Throwback Memories of The 70's and 80's

Take a trip with me back to the days of old.

Remember:

Jelly jackets and Jelly shoes?



Sheepskin coats and Gazelle glasses?

Name plates, belts and webo belts?

Leg Warmers and bolero jackets?

Playing Scully in the square.

Playing Hopscotch with my friends.

Remember Operation? Monopoly? Sorry? trouble? Life? Kerplunk? Bobbie Trap? Twister?

I Loved the Smurfs. I loved my Baby Alive doll. My Barbie Dream and Townhouse. My barbie Corvette and my Tree Tots.

I was ecstatic when I got my first Tasty bake Oven!



The worse thing we did when I was little was play spin the bottle and everybody would ohh and ahh as you kissed someone.

Judy Blume novels were as close as I came to sex until I met my husband. Remember:
Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing Starring Sally J. Freedman As Herself Then Again, Maybe I won't Otherwise Known As Sheila the Great Superfudge Iggie's House and who could forget Wifey and Forever?
We passed those books around in school. Both were my first taste of sexually suggestive reading material.



The Menudo mania? I loved Ricky and Carlos. Who were your favorites? The walls in my room were filled with their fotos!!

The four wheel roller skates? Mine were white with yellow wheels and I got yellow pom-poms with bells. Back then I was a regular at the Fever and could skate my ass off!! LOL

Kangol hats? The brothers wore them low on their heads; sometimes they only showed their eyes. LOL My boyfriend (later became my husband) was wearing a royal blue one with his Lee jeans when I met him. He was a cutie!!

Jordache, Sergio Valente, Gloria Vanderbilt and Devil jeans? I had a pair of powder blue GV's, blue Jordache' and Devil jeans with the red lining.

The bubble jackets and leather bombers? I had a Red bubble jacket and a black bomber that I cherished.

Wearing pants with permanent creases in the front and back? My ex-husband's sister, Vinnia could sew like an expert. Once she learned how to make the permanent creases...all of my jeans had them! Love you, Vinnia.

Buffalo sandals, penny loafers, ocean green Pumas, Adidas shells and Lotto sneakers?

And who could forget the Miami Vice craze? Can you believe I dated a guy that had the whole Crockett and Tubbs look going? What was I thinking?! LOL



Swatch watch?

The Asymmetric hair style? I called myself cutting my hair and ended up looking like a Chemo patient for a few weeks! My hair was looking bad, chicas.

The Sugar Hill Gang, Afrikka Bambata and the Soul Sonic Force; Kurtis Blow, Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, The "Real" Roxanne and Roxanne Chante; Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam?

Dating or knowing someone who was a "member" of The Zulu Nation, Latin Kings or the Five Percenters?

All the hype after movies like: Fort Apache - The South Bronx, Krush Grove, Fame and The Warriors?

The Smurfs, Josie and The Pussycats (pre-millennium), Magilla Gorilla, Dastardly and Mutley and The Mickey Mouse club? I liked Alexandra and her smart-ass cat. LOL

Watching Good Times, Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days?



Keeping cool in the summer from the water through the fire hydrants? That is, until the NYPD or NYFD came along and shut it down.



The coquito and Icee man? LOL The coquitos came in those little white paper cones (and they were the bomb) and they cost $.25? The ices’ came in bigger white paper cones and the icee man would pull back his white towel and begin to scrape this big huge block of ice with a shaver. 'Scratch, scratch, scratch,' his shaver went as he fixed whatever flavor you wanted. I liked Coconut myself and they were $.50.

Wearing white skippies?

Wearing underoos? I loved my Wonder Woman underoos. LOL

When Raggedy Ann & Andy and Holly Hobby were all the craze?

When the Baby Alive and Tuesday Taylor dolls; Barbie dream house, Barbie corvette and the Tree Tots were on just about every girls Christmas List?

Twister, Parcheesi, Chinese checkers, Monopoly, Clue, Trouble and Family Feud games were all the rage?

I LOVED the Mickey Mouse Club and even had a set of ears.
M-I-C - See you real soon! K-E-Y - Why? Because we like you! M--O--U--S--E



Trying to catch your favorite song to record on WBLS (quiet storm hour) or 98.7 Kiss (or was it 102??) or 92 WKTU with your cassette tape player? DJ Roscoe was my favorite DJ and I loved it when he played "Try it Out" by Gino Soccio.

Remember the song Pac Jam, I'm Ready (by Kano), Don't make me Over, Keep on Movin', To The Limit, Just want to Hold you Tight, Fascinated, Situation, The Bee Gees, Prince, Club Nouveau, Morris Day?

