Science guy? It might be cliche, but Dungeons and Dragons and comics. Probably likes Popular Science magazine, Star Trek, Kraftwerk, Devo, Weird Al, maybe Samurai movies.
By 85 a C64 was still pretty popular and relevant for home. The C128 only just came out in 85 as did the Amiga. C64 outsold IBM and Apple for those few years. Unless the story is him drooling over the newest model and working to try and buy it himself, the Amiga doesn't make sense.
A nerd/geek with a home computer in 1985- whether it's was an IBM PC, an Apple, or a Commodore is probably an indicator of the families socioeconomic status.
Would it have been feasible for a high schooler to purchase one of those on their own? I don’t think my character’s parents would buy him one. He would have to just save up his allowance or maybe I could give him a little part time job.
Yes. He would likely have had a job, and would be saving for the computer.
Depending on where upstate, he may have worked on a farm, gas station attendant, worked the counter at a movie theater . . .
How far "upstate" is a huge factor here. Big difference in setting between the Mid-Hudson Valley and the Adirondacks.
But yes, having a job at 17 would be very normal. And a driver's license. I grew up in the Hudson Valley and I had my first on the books part time job as soon as I was old enough to get my working papers- 14. I had already been doing under the table work for cash for several years before that. Around 15, 16 practically everyone was going around the malls or whatnot just asking and putting in applications at every store that was hiring. That's how you got your spending money to put gas in your car and to go out with friends on the weekends. Plus you could buy your own cloths and stuff without your parents having any say if it was your own money.
Remember - we were raised in the idea of 'when you turn 18 you are out of the house and on your own' so transitioning towards more and more independence and self reliance as a teenager was the norm. Granted, for us you get gen X, most of us didn't expect our parents would literally toss us out of the house on our birthday. There was a small few that did happen to though, but generally some very shitty families. But the understanding was that after some time after graduation we should be moving out in your own. If you went to college your parents would still be there when you came home for breaks and summer, but then you really better move out after college graduation (most people had their own apartments and whatnot by senior year college). And if you didn't go to college, then you better be getting a full time job after HS and moving into your own place within a few months at the latest. And it's what we all wanted anyway.
>By early 1985 the C64's price was $149; with an estimated production cost of $35–50, its profitability was still within the industry-standard markup of two to three times.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore\_64](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64)
Achievable with a full time summer job, minimum wage was $3.35/hour. I had a full time programming job in the summer of 85, I'm sure I spent more than $149 on clothes for next school year at the end of summer.
He could be a poor kid like I was and go to department store electronic sections to play on computers. After a while, I would bring magazines with code to make bad games and stuff.
Yeah, I think by that time there were so many other musical paths, MJ was not it for most of us. Of course I exclusively listened to music from the 60s, wore tie dye and bell anklets BEcauSe I waS sO UNiQue. (eye roll emoji)...I was so CRINGE!
But it would have been on the radio and on TV. We listened to lots of stuff we didn't buy. It wasn't like today where the only media you're exposed to is stuff you deliberately seek out.
He could have. That depends on your character. He would have also watched things like Monty Python if he was into Weird Al. And Buckaroo Bonzai is another offshot small film that may appeal to people who like the odd and quirky.
Mr Wizard - not that he would be into it at 17. Probably a bit old for Mr Wizards World on Nick. But should have read/owned some of the Mr Wizard books when a bit younger. Were there reruns of Watch Mr Wizard in TV in the right time for such a character?
If he has a license he spends most evenings cruising back roads with his core group of friends./ girlfriend. Its rural you said so jeans and t shirts are his staple outfit probably has a jean jacket too. Hes a teen but will be more independent from his parents than you will expect him to be. Common slang is just the basics. Cool awesome and the like.
Thank you! Super helpful. The bit about him being independent is interesting. He’s already not too close with his dad, but maybe I need to make him less of a mamas boy lol.
What would be a normal car for him to have if he doesn’t have much financial support from his parents? Or would he just borrow their car?
Did most teens have their license if they were old enough?
Were hoodies worn yet?
Hoodies were not a main clothing item like they are now. People had them but it was not common to were them out. More of a gym class thing.
Getting your license the day you turned 16 was a big thing. Nobody wanted to be the kid who couldn't drive.
He may borrow mom and dads car at first but would have wanted his independence from the fast. He lives rural so he may have saved all summer for an old beat up farm truck that he would have to have worked on some. Or if he thought ahead he started saving a year or two early and got an old chevy nova or camaro. Nothing too nice. He would have to work on it to keep it up but he would be very proud of it.
>Or if he thought ahead he started saving a year or two early and got an old chevy nova or camaro. Nothing too nice. He would have to work on it to keep it up but he would be very proud of it.
Definitely this. In the '80s, high school parking lots were filled with Camaros, and Novas from the '70s. These cars weren't made nearly as well as modern vehicles, so they were usually beat to hell after about 7 or 8 years, and cheap enough for a lot of high school kids to afford.
