There’s no shortage of neighborhoods, cities, towns and villages in the United States that seem trapped in the 1980s, where men sport mullets and women big hair, classic rock radio tops the Arbitrons, smoking is still socially acceptable and commonplace, and so on. There’s even the odd place that’s trapped in the 1970s, where groders and heshers crank Iron Maiden from their primer-coated Chevrolet Novas.
However, I’ve never heard about or seen a place that is trapped in the 1990s. Does such a place exist?
I suppose many will disagree with me on this but I think Toronto’s Queen Street West district is trapped in the 90’s. For the most part the place still looks like it did when I first saw it back in 1994, even though at the time it was developing at a rapid rate. Any of the various hipster-type clothing stores, bars, music places, and assorted shops wouldn’t feel unfamiliar to your average 90’s child of grunge, and some of the old bands can still be heard there (or, at least, grubby xeroxed flyers for their concerts can be found taped to light poles there…just like in the 90’s, man).
Don’t get me wrong, I still like the place. But it does feel a bit like a holdover from a slightly earlier era.
Ha, not really. While smoking is pretty common in the poorer areas, mullets and big hair – not so much. Mullets are more of a ‘trailer trash in the boonies’ thing, and they listen to country music.
Believe it or not, Des Moines is pretty much one big suburb (with varying degrees of affluence) around a ten-square-block downtown. Think houses with yards, chain restaurants, farmers’ markets, the stereotypical ‘nice place to raise your kids’, except for a few areas on the east and south sides which are pretty much shitholes.
[Nitpick] Iron Maiden didn’t really make a dent in the US until 1982 when they released Number of The Beast. You should probably go with Led Zeppelin. [/NP]
I thought of Seattle as soon as I read this, which is odd because I’ve never been there.
Errr… which part of Queen W is this? The one between University and Spadina, where the small indie stores have been pushed out by the big brand-name retailers? The one west of Spadina, where the little fabric shops are slowly being replaced by boutiques and trendy shops? Or further west past Bathurst, where The Sanctuary, grungy goth bar extraordinaire of the 1990s, was replaced by a Starbucks and a Lululemon?
Sorry, everything that made Queen W what it was in the 90’s has long since been gentrified and repackaged for the latest generation of scenesters, right down the shiny American Apparel outlet. The old Queen W died the day they tore down the original Active Surplus storefront and replaced it with a chain store (Zara, I believe?).
Delaware. The ‘‘progressive’’, upper part of the state screams 1998, the lower/slower sections scream 1970s, and parts in between are stuck in the 80’s. Played right, a tour could take you from the 60’s through the 90’s, but not much farther.
I don’t know of anyplace trapped in the '90s, but this description fits Baltimore totally. Depending on my mood I find it either retro cool or really weird.
Tomorrowland at Disneyworld has the chrome 50’s retro googie look that was so popular in the 90s when you wanted to characterize the 50’s and earlier space age style. It’s ironic because before they revamped it it really was retro, now it’s retro-retro.
