MetaChat - Scenes of Mall Madness 1989

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15 April 2011

Scenes of Mall Madness 1989 Ah, nostalgia. →[More:]Going to the mall was breathlessly exciting when I was 12 or 13. The arcade, full of boys and games! Pizza and soda! The delightfully risque Spencer Gifts! The clutches of teenagers hanging out and smoking at the potted plant islands (yes, indoors!)The record stores - in fact, there is a Tape World in one of these photos.

post by: Miko at: 11:24 | 12 comments

omg the hair.

posted by wens 15 April | 11:36

Wow, these pics really brings back memories! I was a mall rat (albeit a few years earlier..by '89 I had a full time job and was planning my first wedding). I think my mom started letting me take the bus to the mall when I was 14. I never could get my hair that big, :^) And yes, the hours I spent hanging around the arcade!

I do remember walking through the Monmouth Mall, seeing a guy in cut-off denim shorts, shirtless except for a sleeveless denim vest, with those huge, hairy boots...THAT impression will always stay with me!

posted by redvixen 15 April | 11:38

RV...that, of course, was my mall too!

posted by Miko 15 April | 11:44

How about that pink-Capezios-with-slouch-socks look? I l love that one of the big fashion statements of the 80s was "I am a dancer! No, srsly."

posted by Miko 15 April | 11:46

Those are SUCH great photos!

posted by BoringPostcards 15 April | 12:08

Wow, memories. I was in 8th grade then and my friends and I would frequently get dropped off at the Echelon Mall (no longer in existence) by one of our moms and hang out there for hours, meeting up with other friends, hanging out in the food court, and shopping at Deb and the Gap. Then when we were ready to leave, one of us would call her mother on a pay phone.

posted by amro 15 April | 12:34

So ... many ... perms ... and ... neon ...

posted by WolfDaddy 15 April | 15:58

I hadn't really thought about it in these terms till now, but you know what? I miss the time when it was socially acceptable to have frizzy hair.

posted by tangerine 15 April | 18:55

I posted this on the blue when the story was posted there in a slightly different form.

Two of those pictures are totally Bellevue Square, which is insane. I spent two years working there, and may end up back there again, but I kind of like seeing how the mall used to be.

In this story, 17 is one of the Belle Square pictures. I can't find the other.

posted by gc 15 April | 22:16

Cocker spaniel haircuts!

posted by brujita 16 April | 02:39

And now, malls are half-empty shells where the store owner next to the Apple Store sings the Lord's praises for his/her good fortune. What nice open parks they could have, by tearing down and consolidated some of these useless abandoned dreams.

posted by Melismata 16 April | 12:46

And I had worked so hard to forget my sophomore year. I'm pretty sure I went to high school with *all* of those people.

posted by Triode 17 April | 00:42

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