In the rearview window, 90s summers tend to take on a halcyon glow. For many, there were no schedules, no texting and not many parents paying much attention. This was the pre work-from-home era, and many families had two working parents out of the house all day. A big bunch of so-called latch-key kids were blissfully on their own, starting around age 11 or 12.
Summer days could be languidly spent, frolicking at the public pool, devouring age-inappropriate books on the couch, running through sprinklers, riding bikes with friends, making mix tapes, and just hanging out. At night, you could make last-minute movie plans, go out for ice cream and get up to some good trouble (skinny dipping, anyone?)
Perhaps it’s little wonder that throwbacks to that era are currently all the rage. Smart phones didn’t exist, nor GPS. Email was a novelty. Video games were played in basements and playrooms with other kids, not with strangers online. If you were left out from some activity or another, you could be happily oblivious in a world sans social media.
An Instacart marketing campaign has brought the trend into mass focus lately, with a commercial featuring a mom introducing her daughter to the forgotten pleasures of water guns, Nintendo cartridge games, eating molten-hot pizza fresh from the microwave, with
Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind playing in the background.
Of course, you cannot stuff technology back in the genie’s bottle, but you can recreate a little of the untethered, easygoing vibe of summers in the 90s. Start with these low-tech, mostly free ideas:
Remember when... a smart phone was a car phone? They were strange and clunky novelties, more a bizarre status symbol than a constant essential.
Get the vibe by... leaving your phone at home for the day. Honestly, this is harder than it sounds and can actually feel borderline irresponsible. So, take baby steps. Go for a phoneless walk in the morning. Hang out with a neighbor or your kids in your yard, and leave it to charge.
Remember when... Vanilla Ice was super-hot?
Keep your summer going with the
Soapbox Cincinnati 90s Playlist on Spotify. A soundtrack to your summer throwback.
Parental Advisory: Explicit Content.
Get the vibe by... going to the
Cincinnati Music Festival July 24-26, featuring 90s hit-makers like LL Cool J, Toni Braxton, Goodie Mob and Joe.
Remember when … you had to wait for your favorite TV show on a certain night at only one time every week? Or standing in line to buy tickets at the movie theater? Remember
Felicity?
X Files?
Jurassic Park?
Get the vibe by... re-watching choice episodes or the entire series.
Felicity and
X Files are both streaming on Hulu, Disney+ and Apple TV. Watch the original blockbuster
Jurassic Park on Peacock, which shocked movie goers in the summer of 1993.
Remember when… you showed up at a friend’s house to see if he or she wanted to “ride bikes”?
Get the vibe by… riding your bike, purely for fun (not exercise), to a friend’s house. Bonus points if you drop by without calling first. Triple points if you do it all without your smartphone. Just don’t go all the way 90s and ride without a helmet.
Remember when… babydoll tees and overalls with one strap undone were it?
Get the vibe by ... thrifting for 90s gems at sweet spots in the city, including Peppermint Pig in Anderson, Goodwill, Salvation Army or St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store.
Remember when… three-way calling was the closest thing to a group chat? No one calls out of the blue “just to talk” anymore, but that was a main social event in the 90s.
Get the vibe by… three-way calling your besties from then or now. Of course, you’ll probably have to text in advance to set up a date for it to work. Fortunately, or unfortunately, you can’t actually go back in time.
Remember when… your entire plan for the day was “go to the pool”?
Get the vibe by… clearing your schedule for an entire Saturday or Sunday (or heck, play hooky during the week!) and head to one of
Cincinnati’s sweet public pools, preferably with a friend and maybe a good book.
Remember when… you decided at the spur of the moment to go out for soft serve?
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Jessica BozsanMaeve Bozsan, age 4, with sprinkle cone at the Dari Bar.Get the vibe by… taking a spontaneous drive to your favorite childhood spot in the city, like the throwback
Silver Grove Dari-Bar in Northern Kentucky,
Putz’s Creamy Whip on the West Side, or
Norwood Delite Creamy Whip.
Remember when… social media just didn’t exist?
Get the vibe by… deleting Facebook, Instagram and TikTok from your phone for a while. Call it a summer break. Is someone else having more fun, on a fancy vacation, and looking better in their swimsuit with their more well-behaved children? Not knowing may make the rest of your summer a little sweeter.
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Soapbox Cincinnati revisits the '90s with 110 essential songs including Smashing Pumpkins, The Verve, 2Pac, Depeche Mode and more. Listen to the Soapbox Cincinnati 90s Playlist
here on Spotify.
Thank you to Emma Chaney for music curation and production.
Parental Advisory: Explicit Content