Mr. Whitekeys (Douglas Haggar)

Douglas Haggar — known to Alaska and the world as Mr. Whitekeys — was born on February 25, 1947, in Ohio, and spent his formative years moving through South Dakota, Iowa, and Arizona before landing at Duke University, where he earned degrees in psychology and art. He graduated in 1970 with a second-hand van, a head full of curiosity, and tales of a peculiar northern state lodged in his imagination. He painted the van with cartoon poodles and drove it straight to Alaska. That van became something of a legend — and so did its driver. Whitekeys settled in Spenard, Anchorage's wonderfully raffish neighborhood, and began playing in bar bands. At Chilkoot Charlie's he coined what became the bar's immortal slogan: "We cheat the other guy and pass the savings on to you." During the mid-1970s pipeline boom, he worked the rowdy Two Street establishments of Fairbanks, honing a stagecraft that blended music, comedy, and irreverent commentary into something Alaska had never quite seen before. On July 31, 1980, he opened Mr. Whitekeys' Fly By Night Club on the shores of Lake Spenard. For 26 years and 41 days, the club served Spam-heavy cuisine alongside the Whale Fat Follies — a satirical revue he described as "the Alaskan show The Department of Tourism does NOT want you to see." The club's motto told you everything: "Going out of business regularly in the same location for over 30 years." Off-season, he turned his razor wit on Alaskan politicians with topical revues that made enemies and admirers of the same people. The Fly By Night closed on September 9, 2006, and Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich marked the occasion by declaring it Mr. Whitekeys Day — though Whitekeys noted, with characteristic precision, that the ceremony happened at 10:30 at night. "I didn't get a day," he said. "I only got an hour and a half." His curiosity was never confined to the stage. He served as president of the Anchorage Audubon Society, contributed commentary to the Alaska Almanac, Alaska Magazine, and KTUU television newscasts, and pursued a serious passion for coral reef marine biology. In 2015 he discovered the first recorded specimen of Stethojulis strigiventor in the Hawaiian Islands. In 2024, at 77, he published The Voyage of The Alaska Union, a chronicle of an 1898 gold-rush expedition. He revived the Whale Fat Follies between 2011 and 2019, closing the curtain for good at the Hard Rock Cafe. At the end of every show, Whitekeys offered the same benediction to his audience: "Live a life filled with peace, love, and Spam; do something to make the world a better place; and be sure to tip your waitress." He died on October 19, 2026, at age 79, survived by his wife Judith. Alaska's irreverent troubadour, its Sultan of Spenard Spam Sleaze, leaves behind a legacy no tourism brochure could ever contain.