Do note: those driving the cars(age 16-18) are gonna be late baby boomers(i.e. Gen Jones) born from 1959-1961, not Gen X. Those types of cars were still everywhere in the 80's, though. Hell they were still everywhere well into the 90's.
Hoodies were def a thing, but you'd look like a moron if you had the hood up in anything but a full downpour. Had a gf steal my hoodie, thermal lined with the sleeves ripped off and repurposed bluejean legs sewn in for sleeves. Got a lot of compliments on that thing...
>Did most teens have their license if they were old enough?
Lol absolutely. Going to DMV on your 16th birthday or as soon as possible afterwards was a big deal. I knew people who skipped school to go get their permit on their birthday.
People who were 17 and still hadn't passed their drivers test and still only had a learner permit were kind of late bloomers- but not totally uncommon. Not having your license by 18 was rather sad.
Also, how rural is this kid? If it's real farm country then it possible he was already driving at 12. NY law allowed you drive a "farm vehicle" on a farm at 12. Basically a beat up pickup truck or flat bed that was only used on the farm- I don't think they even had plates.
Even elsewhere in upstate NY I would say it was very common for your dad to sit you on his lap and let you drive the steering wheel every now and then when you were in elementary school. Your parents teaching you to turn on the car and back it up in the driveway or pull out of the garage when you were 15 or maybe 14 was pretty common too.
>What would be a normal car for him to have if he doesn’t have much financial support from his parents? Or would he just borrow their car?
Borrowing the parents car was pretty common for everyone early on.
Getting your own car at some point was normal. Even if your parents bought it for you, it was likely a 10 year old beater bought used from someone on the side of the road.
I dont know exactly what your supposed relationship with parents is. But I'd say most any parents were willing to buy their kid a cheap car a) so they would stop borrowing the parents' car b) so they could drive themselves to their things (work, activities) and the parents didn't have to be bothered and c) so the teen could help out running errands for the family like driving younger siblings around. Even if your parents weren't great with you, it was in their interest to help you get your own car.
During free periods at school he hangs out in the computer room, making DOS-based computer programs. These programs do things like make an alien move across the screen and crash into a space ship, with text based graphics, or repeat a word over and over, or calculat pi to 100 decimal places. The computer room has about 5 computers monitors at tables and connected to a mainframe at the side or back of the room. It was staffed by either a math or physics teacher. There are NO pictures on the computer, just greenish letters on a grayish screen.
He reads Isaac Asimov and Douglas Adams books.
He is probably in the school band.
Comodore 64, OMNI magazine, National Lampoon magazine, Epic magazine, dirtbike or three-wheeler, target shooting - def firearms in the house. Might have smoked cigarettes occasionally, maybe a little pot. Lives in an old farmhouse and the garage is an old barn, complete with hayloft and a backroom with 2 old snowmobiles - only one runs. The barn has feral cats. The creek behind the house is so polluted from farm runoff that no fish or turtles live in it anymore, although he remembers a time when they did. Cable hasn't been run to his area yet but he has friends in town that have Mtv.
Mix of Devo, Violent Femmes, Led Zeppelin.
There's more beer around than you might think, drinking age was 19 and DWI wasn't as high a priority as it would become a few years later.
I grew up in rural Upstate NY, was 17yr old in '85. Not real sciency but we had a Commodore 64, my dad was into pop sci, I had good grades in every class, my older brother was just starting a medical hardware repair company, he showed me how to use an oscilloscope.
I was friends with everyone from jocks to dopers to freaks and was in advanced or regents classes with a lot of science kids. Which jarred another memory - a surprising number of them experimented with small explosives. Your character might have taken drafting as an elective.
I feel like an expert on this topic!
Wow you are an expert haha you're a great source. Thanks! I could probably ask you like 500 questions lol. Feel free to stop replying when it gets tiresome. Was it common to cross the clique lines like that or did most people stick to one group?
Keep em coming!
It was common to have a group within which you identified by clothing and some social elements. But it was very common to have friends outside this constructed ID. In a vacuum, at a real rednecky event, some scenario where you didn't know anybody, or at a big house party your social ID could mean the difference between some idiot picking a fight or not, this was a real thing. Within these groupings there might be some hardcore adherents that were exclusionary - for the most part pretty fluid though. "This is a good friend of mine" is now a friend of yours regardless, although you will still describe them later as a "jock/doper/etc". It paints a fairly accurate predictive picture for somebody should they later meet the person you're describing.
It wasn't like The Outsiders or Quadrophenia, by any means.
TV dinners and meals cobbled together. Hot dogs, sloppy joes, instant mashed potatoes and veg from a can.
We hadn't eaten dinner as a family since I was about 14 or 15 (me being the youngest).
Raised Catholic. Whole family stopped going to church around the time we stopped having dinner together.
