U.S.: Stranded in Dutch Harbor, Alaska | The New York Times

Pastor John Honan wants to convert a notorious former bar into a temporary shelter for people stranded in Dutch Harbor, Alaska.
Related Article: bit.ly/4ywS2d
Subscribe to the Times Video newsletter for free and get a handpicked selection of the best videos from The New York Times every week: bit.ly/timesvid...
Subscribe on KZbin: bit.ly/U8Ys7n
Watch more videos at: nytimes.com/video
---------------------------------------------------------------
Want more from The New York Times?
Twitter: / nytvideo
Facebook: / nytimes
Google+: plus.google.co...
Whether it's reporting on conflicts abroad and political divisions at home, or covering the latest style trends and scientific developments, New York Times video journalists provide a revealing and unforgettable view of the world. It's all the news that's fit to watch. On KZbin.
U.S.: Stranded in Dutch Harbor, Alaska - nytimes.com/video
/ thenewyorktimes

[@xChromerSatanasx]

John really did help people. I was homeless and he let me sleep in the back where his water heater was he had no other room.

[@bayersbluebayoubioweapon8477]

Hope you’re doing better man

[@penar4987]

Been there 3 times during my coast guard days. You would have to be a fool to go up there without having a job, and housing arraigned ahead of time, as well as a way home. That place ain’t no joke. We used to have a saying about Dutch Harbor, there’s a beautiful woman behind every tree. If you’ve seen deadliest catch, you’ll notice there aren’t many trees.

[@michaelsimmons261]

I worked there 2005-2015 ..with Westward..and Icicle Seafood the guys that got in trouble were paid went to party and didn't show up for work several days ....Maybe they were looking for trees!!! they would sleep in the old bunkers on the beach..now its a free ride to Anchorage. You are right Dutch Harbor ain't no joke.

[@michaelcorcoran8768]

A fool or desperate. I mean, we live in a country with no health care system, comma. More wages have not kept up with inflation for four decades. with no guaranteed vacation days. People are encouraged to take risks and be entrepreneurial and try to make something of themselves and then they're told like their idiots were even trying. If we actually had a social policy in this country, then maybe people wouldn't have to risk their lives to rent out their bodies.

[@hardleywurthitt8355]

Worked in Dutch Harbor back in the early 80's for 4 years doing industrial electrical construction. There were 2 bars that I knew of, The Elbow Room and the Unisea. Went to both quite a few times but the Elbow Room really sticks in my mind more than the Unisea. At night it would be packed. Dutch Harbor weather has got to be the worst on the planet. We did a lot of outdoor work and by the time we got all our gear on, it was like wearing a space suit. There was lots of jobs there back then but the cost of living was very high. I got paid subsistence so I didn't mind. There was no paved roads anywhere and lots of dilapidated buildings left over from the WWII military base. Every time I got on the plane to leave, I swore I'd never go back.

[@Kipparo2]

Thanks for sharing!

[@MsReignSeattle]

Do they still sell the "Lady you're leaving Dutch Harbor, You're ugly again" bumper sticker in the airport?

[@Urbannomad7]

lol

[@capexcitement]

no...they never did

[@sheldonflick5866]

Nope

[@randall777]

That wasn't a bumper sticker, that was a billboard on the exit side of the runway! On the other side, when you flew in, it said "Welcome to Dutch Harbor, lady. You are beautiful!"

[@Chilcutte]

Ouch

[@160thSOAR]

You'd think those guys would call ahead to set up a job before flying up to alaska.

[@toshley6192]

That's not how fishing jobs work. Once you get on a boat and they like you, you'll get invited back, but to break into the industry, you've gotta be on the dock when a captain needs an extra hand if you want to get hired.

[@MarioVelazquez509]

Ryan Coutu Sometimes Yeah...But I got hired out of Seattle and the company flew me up there

[@lopezrome1982]

@@MarioVelazquez509 how was it?

[@thekingsofballin]

@@lopezrome1982 I was in a similar situation. They’ll put you on a contract to work a certain amount of trips, and they’ll pay for your flights and food and gear. I was 18 with no money

[@michaelcorcoran8768]

​@@MarioVelazquez509Sounds like an atypical experience. But, I mean, the person themselves just said they were making 10K a year. They were desperate. They were living in poverty. staring at middle age and trying to make a nest egg for themselves comma Isn't that the kind of thing people encourage in the United States where there's no health care system and no safety net whatsoever?

[@randall777]

Wew lad, the times I had at the Elbow Room! That place was great, bummer it closed but instead of a shelter how bout spending the money on plane tickets to Seattle?

