The Pit and the Pendulum- Dawson City’s Dionysian Dive Bar

There’s a saying in Dawson City from the pre-internet times: “If you wait long enough at the Pit, the person you’re looking for will show up”. Even today, the Pit remains a legendary social hub. The name reached me long before I set foot in Dawson City, as an acquaintance told me about life up North. Of all the dangers to be aware of in Dawson, he felt it necessary to warn me about wandering into the Pit. If I were to step inside, he cautioned, old bearded miners would berate me for having clean boots, an obvious sign that I was new in town.

But in the same breath, he told me nowhere on Earth compares with the Pit, and I must check it out. This obvious contradiction intrigued me. I struggled to understand what this place might be like. I imagined my first entrance into the Pit would resemble the bar scene from the Lord of the Rings, where weatherbeaten, smoky men stare at the Hobbits, who are hopelessly unable to blend in.

Officially known as the Westminster Hotel, the Pit has been around since 1898, one of the few Gold-Rush Era buildings not destroyed by fire, flooding, or melting permafrost. The undulating floors bear testament to the waves of time this establishment has endured. Local lore says that if you roll a coin on the floor, it will go anywhere but straight.

The Pit is a treasure trove of Dawson City history. Part homage to its roots, part visual art, it’s credentials are scrawled on every surface (including the bathroom). All the walls are adorned…