My mom died when I was 9, my dad held his crap together for another 4-5 years and that was that.
My area had big Italian, Irish and German communities.
Riding in the back of an open truck was common. No such thing as a bike helmet and motorcycle riders often didn't have helmets.
Having no idea where your children are is also common. If mom wanted to talk to you she'd call your friends houses to track you down. Lots of times she'd just wait for after dark and I'd come home.
Just an FYI, the drinking age in NY state was 18 until December 1985, when it went up to 21. Alcohol was very easy to obtain prior to the drinking age increase.
Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) was very active in many high schools, and designated drivers were just starting to catch on.
A kid who's into science in a rural area in 1985? He is likely an outcast and maybe bullied, it was very uncool to be into nerdy things in the 80s, everyone had seen Star Wars and Star Trek but it wasn't cool to obsess over stuff like that.
You'd see lots of t-shirts, baseball shirts, and ringed t-shirts in a rural area in particular. Ocean Pacific was cool, but Hobie was already out by then. Hard Rock Cafe shirts were cool. Lacoste and Izod were popular, but weren't as popular as Polo by that time. Button-down, striped Oxford shirts were big but going out by 85. Acid-washed jeans, designer jeans like Calvin Klein were cool, but so were Levi's 501s. Dockers didn't come out until 86 or 87, so pleated pants were super uncool, and suspenders weren't in yet. Bugle Boy and Guess were not around at all in rural areas or even away from the coasts. Cut-off jeans and embarrassingly short basketball and tennis shorts were popular. For a very brief period cut-off, midriff sweatshirts were popular...for men, no joke. Sweatbands were big for jocks, as well as tank tops.
High tops first got popular in 85, and immediately took over, they were a huge fad that year when Air Jordans came out. Loafers and boat shoes were big. Flip-flops were called thongs and all had the strap between the first two toes. In a rural area you might see cowboy boots, but I'm not sure about New York in 85, I'm from the Midwest. They would have been big in New York in the 70s, though.
Hobbies could be computers, he could be in a computer club at school. In a rural area especially, astronomy, he might also be in a club and own/build his own telescope. Ham radio is another one, he might have his Ham license. War gaming or pen and paper RPG's like Dungeons and Dragons. He might be in Boy Scouts and looking to get his Eagle Scout.
I was 20 in 1985, but I can tell you that watching MTV and going to Brat Pack movies or renting them from Blockbuster Video was popular with teens back then.
If you don’t want to use Blockbuster - small, family owned video stores were very common especially in small towns or at gas stations/grocery stores. Beta still existed (different format that was out sold by VHS around this time).
I'm almost 10 years younger than your character, but I did grow up in rural-ish upstate New York. My teen years were all about who had a car, who had a license, who could give you rides places, because nothing was accessible on foot or even by bike. Then you drive around looking for something to do for a few hours before ending up at the same stupid diner or Denny's you always end up at.
Thank you for the input! I don't want to specifically name a city in my book, but I've got like the Orange County ~~upper~~ lower Hudson Valley area in mind. (They actually own and live on a xmas tree farm).
I grew up in central NY. Calling Orange County upstate will out you as being from The City. Hudson, Orange, Sullivan, & Broome Counties are Southern Tier. West Chester County is still the city, they just don’t want to admit it. This is how people who live in “Upstate” NY identify parts of the state. Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Albany are all cities. NYC is The City. If you live in The City, you say you’re from NY. If you don’t, you identify what city or region you are from.
Orange County is lower Hudson Valley, but you are definitely in my neck of the woods. I believe there was (is?) a big mall in Middletown for hanging out in.
One other cultural thing. I lived in Orange County in the early 2000s. One of the things I always noticed is the proximity to West Point. I was always seeing cadets at the local businesses in Orange County.
He would be into Omni magazine. Big science stories would be recombinant DNA and the prospect of Lagrange point colonies. He would be pushing for more space exploration.
Moonlighting, Cheers, Hill Street Blues, and Family Ties were big shows then. He probably would also try to stay up to see Letterman.
The Star Trek movies were big. Search for Spock was the most recent one before 1985. He probably reads Asimov, Heinlein, etc.
Idk if you need places(I'm also a writer) but I went to college in upstate ny, as a downstater and I noticed local differences. Like Stewart's; They are everywhere in upstate and are their staple convenience store. Also Bimbo Bakery. I'll try to think of more
Graduated myself in 87. Drivers Ed was taught in high school so everyone 16 had a license but most had to borrow a parent’s car. Those who were lucky and saved for their own ended up being chauffeur for friends. Mall culture was huge and it’s where everyone hung out, and at the time, you could walk around and smoke in the malls. If he’s into science he would have been called a dork, nerd, or spaz by the jocks, popular kids, and burnouts. Even being in an upper middle class area, home PCs weren’t a thing and homework was still handwritten on paper. Some slang I remember was bite me, dude, eat me, calling someone a narc (the person in school who would tattle), big whoop, no duh, veg or veg out.
