Incredibly, the Days of '98 Show has been playing since 1927 in the Fraternal Order of Eagles Hall No. 25, at 6th Avenue and Broadway (tel. 907/983-2545). Jim Richards carries on the tradition each summer with actors imported from all over the United States, doing four shows a day (10:30am, 12:30pm, 2:30pm, and 8pm) during the summer, fewer in the spring and fall. The evening shows begin with an hour of mock gambling at a casino run by the actors. The actual performance, which lasts an hour, includes singing, cancan dancing, a Robert Service reading, and the story of the shooting of Soapy Smith. All shows are $16. Children 15 and under are half price.
The Red Onion Saloon, at 2nd Avenue and Broadway, plays up its gold-rush history, with costumed waitresses wearing corsets. It was a brothel originally -- what wasn't in this town? -- and mock madams offer $5 tours of a "brothel museum" upstairs. The saloon often has live acoustic music. It closes in winter. Moe's Frontier Bar, at 5th Avenue and Broadway, is more of a gritty local hangout, open year-round.
