Reminiscing of days gone by makes everyone feel comfortable inside. Anything from a song on the radio to a certain smell. A lot of things sound better in retrospect also. I remember hating every poppy Sugar Ray song that clouded the radio stations and now , I catch myself going along with the melody. Anyone remember C&c music factory? No one seriously attests to being a fan, but everyone screams along “Everybody dance now!!” after a few drinks and a dj throws on some 90s pop tracks, that are sadly now considered Retro. If there was ever a sign pointing in the direction of a retirement community, it’d be when your fond musical memories are retro. The hundreds of one hit wonders stuck in our heads.The teeny bopper magazines that showed us bedazzled denim jackets were “Bad” (remember when bad meant good?) Teen sitcoms where the main roles weren’t whores.
Good Nickelodeon Shows with way better production value and writing than now. My personal favorite was always “Salute your Shorts”.Not sure if it was my unobtainable dream of going to summer camp one year, or being away from my town for as long as possible as often as possible. It had the bad kid(Budnick),the fat kid(Donkey lips)..hell there was even a black chick. Im assuming that was Nickelodeons way of merging 2 minorities and calling themselves culturally diverse. These gems linger in our minds and on Nick at Nite from time to time now. But every once in a while we stumble upon a phrase or memorabilia from those days and it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy. A Thrift store is a perfect place to find cherished and forgotten items. Going on shopping sprees is a rare occasion when you’re poor. Seeing all these kids dreading ,bitching and crying about clothes shopping with their mom on movies and tv, made no sense to me and I couldn’t relate to that. Was it that they didn’t wanna be seen in public with their Mom? That they knew they’d end up looking like a square, given their parents taste in clothes? We didn’t have the luxury of bitching about that. Hand me downs were worn until they tore in an unrepairable way. The stretched clothes just meant they were broken in and comfortable to wear.The faded colors made you look like you’d accomplished a lot at 12. In a recent expedition to “Revivals” a thrift store located in In Hillcrest,ca. I stumbled upon a great article of clothing that made me remember all the crazy things about my pre teen years and early teen years.The all night phone calls…(seriously we were 13-14 and went to school.What on earth were we so opinionated about that we could talk for 8 hours at a time?) it was a “Camp Anawanna” T-shirt in perfect condition that I got for a whole dollar. Not to mention the plethora of other fine mens clothing that Ive purchased throughout the years at thrift shops for pennies on the dollar. Pretty much anything that caught my eye for a dollar or 2. All it takes is careful looking into what type of thrift shop your walking into (but ill get into that during another blog). The shirt instantly brought upon all those faded memorys and story lines from the show..Ugg singing the theme song and Pinski talking in his his pitched pubescent voice. Nostalgia can be found within many things for many people, so for us in our 30s. I foresee a flooding of our teenage wares emerging from the stacks of clothes and knick knacks.
Human emotions are priceless, but their triggers are easily found. A smile and warm flooding of memorys every time you put on a shirt is well worth the entire dollar. If for nothing else other than bargain shopping. Take a peek and you might find those hammer pants you thought to never see again. Or the collection of garbage pail kids you cherished so much…..A smile and possibly rewarding conversation starter when in public ( remember human interaction and socializing was alive in the 90s also?) All for a dollar.
Ernie Velas