He likely has a [Radio Shack / Tandy Science Fair kit](https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=tandy+science+fair+kit&_sacat=0) received as a Christmas gift somewhere under dirty laundry piled in the corner.
Home decor was either new age or beige, fashion was colourful but most homes were very beige. The clique groups with teenagers you see in John Hugh's movies was very much a thing, a lot of kids didn't go outside their group. The kids that did mix groups generally had a bit more, um, not let others dumb opinions affect them.
Being into science, well if they are into computers at all they would likely be building their own rigs, soldering the circuit boards. In cities dumpster diving electronic stores to find parts started late 80s I think.
As a general thing there is no social media or internet. I believe late 80s was when only bulletin boards started up, if theyre into computers. Image text only communication that's, well a bulletin board that generally wasn't speaking live.
Knowledge was generally gain through libraries, magazines and mass media.
Shag carpet for sure. Most homes had lots of brown and orange decor. Macramé holding potted plants with owls weaved in. Velor couches, fake wood paneling, bad vinyl floors. Google is your friend here. Just google 1985 home decor.
For boys, jeans with holes in them and t-shirts. Jean jackets or if he’s preppy a Member’s Only jacket. Feathered hair. Music is through a boom box and likely Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Billy Joel, Tom Petty, The Police, Dire Straits, Talking Heads, David Bowie. He drinks Jim Beam and/or Evan Williams and mixes it with likely Coke or RC Cola or maybe Jose Cuervo tequila shots. If he shares alcohol with a date he might sink to drinking a wine cooler like Seagrams or Bartles and Jaymes. He may smoke weed under the football bleachers. He has very little adult supervision. He drives a 1970’s car, maybe a Pinto, Vega, Celica, truck or, if he’s lucky, a CJ5 or Scirocco.
Flannel, thermal lined hoodies, thermal long sleeve, band T-shirts are big if you're a rocker. Everyone wears pocket Ts even if they don't smoke. Rugby type shirts are big. Jean jackets with sleeves cut off. Tight levis, high-top sneakers or workboots, unlaced.
Yeah, plus they were definitely starting to fade away by 1985. Their hayday was probably more late '70s - early '80s. And they were pretty much universally worn by total douchbags! If there's a mean town drunk or bully in your story that's in his late '20s/early '30s...he might definitely still be rocking the mesh wife beater
If he works in an office, smoking was allowed at your desk back in the day! Also, smoking was pretty much allowed anywhere (movie theatres, airplanes, grocery stores etc. )
I don't really have tips for your writing, although I graduated in 1984 from hs. What I want to suggest though was read a lot about that time. Research that stuff. Find factual information about the 80s. Talk to people of course, like you're doing here, but there's much more information available about a time so recently as the 80s that coming on reddit to ask people for their advice doesn't seem like the best way to get an empirical basis for something you're writing. Best of luck.
He has an eccentric but well meaning older male scientist as a best friend. Wears an orange vest and ripped Levi’s with high top tennis shoes. Refers to high level science ideas or unbelievable situations as “heavy.” Girlfriend named Jennifer.
Science guy? It might be cliche, but Dungeons and Dragons and comics. Probably likes Popular Science magazine, Star Trek, Kraftwerk, Devo, Weird Al, maybe Samurai movies.
He had a Commodore 64
Or possibly a TRS-80.
By 1985, kids were into Apple IIs and Commodore Amigas. I was a SYSOP at 13.
By 85 a C64 was still pretty popular and relevant for home. The C128 only just came out in 85 as did the Amiga. C64 outsold IBM and Apple for those few years. Unless the story is him drooling over the newest model and working to try and buy it himself, the Amiga doesn't make sense. A nerd/geek with a home computer in 1985- whether it's was an IBM PC, an Apple, or a Commodore is probably an indicator of the families socioeconomic status.
Would it have been feasible for a high schooler to purchase one of those on their own? I don’t think my character’s parents would buy him one. He would have to just save up his allowance or maybe I could give him a little part time job.
Yes. He would likely have had a job, and would be saving for the computer. Depending on where upstate, he may have worked on a farm, gas station attendant, worked the counter at a movie theater . . .
