Though it’s called the New York Hotel, this family run, historic charmer is “Olde” Ketchikan all the way. In décor, it’s solidly retro with dark wainscoting, tiled baths, and rooms furnished with burnished antiques that could have been there when the hotel was built in 1925. (Don’t worry, you’ll also get modern TV’s, dataports for free internet access, a mini-fridge and bathrooms with all the modern amenities). Set in the old Creek Street red light district (you can guess what these hotel rooms were once probably used for!) it’s a smaller hotel, with narrow hallways and steep stairs but quite comfortable and reasonably priced, for the area. The views are fetching too, as many of the rooms face the kaleidoscope of fishing boats docked in the Thomas Basin small boat harbor. So why only two stars? Well, the hotel would be hard to manage for those with mobility issues (no elevator and narrow hallways) and the standard rooms would be cramped for a family to share. These quibbles aside, it’s one of the top choices in town.

The New York Hotel also runs what it calls The Inn at Creek Street which consists of three elegant apartments above the boardwalk shops of Creek Street, plus a nice single room with jacuzzi tub above an old dancehall and brothel. The apartments, especially, make for splendid romantic hideaway splurges. They have full kitchens, jet tubs, and spiral staircases leading to airy sleeping lofts with sumptuous beds. With their pull-out sofas, they can easily sleep four. From the balcony, at the right times of year, you watch spawning salmon below you in Ketchikan Creek, while seals slide in to feed on them.They’re not doing it for your entertainment, of course, but it’s a darned good