[@penar4987]

What about the sports bar?

[@randall777]

@@penar4987 Yeah that place was my first choice since I was working at Unisea and could walk there in a few minutes, who knows how many hundreds of dollars I pumped into those pool tables but I was a hot shot by the time I finally left that island. But it never got as rowdy as the Elbow Room because it's a corporate bar and not some dive by the beach. Good times!

[@penar4987]

Good old Dutch, there’s a beautiful woman behind every tree.

[@randall777]

@@penar4987 That's the truth!

[@denali9449]

@@randall777 'Never got as rowdy'? My Lord man, you should have been there in the 70's. The only difference between the Elbow Room and the Unisea was that the Unisea did wash the glasses between customers and they had carpet on the floor. A good buddy (skipper on another boat) was getting arrested for just being drunk, I punched the cop and another cop hauled the first cop out. We helped our friend back to his boat at the old sub dock. Later the second cop gave me and my crew a ride back to our boat. He said the first cop was out of line. My buddy never did get arrested. Now I just tried to check myself on Google Earth and it looks like what I remember being the Unisea Inn is now the Grand Aleutian. So the place may have gotten a touch nicer - - -

[@catburner]

DUDE, the guy at 1:23 was my roommate at unisea this past 2015 A season, the dude is hella cool .

[@Urbannomad7]

nice

[@starmaster191]

whats it like working at unisea? im flying up there tommorrow. is there wifi, gym and only 12 hr shifts?

[@lopezrome1982]

@@starmaster191 dude im considreding applying at unisea they come here to los angeles nx wk to recruit for Januarary season,how is it ? is there gym? wifi? 12 hr shifts? pretty ladies?

[@starmaster191]

@@lopezrome1982 yeah theres gym, 12 hr shifts only, and the AK min wage goes up next yr to 12 follars and hour thats at least 18 an hour overtime. lots of stuff i could tell you too. pm me if youd like to know more. i just got back. spent only a month and a half up there in Dutch

[@ronniedodson2383]

@@starmaster191 I'm supposed to go there soon. Could you tell me more of what is was like?

[@greeneggz_n_ham]

I lived in Anchorage for about six years and I always saw advertisements for high-pay jobs in Dutch Harbor. But I never went because I heard horror stories from people who were lied to and got stuck there.

[@ashleyfarrell3677]

Thank you! So much kindness you care to give ♡♡♡ Beautiful! Keep at it. We are all just doing our best as we can

[@tony39racecoupe]

hey Vicki, sorry to hear about your son being killed he was my friend. I am also very sorry to hear that the elbow room is closed. I had many many great times there visiting my friends! I personally think that the elbow room should be kept as a local historical spot. it has been there since the second world war and has been a huge part of the local history!!

[@stevesbushcraftingadventur9605]

No shelters. Use the money for the shelter to send them back to Anchorage.

[@richardd6669]

Worked at Unisea for 2005 A season . Quit before contract was up and started working as a stevedore making $18 per hour for a few months .Then I got a job on the oil spill clean up. Spent a little time at the Elbow Room but It was sold and they changed the name . Mostly drinking was done at the Unisea bar lots bigger and good food. I made money when I was there but I could of saved a lot more ….Its just so easy to drink in that town .Housing is aweful because few choices.

[@scottparsons2031]

At least we can still count on the government to stop us from helping people in need

[@kenaidog6974]

I had great times at the Elbow Room. Dutch is for fisherman and fisherman loved that place.

[@ricknelson4764]

When I lived in Dutch there was work for all if you could handle it

[@dapper_gent]

Good job Pastor Honan. You helped me see a way through a problem called housing a long time ago. My dad used to sleep in a bunker or in the park.

[@HeartStonePassage]

Thank you Pastor John for helping my son! What is the address to the passage in Matthew that you told him was your favorite?

[@mistervacation23]

An old German Soldier once told me always polish the backs of your shoes cuz that's the last people see of you and remember.

[@Douglas3472]

This is nonsense. You know going in, to a fishing contract that you could be laid off. So save your money and go home. I don't understand how you can even be homeless in Dutch Harbor. The fishing companies tell you, you may not work 6 months so you better save your money so you can go home. And if you're laid off they pay your way home. So take this BS someplace else I'm not buying it. These are all grown men. And again, these fishing companies tell you straight up what's going on.

[@Di316-v6w]

Amazing place I love that place

[@Urbannomad7]

I lived in dutch harbor summer 2016 , nope you don't make money , a supervisor told me on meeting I have good news for everyone , he said there is no fish today , there was no fish for 6 weeks , we worked 3 hours a day cleaning and painting .