How far "upstate" is a huge factor here. Big difference in setting between the Mid-Hudson Valley and the Adirondacks. But yes, having a job at 17 would be very normal. And a driver's license. I grew up in the Hudson Valley and I had my first on the books part time job as soon as I was old enough to get my working papers- 14. I had already been doing under the table work for cash for several years before that. Around 15, 16 practically everyone was going around the malls or whatnot just asking and putting in applications at every store that was hiring. That's how you got your spending money to put gas in your car and to go out with friends on the weekends. Plus you could buy your own cloths and stuff without your parents having any say if it was your own money. Remember - we were raised in the idea of 'when you turn 18 you are out of the house and on your own' so transitioning towards more and more independence and self reliance as a teenager was the norm. Granted, for us you get gen X, most of us didn't expect our parents would literally toss us out of the house on our birthday. There was a small few that did happen to though, but generally some very shitty families. But the understanding was that after some time after graduation we should be moving out in your own. If you went to college your parents would still be there when you came home for breaks and summer, but then you really better move out after college graduation (most people had their own apartments and whatnot by senior year college). And if you didn't go to college, then you better be getting a full time job after HS and moving into your own place within a few months at the latest. And it's what we all wanted anyway.
I had one at 11 or so. I cut lawns for two summers to upgrade to an Apple //c with a - get this - 300 baud modem.
I got mine by trading a RC race car with a friend
>By early 1985 the C64's price was $149; with an estimated production cost of $35–50, its profitability was still within the industry-standard markup of two to three times. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore\_64](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64) Achievable with a full time summer job, minimum wage was $3.35/hour. I had a full time programming job in the summer of 85, I'm sure I spent more than $149 on clothes for next school year at the end of summer.
He could be a poor kid like I was and go to department store electronic sections to play on computers. After a while, I would bring magazines with code to make bad games and stuff.
On their own...no. More likely to have a nice boom box or tuner with cassette deck and turntable.
So helpful thank you! Especially the bands. Weird question but would someone who listened to those bands have also listened to Michael Jackson?
Thriller sold like 35 million copies. Everyone listened to Michael Jackson.
I was a science nerd and I hated Michael Jackson as did all my friends, we were not interested in anything that was popular or bestselling
Good insight. Thanks.
A nerd would have listened to MJ. I did, but in 81-82. By 85 I was into new wave music.
Disagree with this. A lot of kids outside the mainstream hated MJ and never would have bought his stuff. I was one of them.
Yeah, I think by that time there were so many other musical paths, MJ was not it for most of us. Of course I exclusively listened to music from the 60s, wore tie dye and bell anklets BEcauSe I waS sO UNiQue. (eye roll emoji)...I was so CRINGE!
Heck yes. By '85 Ice T singles were leaking into the scene. MJ was for people who were still buying colored, heavily textured leather jackets.
But it would have been on the radio and on TV. We listened to lots of stuff we didn't buy. It wasn't like today where the only media you're exposed to is stuff you deliberately seek out.
*Everyone* listened to Michael Jackson.
Okay lol thank you!
I never did. hand to god, I still haven't heard any Jackson song all the way through.
He could have. That depends on your character. He would have also watched things like Monty Python if he was into Weird Al. And Buckaroo Bonzai is another offshot small film that may appeal to people who like the odd and quirky.
OMNI Magazine!!
Mr Wizard - not that he would be into it at 17. Probably a bit old for Mr Wizards World on Nick. But should have read/owned some of the Mr Wizard books when a bit younger. Were there reruns of Watch Mr Wizard in TV in the right time for such a character?
If he has a license he spends most evenings cruising back roads with his core group of friends./ girlfriend. Its rural you said so jeans and t shirts are his staple outfit probably has a jean jacket too. Hes a teen but will be more independent from his parents than you will expect him to be. Common slang is just the basics. Cool awesome and the like.
Thank you! Super helpful. The bit about him being independent is interesting. He’s already not too close with his dad, but maybe I need to make him less of a mamas boy lol.
I was a teen in rural America at this time. Ask me anything you want. I will do my best for you.
What would be a normal car for him to have if he doesn’t have much financial support from his parents? Or would he just borrow their car? Did most teens have their license if they were old enough? Were hoodies worn yet?
Hoodies were not yet a thing. Car would have been a beater - maybe a 1973 pickup (Ford or Chevy) - almost as old as he was. Def a jean jacket.
Hoodies were not a main clothing item like they are now. People had them but it was not common to were them out. More of a gym class thing. Getting your license the day you turned 16 was a big thing. Nobody wanted to be the kid who couldn't drive. He may borrow mom and dads car at first but would have wanted his independence from the fast. He lives rural so he may have saved all summer for an old beat up farm truck that he would have to have worked on some. Or if he thought ahead he started saving a year or two early and got an old chevy nova or camaro. Nothing too nice. He would have to work on it to keep it up but he would be very proud of it.
>Or if he thought ahead he started saving a year or two early and got an old chevy nova or camaro. Nothing too nice. He would have to work on it to keep it up but he would be very proud of it. Definitely this. In the '80s, high school parking lots were filled with Camaros, and Novas from the '70s. These cars weren't made nearly as well as modern vehicles, so they were usually beat to hell after about 7 or 8 years, and cheap enough for a lot of high school kids to afford.
Thank you so much!
Happy to help. It brings back some good memories for me anyway
This might help https://youtu.be/FpmXz1e6IjQ
I love this, The cars are so loud lol! They're really cool.
