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Revisiting 1985 at the Vintage Garage

The year 1985 was a standout over the last century. Thirty plus  years seems like yesterday.

"It was a treasure culturally"

"It was a treasure culturally, with movies, music, clothes," says producer of the Vintage Garage,  Melissa Sands. "As a sophomore in high school, the music of 1985 is what sticks with me. 'Crazy For You,' 'Dress You Up' AND 'Like a Virgin' by Madonna, all in the same the year? Mind blowing," says Sands. It wasn't all about the music. Movies made a huge impact as well. "Back to the Future" was the highest grossing film of 1985; Ferris Bueller’s (actual) Day off was filmed in June of 1985; John Hughes continued his reign of classic coming of age movies with "The Breakfast Club" and "Weird Science;" and Rob Lowe brought the character Billy Hayes to life in another teenage classic from that year, "St. Elmo’s Fire." In Chicago sports, 1985 was a huge year for the Bears, who won the Superbowl against New Orleans and brought us the “Superbowl Shuffle.” "Being a teenager in the 1980’s alway makes the August show my favorite " Sands says. "Now, if I could just get all my friends from high school to show up, the day would be perfect!"

"All the vintage you can handle,"

The Vintage Garage always has all the vintage you can handle in all categories, but our themes give us an era to highlight for the day. On August 16th you’ll see great outfits (shoulder pads) and hear great 80’s music from John Arensdorff of Audio Archeology, our resident vinyl spinning DJ who promises a huge variety of 80’s classics.

Some other memorable events from 1985:

    • After many years of searching, the wreck of the Titanic found.
    • First version of Windows released Windows 1.0.  (I clearly remember working with programs like WordStar and Lotus123. My last 2 years of high school, I spent half a day at the career center for computer lab.)
    • Someone shot Mob boss Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti in front of Starks Steak House, which made John Gotti boss of the Gambino crime family. John Gotti was known for his high end Italian suits and loved the limelight. It would ultimately be his demise.
    • DNA was used for the first time in a criminal case.
    • Nintendo created Super Mario Bros along with the first NES - Nintendo Entertainment System.
    • Esprit were my favorite clothes and followed the Italian design trend "Memphis Style" in the mid 80s

Vintage Garage Chicago flea market, located Uptown.

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