I turned 6 the day before the quake. My family had just been to the bank in downtown Anchorage and signed papers on the sale of our house!. My dad went back to work at Ed’s Electric, same street that fell two stories. Mom took my sister and I to Woolworth’ s Depth. Store to shop for Easter gloves and purses for our new Easter dresses just purchased at JCPENNEYS when the quake hit. Mom grabbed us and we tried to get outside to cross the street, but the street Rose clear up in the middle when we were crossing. Mom took her high heels off and we started running to the other side. A drunken man came out of a bar and a man with a suit on came out and stood with us as the street rolled. My mom told everyone to take hands and she started praying for our safety. Didn’t realize the same street a couple blocks down had sunk so far. Amazing, still remember it like yesterday. I get out the slide projector and watch the slides every few years.

Are you sure it wasn’t Creekside Park in Muldoon area? We lived on Old Harbor Rd off of Muldoon Rd. Still remember the day.I was also 7 years old.

Thanks, Cecil! Yes, the blog, which ran for over five years, contains some really wonderful memories of Anchorage, especially during the era of the 1940s and 1950s. Jana and I graduated from AHS (the one on Romig Hill that was damaged in the ’quake) in the Class of ’60. I do encourage your readers to browse the stories of Anchorage. An unforgettable collection, for sure.

We (Last Frontier Magazine) have published a few stories from some of your contributors in the magazine, and would love to do more. I congratulate you on the fantastic job in creating the blog to capture those stories. While entertaining, they are also very important to record for future generations.

As a frequent contributor to the blog GrowingUpAnchorage.com, I read many stories on the blog submitted by other writers about their experience with the 1964 earthquake in my hometown. At the time of the ’quake, I was in the Navy, stationed in Japan, and remember my mother mailing to me the Anchorage Times edition that was put out as soon as the presses would run after the ’quake. The blog was conceived and run by former Anchorage resident, the late Jana (nee: Janet Griffith) Nelson. If your readers would like more first-hand accounts of the ’quake, they can find them here:

https://growingupanchorage.com/category/1964-earthquake/

Thank you Gene! This is quiet a collection of fascinating stories.

Geez! Thanks for sharing John.

Lost my cousin, he was one of the longshoremen washed of the dock in valdez.

My late husband was working at the restaurant at the top of the Hilton downtown when it hit. He daid it didnt take him long to get down the stairs. Hr never went back for his final paycheck and was afraid of height since.

I was 13 at the time. Dad was stationed at Elmendorf AFB, but we lived in field-grade housing (across from the ski slope). We were watching “Fireball XL5”. The rocket ship had just blasted off and was moving along the launch rails when the picture flickered then went to a single spot. My little brother started crying, “Bad Fireball. Broke TV.” We had been stationed in Japan once, so Dad had a pretty good idea of what had happened. He looked out the 2nd floor window and turned white as a sheet. I looked and saw the ground coming at us in waves, like on the ocean. Dad threw us on the bed and lay across us. When the shock waves hit, the bed flew around the room like Dorothy’s in the Wizard of Oz.

For a young boy, it was certainly an adventure. My Boy Scout troop help by sorting and distributing donated clothes.and canned food. In addition to the response and recovery efforts, I remember all the soldiers were carrying weapons. My father told us that was because of the possibility of wolves or bears. He later told me he said that because he didn’t want to scare my mother, but that the military command was also concerned that the Russians might take advantage of the situation and invade. A week later, we had company over and were all sitting down to dinner. It was around 5:30 and the general conversation was, “It’s been almost a week. Where were you, and what were you doing …” Right then, a series of major aftershocks hit. Very scary!!!

Thanks for sharing Michael!

I was 12 yrs old, my step dad rode me down to my birth place right afer the quake. What a mess!! Don’t remember a lot.

Is your father Terry Holliday?

