Staton's Steakhouse and Cocktail Lounge

Lifelong Alaskans Norman E. Staton Sr. and Ethel L. (Milonich) Staton moved from Ketchikan to Sitka in 1955 and opened the Pioneer Grill on Katlian Street and the Sitka Café on Lincoln Street before opening Staton's Steakhouse and Cocktail Lounge at this site in December 1968. The building was constructed after the January 2, 1966 fire that destroyed a large portion of downtown Sitka and replaced the Art Franklin Triune Service building. Norm and Ethel built a full-service waterfront restaurant known for fine dining and for Norm's fish and chips, and for almost 25 years it stood at the center of many of the city's social gatherings, serving Sitka residents and their families, Alaska Lumber and Pulp employees, and dignitaries through banquets, parties, family dinners, and celebrations. After their retirement in 1992, the business was sold, but the family kept the building and property. Their daughter Candi opened Sitka Realty there in 2005, and the property remains in the Staton Family Trust managed by Candi C. Barger and Norman E. Staton Jr. and their families. Ethel, a Tsimshian Alaska Native, also left a legacy of Native leadership and community involvement through decades of service with Shee Atika Incorporated, the Alaska Bar Association, the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct, Sheldon Jackson College, the VFW Auxiliary in Ketchikan, the Sitka Emblem Club 142, Beta Sigma Phi Xi Zeta Chapter, the Tsimshian Tribal Association of Sitka, the Girl Scout Council, and the state planning board. Norm came to Alaska with the Army in 1940 at age 17 on the Fort Leonard Wood, served on Annette Island, Umnak Island, and Amchitka building air strips, joined the first wave of troops to Saipan and the invasion of Okinawa, and after being injured returned to Ketchikan with a Purple Heart. He was also a charter member of Sitka's "Dirty Dozen," a lifetime member of the Elks and Moose Lodges, and served the community through the Sitka Planning Commission, Sitka Visitors Association, Historical Committee, and planning of Harrigan's Centennial Hall. Norman and Ethel Staton and their family are active members of St. Peter's By-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Sitka.

Sitka, Alaska · United States