Thanks for the Memories, 1989

Looks like my mall bangs and tight-rolled jeans got the last laugh.

Back in the 1980s, my older sister and I joked about the horrendous styles of the 1970s – bell bottoms, especially, cracked us up. I remember lamenting that there was nothing distinctive about our era.

Fast forward nearly 25 years. What were we thinking?

A new book, Malls Across America, chronicles a road trip taken by 20-year-old photographer Michael Galinsky. The year was 1989. Batman was a blockbuster. Don Henley’s “The End of the Innocence” resonated with listeners.

Galinsky shares his thoughts in an excerpt from a Mail Online article:

Mr. Galinsky told Today.com in 2011 that the time period is just as significant as the physical setting of his photos.

“At the time, the mall was the new public space, the new community center where people would interact. This was pre-Internet, pre-cell phone, there was smoking in malls, it was before the Gulf War. It was this weird moment in time where things were getting ready to change.”

I didn’t expect these photos to evoke such nostalgia in me. Relive this special period (and if you weren’t born yet, see what you missed). These photos truly speak a thousand words.