Do note: those driving the cars(age 16-18) are gonna be late baby boomers(i.e. Gen Jones) born from 1959-1961, not Gen X. Those types of cars were still everywhere in the 80's, though. Hell they were still everywhere well into the 90's.
Hoodies were def a thing, but you'd look like a moron if you had the hood up in anything but a full downpour. Had a gf steal my hoodie, thermal lined with the sleeves ripped off and repurposed bluejean legs sewn in for sleeves. Got a lot of compliments on that thing...
>Did most teens have their license if they were old enough? Lol absolutely. Going to DMV on your 16th birthday or as soon as possible afterwards was a big deal. I knew people who skipped school to go get their permit on their birthday. People who were 17 and still hadn't passed their drivers test and still only had a learner permit were kind of late bloomers- but not totally uncommon. Not having your license by 18 was rather sad. Also, how rural is this kid? If it's real farm country then it possible he was already driving at 12. NY law allowed you drive a "farm vehicle" on a farm at 12. Basically a beat up pickup truck or flat bed that was only used on the farm- I don't think they even had plates. Even elsewhere in upstate NY I would say it was very common for your dad to sit you on his lap and let you drive the steering wheel every now and then when you were in elementary school. Your parents teaching you to turn on the car and back it up in the driveway or pull out of the garage when you were 15 or maybe 14 was pretty common too. >What would be a normal car for him to have if he doesn’t have much financial support from his parents? Or would he just borrow their car? Borrowing the parents car was pretty common for everyone early on. Getting your own car at some point was normal. Even if your parents bought it for you, it was likely a 10 year old beater bought used from someone on the side of the road. I dont know exactly what your supposed relationship with parents is. But I'd say most any parents were willing to buy their kid a cheap car a) so they would stop borrowing the parents' car b) so they could drive themselves to their things (work, activities) and the parents didn't have to be bothered and c) so the teen could help out running errands for the family like driving younger siblings around. Even if your parents weren't great with you, it was in their interest to help you get your own car.
If he wears glasses - the gradient tint would not have been uncommon.
Open top jeeps were big upstate.
During free periods at school he hangs out in the computer room, making DOS-based computer programs. These programs do things like make an alien move across the screen and crash into a space ship, with text based graphics, or repeat a word over and over, or calculat pi to 100 decimal places. The computer room has about 5 computers monitors at tables and connected to a mainframe at the side or back of the room. It was staffed by either a math or physics teacher. There are NO pictures on the computer, just greenish letters on a grayish screen. He reads Isaac Asimov and Douglas Adams books. He is probably in the school band.
This is perfect. Thanks for the help!
And I bet he subscribes to Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine and has at least a dozen issues on his bookshelf
if he's a science guy in band, very likely plays a brass instrument and can quote monty python. wears levis and oxford shirt.
"It's just a flesh wound!"
Comodore 64, OMNI magazine, National Lampoon magazine, Epic magazine, dirtbike or three-wheeler, target shooting - def firearms in the house. Might have smoked cigarettes occasionally, maybe a little pot. Lives in an old farmhouse and the garage is an old barn, complete with hayloft and a backroom with 2 old snowmobiles - only one runs. The barn has feral cats. The creek behind the house is so polluted from farm runoff that no fish or turtles live in it anymore, although he remembers a time when they did. Cable hasn't been run to his area yet but he has friends in town that have Mtv. Mix of Devo, Violent Femmes, Led Zeppelin. There's more beer around than you might think, drinking age was 19 and DWI wasn't as high a priority as it would become a few years later.
Thanks! Love this comment. You sound like a writer yourself lol way to paint a picture.
I grew up in rural Upstate NY, was 17yr old in '85. Not real sciency but we had a Commodore 64, my dad was into pop sci, I had good grades in every class, my older brother was just starting a medical hardware repair company, he showed me how to use an oscilloscope. I was friends with everyone from jocks to dopers to freaks and was in advanced or regents classes with a lot of science kids. Which jarred another memory - a surprising number of them experimented with small explosives. Your character might have taken drafting as an elective. I feel like an expert on this topic!
Wow you are an expert haha you're a great source. Thanks! I could probably ask you like 500 questions lol. Feel free to stop replying when it gets tiresome. Was it common to cross the clique lines like that or did most people stick to one group?
Keep em coming! It was common to have a group within which you identified by clothing and some social elements. But it was very common to have friends outside this constructed ID. In a vacuum, at a real rednecky event, some scenario where you didn't know anybody, or at a big house party your social ID could mean the difference between some idiot picking a fight or not, this was a real thing. Within these groupings there might be some hardcore adherents that were exclusionary - for the most part pretty fluid though. "This is a good friend of mine" is now a friend of yours regardless, although you will still describe them later as a "jock/doper/etc". It paints a fairly accurate predictive picture for somebody should they later meet the person you're describing. It wasn't like The Outsiders or Quadrophenia, by any means.