Wow great stories and pictures, We moved to anchorage in Aug of 63 and lived in a trailor court where the mercedes dealership is now. Mom had gone across the street to do laundry I was 6 and me and my younger sister were alone watching cartoons. .The trailor started with this low rumble and we were trying to figure out what was causing it. I was trying to boost my sister up to the top of furnace to get my toy fire truck down since i thought it was causing it. We got it down and the place kept rumbling so we ran to the door and mom was walking back with the laundry. We yelled mom mom the house is shaking and it wont stop. To this day i remember her saying Well if you would sit your asses down then the house wouldn’t shake. Thats when it broke loose and mom dropped the laundry We ran to her and we sat in the street. Mom was saying the lords prayer and i just sat there watching trees bending over telephone poles swaying watching a man run out of his tailor looking drunk not able to stand and falling over his fence. It seemed like waves were in the ground and things were exploding, sirens and alarms from the base were sounding We saw smoke fro down toward the docks and then it stopped, Mom was crying and a few minutes layer dad showed up. I think i was young enough not to be scared, since i really didnt understand what was happening. Now when the earth shakes i sit up waiting to see if its the big one, Then lay back down and think no, just another baby quake.

I was 12 and we were living on Elmendorf in base housing. We were watching the TV cartoon Fireball XL-5. The quake started just as a rocket was taking off on TV. My siblings and I thought the rumble was coming from the show. Then all hell broke loose. No electricity, no water. Stood in line for typhoid shots. Dad spent the next several days and nights at work. The cold war fear was that Russia might take advantage of our vulnerability. That evening and it’s aftermath is forever etched in my mind.

Wow, thank you for sharing Earl!

I was 13 years old and in Anchorage that day. It was on Good Friday so there was no school that day. I think the death toll would have been higher had it not been on a “holiday”. We lived in our converted school bus for weeks after the quake, with several neighbors!! Quite an adventure.

I was stationed at Elmendorf, 317th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Weapons Control, on F-102’s, just finished working day shift. The first tremors hit, and after a few moments, stopped. We were on the top floor of the barracks. Then, it started again, and this time, ,more violently, the sun running across the floor and up and down the walls. This time, there was no getting out, but those who managed to escape out of the building before the second tremors said they’d go down two steps, then get thrown back three. The vehicles in the parking lot bounced so violently that it broke shock absorbers. The interceptors in the alert cells got their radomes damaged, and I was one of the crew who changed them the next day. The lights in the hangars were mounted on hooks. At the height of the quake, some swung clear of the hooks, fell on the aircraft below. I think the base had two casualties.

My mother was a senior at East and my dad had graduated the year earlier from West. His mother, my grandmother Phyllis Holliday, was senior level nurse at Providence — her stories are published in a local book about the quake. I’ve grown up hearing the dramatic stories of her just leaving Penneys parking garage and the aftermath she faced working at Prov, as well as stories of my young father rescuing people in turnagain – they lived on Hillcrest Drive at the time. Although I was not alive at the time, through them, I’ve come to respect the power of Mother Nature and pray my kids and I don’t ever have that experience but we are prepared!

Thank you for sharing Becki. Such a heartbreaking story.

Oh, forgot to mention Mrs Smalley was in Valdez during the earthquake.

Donna, thanks for commenting. If you ever convert your slides to digital, we’d love to see them!

I spoke to Mrs. Smalley who said her husband was last seen in his truck parked on the dock with the window down. He was lost in the tsunami. His truck was found still parked on the dock. She got her kids in their station wagon and headed for high ground. She could see water and debris coming toward her as she drove away. She said she was so scared. She moved to Palmer, where I met her and she shared her story.

I was 3 1/2 years old my dad was stationed at Elmendorf. We were on the way to the movies on the base. When the road started rolling my mom grabbed me and ran into the movies. Inside they told her to get out they thought building might fall . I remember we didn’t have water or electric so stayed at someone’s house. At each after shock all the ladies screamed thinking another quake. We have some great pics on slide of the after math. My dad walked around taking them. Mom used to say the best think was it wiped out all the bars on one street ! Have one of the movie theatre markee laying on the sidewalk still attached to building. That’s how far it sunk !

was at my friends home, things starting falling off walls, tried to get outside but couldn’t stand up. our cars were banging into each others. scary. bought the magazine that was published a few days later, still have ir