[@Urbannomad7]

no I didn't look for a job cuz I had one at westward , and what is fca ?

[@Urbannomad7]

i am a sister :) thanks for the tips , will keep it in mind , thank u

[@jeffday6459]

@Kyle O bro im going in june to find work

[@jeffday6459]

@Kyle O i live in montana so i probably could drive up there and start applying

[@jeffday6459]

I was hoping to get on the boats for salmon or crab is Seattle still good for that

[@petephelan969]

Use to go there back in 53.

[@brandonbeck2483]

Save the Elbow Room, it should be on the national list of historic buildings; and let the bums try to swim home. If you are stuck on Dutch and can't find a job, that sounds like a personal problem.

[@81flyboi]

Till your put in a situation like that you should not make a smart ass comment like that.

[@brandonbeck2483]

I used to drink at the elbow room

[@capexcitement]

i drunk there for 30 years

[@greeneggz_n_ham]

@Brandon Beck Wow. How's the view from up there on that high horse? Lol

[@mydogatemyhomework3768]

@@greeneggz_n_ham go back to KZbin for kids if that's the only thing you can think to comment.

[@Tesla_ofthe_Skies]

Sorry....but it got turned right back into another Bar

[@ConvairDart106]

Latitudes

[@TractorMonkeywithJL]

Well, did the shelter ever get built where the bar is?

[@macantr911]

It got heavily remodeled into a community space and AirBnb. Money from the AirBnb still goes to the mission of helping those stranded here.

[@eddelbeccaro6170]

i worked in construction at the old Pan Alaska cannery in the summer of 1976, i want tot the Elbow room back then, what was the address?

[@thebeast95able]

All these people were kicked off a boat. Doesn’t mean the deserve to die

[@Urbannomad7]

Alaska's laws are very strict , they reject a lot things that is going to help their community .

[@johnjhonan]

Yes, I do.

[@foxtrot-oscar-f2u]

...gee Padre! lighten up on the ol'Bo

[@grfredricksen7067]

Go have a drink at the elbow room, if it's still there

[@Chilcutte]

I'm looking at jobs in the area there's a lot about a thousand but they only pay like 12.95 an hour but they have cheap housing.

[@Fireflyorange]

I have a vintage elbow room Alaska t shirt lol

[@whoopdattrick9390]

Vice woulda re opened the bar …nyt puts a pastor on tv beggin for a 12k$ building

[@kakompo]

Everything is about politics for you huh??

[@SteveBostick]

I quit Alaska Mist and thru my seabag on the spit Dutch is no place to be on the street there is no place for homeless and no job I lived under the old warehouse where they houses the prisoner s in the old cells I got on with Delta Western longshoring and they gave me a room at the Bunkhouse I finally got on one of the Western Pioneer freighter s and got out of there never to return

[@skitmaster4130]

I live there!

[@lopezrome1982]

tell meabout it

[@johndough7160]

... Omg.... You do what you have to do. There was an old world war two morgue there I had to crash in for a week. I was in between boats. I burned all the wood in that building until all the framing became mill ends. It was located by the Whitney Forest, which consisted of about a dozen pine trees planted long ago. That was 1979. A year before they put in that bridge, which made delivering a pain because we had to go all the way around to get to Captains Bay to deliver. This island has so many secrets. Look at it as an adventure. Don't cry. This place as well as Alaska in general is not for the sensitive or clean cut and weak. Sometimes weak people come up here and then they become strong and stay. It's rare though. 🙄

[@greeneggz_n_ham]

How's the view from up there on that high horse? Lol

[@johndough7160]

@@greeneggz_n_ham You had to be there. sam. 😳

[@davidpristupa1629]

nice place to live :)

[@osaki1977]

Anybody there know John Roche?

[@nashkita77]

are there jobs now?

[@Urbannomad7]

no sir, there are jobs in Kodiak , not in dutch unless you are aiming for deadliest catch , then that's a different story .

[@ManuelCedillo-j1x]

SDSU

[@Arnfres]

☠️☠️☠️

[@billchronister5242]

I had few drinks at the elbow Room tight fit and the price of drinks AK high in those days you could six pack your self 6 of what you where drinking if you where a high Liner a broom lash to the mast AK Braging Rights. I made a phone call down south to tell everyone where I was made it back too the boat after having fun with a few shipmates and made some new ones.. Then shove off too do what came for.

[@ianmangham4570]

BOLLOCKS