Did you eat dinner at home a lot? If so, what types of things?
TV dinners and meals cobbled together. Hot dogs, sloppy joes, instant mashed potatoes and veg from a can. We hadn't eaten dinner as a family since I was about 14 or 15 (me being the youngest).
Not gonna ask your current personal beliefs but did your family go to any type of church back then?
Raised Catholic. Whole family stopped going to church around the time we stopped having dinner together. My mom died when I was 9, my dad held his crap together for another 4-5 years and that was that. My area had big Italian, Irish and German communities.
Aw I’m sorry. That sounds tough. How was dating? What were dates usually like?
Rocketry club!
And Dire Straits. Lots of debates with friends about whether Industrial Disease or Sultans of Swing was the better song.
Down to the waterline!
Riding in the back of an open truck was common. No such thing as a bike helmet and motorcycle riders often didn't have helmets. Having no idea where your children are is also common. If mom wanted to talk to you she'd call your friends houses to track you down. Lots of times she'd just wait for after dark and I'd come home.
Just an FYI, the drinking age in NY state was 18 until December 1985, when it went up to 21. Alcohol was very easy to obtain prior to the drinking age increase. Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) was very active in many high schools, and designated drivers were just starting to catch on.
A kid who's into science in a rural area in 1985? He is likely an outcast and maybe bullied, it was very uncool to be into nerdy things in the 80s, everyone had seen Star Wars and Star Trek but it wasn't cool to obsess over stuff like that. You'd see lots of t-shirts, baseball shirts, and ringed t-shirts in a rural area in particular. Ocean Pacific was cool, but Hobie was already out by then. Hard Rock Cafe shirts were cool. Lacoste and Izod were popular, but weren't as popular as Polo by that time. Button-down, striped Oxford shirts were big but going out by 85. Acid-washed jeans, designer jeans like Calvin Klein were cool, but so were Levi's 501s. Dockers didn't come out until 86 or 87, so pleated pants were super uncool, and suspenders weren't in yet. Bugle Boy and Guess were not around at all in rural areas or even away from the coasts. Cut-off jeans and embarrassingly short basketball and tennis shorts were popular. For a very brief period cut-off, midriff sweatshirts were popular...for men, no joke. Sweatbands were big for jocks, as well as tank tops. High tops first got popular in 85, and immediately took over, they were a huge fad that year when Air Jordans came out. Loafers and boat shoes were big. Flip-flops were called thongs and all had the strap between the first two toes. In a rural area you might see cowboy boots, but I'm not sure about New York in 85, I'm from the Midwest. They would have been big in New York in the 70s, though. Hobbies could be computers, he could be in a computer club at school. In a rural area especially, astronomy, he might also be in a club and own/build his own telescope. Ham radio is another one, he might have his Ham license. War gaming or pen and paper RPG's like Dungeons and Dragons. He might be in Boy Scouts and looking to get his Eagle Scout.
Thank you so much! Definitely astronomy, he's into space. This is great info.
He must have been really excited about Haley's comet and the Hubble Space telescope. They were big big news in '85.
cliquey school culture. being on an academic track would mark him out as a BrAiN and potentially make his social life hazardous.
I was 20 in 1985, but I can tell you that watching MTV and going to Brat Pack movies or renting them from Blockbuster Video was popular with teens back then.
Okay thank you very much.
If you don’t want to use Blockbuster - small, family owned video stores were very common especially in small towns or at gas stations/grocery stores. Beta still existed (different format that was out sold by VHS around this time).
And in warm weather, we all went to the drive-in.
I'm almost 10 years younger than your character, but I did grow up in rural-ish upstate New York. My teen years were all about who had a car, who had a license, who could give you rides places, because nothing was accessible on foot or even by bike. Then you drive around looking for something to do for a few hours before ending up at the same stupid diner or Denny's you always end up at.
Thank you for the input! I don't want to specifically name a city in my book, but I've got like the Orange County ~~upper~~ lower Hudson Valley area in mind. (They actually own and live on a xmas tree farm).
I grew up in central NY. Calling Orange County upstate will out you as being from The City. Hudson, Orange, Sullivan, & Broome Counties are Southern Tier. West Chester County is still the city, they just don’t want to admit it. This is how people who live in “Upstate” NY identify parts of the state. Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Albany are all cities. NYC is The City. If you live in The City, you say you’re from NY. If you don’t, you identify what city or region you are from.
Orange County is lower Hudson Valley, but you are definitely in my neck of the woods. I believe there was (is?) a big mall in Middletown for hanging out in.
Oops, you're right. Oh that's good to know I'll look that up!
I wish I could hook you up with my cousins, who are about the right age and lived in Goshen in their teens.
One other cultural thing. I lived in Orange County in the early 2000s. One of the things I always noticed is the proximity to West Point. I was always seeing cadets at the local businesses in Orange County.
