Ken Laughlin
1934 Ken Laughlin files on 160 acres adjoining Siebenthaler's homestead to the east. Laughlin opens what might be called first fast-food service in Chugiak-Eagle River, selling hot dogs and hamburgers to highway crews. Built his cabin above Upper Fire lake in 1935.
One of the earliest businesses was a hot dog stand set up at Fire Lake. Ken Laughlin sold lunches to workers who built the highway.
Ken was one of the first to file on a homestead along the road outside Anchorage. He came north during the '30s to play the organ at the Empress Theater, one of Anchorage's two cinema showhouses. When sophistication and the proliferation of talking pictures made live organ music old hat and no longer cost-effective, Ken got a job selling advertising for the Anchorage Times.
Ken Laughlin's place became Fire Lake Lodge, a popular watering hole and eatery for local residents as well as for people who drove out from Anchorage. They never built a main floor on the concrete block basement. As a matter of fact, that basement stands today as the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses.