Mike - Preserving Anchorage's 1950s - 1970s Memories (and the Stories Behind Them) 

Meet Mike: A storyteller's Anchorage, Alaska journey.

If Anchorage for you means Merrill Field, Mountain View, Fur Rondy, East High, West High, and the town you watched grow through the 1950s, '60s, and '70s - you're in the right place.

I'm Michael R. Dougherty (Mike). I've lived these decades firsthand, and I spent a career behind (and sometimes in front of) TV cameras, learning how to capture real moments and tell true stories.

That's what Anchorage Memories is: a place to preserve and share the Anchorage you remember - in stories, pictures and video.

Why You Can Trust Anchorage Memories

This site isn't a collection of generic history summaries. It's built from lived experience and community memory - anchored by decades of local context.

I grew up here, worked in Anchorage television when it was shaping how the town saw itself, and I've spent years gathering, organizing, and presenting stories that feel familiar to the people who were here when Anchorage was still becoming Anchorage.

Meet Mike, How I Got Here
(and Why These Decades Matter to Me)

My family came north in 1950, when I was just 3 years old. Planes landed at Merrill Field then. When we arrived, my mother, Louise Dougherty, took one look around and from that moment on she called it "my beautiful Alaska."

We first lived in a small apartment in Mountain View. Later we moved into a log cabin on Fairbanks Street, a few blocks from Denali Elementary School - where I went to first grade.

My dad, Ray Dougherty, was a heavy equipment operator, so we moved around Alaska from time to time.

We lived in places that feel like a different world now: a two room log cabin with an outhouse off the old two-lane dirt "Goose Bay Road" outside Wasilla; a small cabin in downtown Wasilla back when Teeland Country Store was the only store in town (that cabin is now on display at the Wasilla Museum).

Our travels took us to Palmer, NapTowne (Sterling) on the Kenai, Ninilchik, and as far as Cordova on Prince William Sound. One summer in Cordova, at 16, I worked as a commercial fisherman and learned what "hard work" really means.

Eventually, we returned to Anchorage, where I attended East Anchorage High School - and where a turning point showed up that would shape the rest of my life.

The beginning of Mike's career in television

- East Anchorage High School (senior year, 1965–1966)

- Crew member on "The Varsity Show," a weekly live teen TV dance program on KTVA Channel 11, the CBS affiliate, hosted by Ron Moore

- Hired early in my TV career by KTVA

- 30-year career in television and motion picture production

- Emmy Award for my camera work

_ Work that eventually took me all the way to Hollywood - including my first day as a camera operator on the children's TV show, Hobo Kelly," where I remember thinking: "How did a kid from Anchorage end up here?"

Mike and Mary Jane

While I was working on The Varsity Show," I didn't just find a career path - I met Mary. She was a staff dancer on the show (back then, a "Go Go" dancer - with the white boots and fun costumes).

Together, Mary and I built Anchorage Memories to keep the stories of this place from fading away - especially the everyday details and personal snapshots that don't always make it into official histories.

What You'll Find on Anchorage Memories

Anchorage Memories is for people who remember the town from the 1950s - 1970s (and for anyone curious about what it was really like). 

You'll find:

- Visitor-submitted memories - like the ones you'd hear at a reunion, over coffee, or at the kitchen table

- Nostalgic photos and familiar places that bring back specific moments

- Stories and sections on Anchorage radio and TV, local events, and community life

- Pieces that help connect personal memories to the larger history of Anchorage

Start Here (Explore the memories)

Ready to browse? Start here and explore the memories.

Explore Anchorage Memories (1950s - 1970s)