I wanted to be a Solid Gold Dancer

I actually thought Deney Terrio was cool

Yes, I used to like Copacabana...LMAO

When videos first came out? They were plain, but everybody (kids and adults) could watch them and there was no soft porn videos.

Betamax and those other video machines? We had the one that played those long, square tapes that you inserted into the machine and pulled out to play. The first ones we got were: 'An Officer & A gentleman,' 'Flash dance,' 'Thriller,' and something else I can't recall right now.

When you cut up your old sweatshirts to have one shoulder hanging off just like Jennifer Beales' in 'Flash dance'?



Where you were when the first Shuttle blew up? It was January 24, 1985. I was in New York - hospitalized at St. Vincent’s with a Kidney infection. I thought it was actually apart of the launch, but soon realized it was a tragedy happening right before the eyes of the world.

Where you were when you heard that former President Regan had been shot? I was in Catholic school and had just stepped in the door when I heard Mami yelling to Papi that the President had been shot.

What you were doing on July 13, 1977? I was 8 years old. It was really hot and muggy out. I was in front of my stoop playing with my cousins and friends when suddenly, we heard "boom," then what sounded like a large generator shutting down and all the lights around the park started going off. Traffic lights were out.......cars were screeching to a halt and people were running through the park screaming.

As the night wore on we could hear the glass of near-by stores breaking as mass looting began. People were driving brand new cars off the lots of near-by dealerships, 'Crazy Eddies' was hit hard as people broke in and stole TV's, radios, CB's, you name it; some Bodegas were stripped while others withstood - - primarily because the owners stood out front with locked and loaded weapons; fires broke out all over Harlem and the Bronx. We slept on the floor all night because there were people shooting in the projects.

At first daylight, three of the five boroughs looked like war zones in third world countries. It was so sad. A reported 3,776 arrests were made and 1,037 (approximately) fires burned throughout the night.

1977: It was the "Summer of Sam" (aka David Berkowitz). The city's fiscal crisis and extremely high crime rate added to the woes of the working poor and the "night of terror” as the NY Daily News put it, only threw NYC into a deeper State of Emergency.

But I digress.

I loved Madonna's movie "Desperately Seeking Susan"



I listened to Duran Duran, Milli Vanilli (yeah, yeah, yeah), U2, John Cougar Mellancamp, Bruce Springsteen, Guy, Freddie Jackson, Atlantic Star, Lisa Lisa, Full Force, Anita Baker, Tiffany, Boy George and Wham!

Remember Tab and Shasta soda and the bubblegum flavored sodas?

Remember hanging out and eating at the Cuchifrito stand?

I was enthralled by Charlie! and Enjoli and Gloria Vanderbilt and Ralph Lauren perfumes.

I thought the Nair commercials were kinda racy back then and Madonna was beyond controversial.

I remember my Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox that my friends thought was so cool.

I absolutely adored my Wonder Woman Halloween costume and wanted to be Isis...O MIGHTY ISIS!
Isis, dedicated foe of evil, defender of the weak, champion of truth and justice! I wanted to turn into Isis and exact revenge on my big brothers for all those times they stuck my head in their funky sock hamper whenever I was being a pest.

I was an expert at the video game Galaxian and Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, Kangaroo and Centipede. I could spend hours at the arcade in the bodega!

And as much as I hate to admit it, I owned a black and red jacket like the one Michael Jackson (may he rest in peace) wore in the video Thriller. You couldn't tell me I wasn't cute in my pleather jacket, pants and black pumps.


I vividly remember the Challenger Shuttle disaster, Reaganomics, and the stock market crash of 1987.

I cried like I lost a relative when I saw the Rocky movies.

I never went back into the ocean after I saw Jaws...but I kept going back to the theatre for Jaws2, 3....

I remember Baretta was one of the top TV shows. I remember wondering "Who shot JR?" I remember the General Hospital craze when Luke and Laura got married.

I fell in love wih Billy Dee Williams after I saw Star Wars.

I fell in love with the movie Fame and it fueled my audition at Fiorella H. Laguardia: The high school of the Performing Arts.

Me 1989

I was just beginning to come into my womanhood (and enjoyed every minute of it!!) back then in the 80's and with the help of Maya Anglelou's poems, Sade's sultry tunes, Madonna's dance your a** off beats, Pat Benatar's "Love is Battlefield," those mini skirts that turned every head, fashion shows, a shot at modeling, college, Professor Ryan who told me that one day I would be a powerful force in the media/human service industry if I applied myself and forged ahead, Raven, Raymond and all the other people that rode the waves with me....I am who I am. Thank you!
Me in 1986
I miss the 80's, but at least I have the memories and the music!

Those were the great 80's. I'm a child of the 80's and proud of it. I came into womanhood in the late 80's and enjoyed every single minute of it!

Me in 1988