Chips, Flips and Kung Fu grips…The Mighty 690 playing REO Speedwagon’s Take It On The Run and living in the sun in 1981…here and now folks, I present you my 11th birthday, packed with pics from the good ol’ golden days.
(Above) Before the festivities even started, I couldn’t wait to dig into the twin-bagged goodness of Laura Scudder’s chips before the guests showed up. And by golly, would you believe that I found what I believed then to be the record holder in the world’s biggest potato chip. When I found that big honking Sasquatch paw in the bag, I squealed in delight—“Dood! Lookit this chip! Dad! Get me the ruler and take a picture!” Yes, super dork indeed. I still vividly remember sticking out my tongue and my dad filling the entire room with blinding white light from those old Kodak flash cubes.
Dig the camo pants, courtesy of my grandma, who was constantly dishing out duds for me (she was an awesome seamstress). She even made my birthday shirt for my 13th birthday. And that striped JCPenney shirt was one of my favs too. Meanwhile, my brother (to the right) sports a Fred Perry, decades before their mainstream hit here in the U.S.
As soon as all my friends showed up, it was time to get the party started. And a real life of the party back then was Kubo (the blonde boy above), who made his debut star appearance in my 10th birthday from the year before. Here he is singing some crazy rendition of “Happy Birthday,” mouth cupped for effect and amplification. He was a total extrovert, and I wonder if he used that unique quality to get him somewhere when he got older. I hope so.
Here’s a question—why don’t pictures have these cool rounded corners anymore?
Cutting the cake as per usual, surrounded by friends who can’t wait to have a piece. The girl in the upper left is Beth. She was a neighbor who was a year or two older than me. A big computer gamer back then, she introduced me to the ancient online community of BBSes (Bulletin Board Systems)—dedicated computer users connected by their phone/modem lines over a decade before the “internet” took the world by storm. Pretty crazy.
It almost requisite that any kid’s birthday party photo album will have shots of “kids eating birthday party food.” My parents nailed that for sure, in this set and in future parties I had. When I look at this shot, I actually do remember being intrigued in whatever it was my friend Dave was talking about (left of Kubo), but I wish I could remember exactly what it was.
I can vividly recall so many other memories of my ‘80s childhood, but my day-to-day pre-teen conversations remain as hazy and grey as the school day mornings back then. Maybe we were talking about video games or BMX bikes. This was before girls even mattered. Speaking of my star grandma, there she is on the far left, with my youngest brother about to get a heap of that cake.
Meanwhile, onto more vivid moments caught in time. I’ve always liked this picture for many reasons: 1) It captures a favorite pastime of mine—emulating Bruce Lee. I’d dare say there was no other heroic role model for ‘70s and ‘80s Asian kids to look up to. 2) It fully reveals the wacky side of my old buddy Kubo (to my left, in his own Kung Fu rendition), and 3) It also shows off the full-on fashion of the day, as worn by my other friend Cary (to my right)—Op (Ocean Pacific©) shorts, Hang Ten© tube socks and Vans© Slip-Ons—a favorite of many kids being the ones with checkered soles (as seen). I wonder why they didn’t bring those back with the onslaught of the Vans Renaissance. I remember us being so into it that we even checkered the soles of our regular Vans with black markers.
We also get a glimpse of my birthday presents, amongst them a gumball machine, which I remember receiving. I just wish I could remember what was in that box to the right of it…
What I do remember is the craziest gift that year being the Rubik’s Barrel/Octagon that my friend Cary got me. As if the Rubik’s Cube wasn’t enough of challenge, here was this nutso barrel puzzle that turned into all these ridiculously random shapes as you attempted to solve it. I never solved that thing. Nor did I ever solve the Rubik’s Cube. Nevertheless, the initial intrigue was unmistakable. Just look at that expression on my face.
Of course, these days if one was stumped on the cube, he or she need to look no further than Google, where you can find the solution in a mere matter of seconds. Also these days, some people can even solve it in a matter of seconds too.
The Rubik’s Barrel/Octagon is kind of a rarity these days, but it’s out there if you look for it.
Another prized possession was the Othello board game as seen above, which wasn’t nearly as impossible as the Rubik’s Barrel but super fun nonetheless, when I had the chance to play my friends.
In Kubo’s hands on the lower right was the Mighty Men & Monster Maker by Tomy©, another enjoyable plaything which allowed me to create random heroes and creatures by tiling together various heads, torsos and legs. The creations came to life when a paper was placed over the pieces and rubbed over with a hard stick of waxy graphite. The raised relief of the plate details “drew” the creatures onto the paper, and afterwards I was free to color them in with the included pack of colored pencils which offered a basic spectrum of costume and flesh tones. This in-depth video shows it in all its glorious detail—so much, in fact, that I actually miss the darn thing watching it now.
Both the packaging and the toy itself were highly original, and the plates provided quite an assortment of fantastical creatures with lots of detail. Although fun for awhile, it soon landed into my “toy box of no return,” in which my parents stashed all the toys I abandoned and/or neglected. I’m not sure why I lost interest in it…perhaps the plates made it too easy to create monsters that were out of this world. I had much darker creations in my own head.
Notice also, the shiny new Atari 2600 joystick on the table, right beneath the Othello box. I received my Atari that same year, but I think a couple months before my birthday. It was something I begged my dad for, and as frugal as he was, he made me hold out until the price had gone down to something he could afford. Initially it was $219, then later $179, and finally we bought it for $139 in 1981 from the Fedco by our house. Funny, only weeks after that it went down even further to $119.
Tags: Flashbacks
Fred Perry! So fly!
ps I am down with photos avec rounded corners too.. cunts need to bring that hit back!
Yup, wish that was still an option! You’d think these days they can do anything with film development, eh?
[...] memories. It was taken in 1984—a little later than my heyday (which was probably more like 1976–1981, when I practically lived in their toy section)—but it still gives a rare glimpse into the heart [...]
[...] would dare say that anyone who grew up in Los Angeles in the ’70s and ’80s would regard the Pee Chee folder as a pure icon of their school daze, with fond recall of the [...]