a blow-up kiddie pool. As explained by local Lon Embley, it starts as a powder, mixed with water, and is not in fact used for machinery, but “for artificially inseminating cattle, and things like that.”Ī massive amount of this viscous solution was used a few years ago at the northernmost gay bar in the US, during a charity Pride Week wrestling event. One, The Raven, is the reason I know what farm-grade lube is. There are only two gay bars in Anchorage, Alaska-population, just under 300,000.