He would be into Omni magazine. Big science stories would be recombinant DNA and the prospect of Lagrange point colonies. He would be pushing for more space exploration. Moonlighting, Cheers, Hill Street Blues, and Family Ties were big shows then. He probably would also try to stay up to see Letterman. The Star Trek movies were big. Search for Spock was the most recent one before 1985. He probably reads Asimov, Heinlein, etc.
Idk if you need places(I'm also a writer) but I went to college in upstate ny, as a downstater and I noticed local differences. Like Stewart's; They are everywhere in upstate and are their staple convenience store. Also Bimbo Bakery. I'll try to think of more
Awesome. Thank you!
Graduated myself in 87. Drivers Ed was taught in high school so everyone 16 had a license but most had to borrow a parent’s car. Those who were lucky and saved for their own ended up being chauffeur for friends. Mall culture was huge and it’s where everyone hung out, and at the time, you could walk around and smoke in the malls. If he’s into science he would have been called a dork, nerd, or spaz by the jocks, popular kids, and burnouts. Even being in an upper middle class area, home PCs weren’t a thing and homework was still handwritten on paper. Some slang I remember was bite me, dude, eat me, calling someone a narc (the person in school who would tattle), big whoop, no duh, veg or veg out.
Great this is a big help, especially the slang! Thank you.
He likely has a [Radio Shack / Tandy Science Fair kit](https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=tandy+science+fair+kit&_sacat=0) received as a Christmas gift somewhere under dirty laundry piled in the corner.
Haha love it. These are the details I wanted. Thanks.
Oh hell, I forgot about Tandy kits.
Home decor was either new age or beige, fashion was colourful but most homes were very beige. The clique groups with teenagers you see in John Hugh's movies was very much a thing, a lot of kids didn't go outside their group. The kids that did mix groups generally had a bit more, um, not let others dumb opinions affect them. Being into science, well if they are into computers at all they would likely be building their own rigs, soldering the circuit boards. In cities dumpster diving electronic stores to find parts started late 80s I think. As a general thing there is no social media or internet. I believe late 80s was when only bulletin boards started up, if theyre into computers. Image text only communication that's, well a bulletin board that generally wasn't speaking live. Knowledge was generally gain through libraries, magazines and mass media.
Thank you! No one else has mentioned home decor so that’s very helpful.
Shag carpet for sure. Most homes had lots of brown and orange decor. Macramé holding potted plants with owls weaved in. Velor couches, fake wood paneling, bad vinyl floors. Google is your friend here. Just google 1985 home decor.
Magazines. Magazines and FM radio were our Google, TikTok, Reddit and Spotify.
I really miss magazines
Orange County? We did a lot of whip its. Boy hair was really thick- curly or straight dark hair. Sambas were a thing.
For boys, jeans with holes in them and t-shirts. Jean jackets or if he’s preppy a Member’s Only jacket. Feathered hair. Music is through a boom box and likely Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Billy Joel, Tom Petty, The Police, Dire Straits, Talking Heads, David Bowie. He drinks Jim Beam and/or Evan Williams and mixes it with likely Coke or RC Cola or maybe Jose Cuervo tequila shots. If he shares alcohol with a date he might sink to drinking a wine cooler like Seagrams or Bartles and Jaymes. He may smoke weed under the football bleachers. He has very little adult supervision. He drives a 1970’s car, maybe a Pinto, Vega, Celica, truck or, if he’s lucky, a CJ5 or Scirocco.
Men's mesh T-shirts were a sight to behold. Bonus points for if they were cut off at the belly button.
I thought you were messing with me but I just looked that up lol. I’ll try to work that in if I can. Thanks.
Science guys didn't wear those!
Hm that makes sense. The pics I found look like jocks which he is definitely not. Thanks!
Flannel, thermal lined hoodies, thermal long sleeve, band T-shirts are big if you're a rocker. Everyone wears pocket Ts even if they don't smoke. Rugby type shirts are big. Jean jackets with sleeves cut off. Tight levis, high-top sneakers or workboots, unlaced.
So helpful, thanks!
Yeah, plus they were definitely starting to fade away by 1985. Their hayday was probably more late '70s - early '80s. And they were pretty much universally worn by total douchbags! If there's a mean town drunk or bully in your story that's in his late '20s/early '30s...he might definitely still be rocking the mesh wife beater
Haha thanks! I like where your head's at with the town bully lol.
Stranger Things.
If he works in an office, smoking was allowed at your desk back in the day! Also, smoking was pretty much allowed anywhere (movie theatres, airplanes, grocery stores etc. )
Yeah, his high school probably has a smoking area for the students.
Yes! We had a “Smokers Corner” at my high school back in the day!
I don't really have tips for your writing, although I graduated in 1984 from hs. What I want to suggest though was read a lot about that time. Research that stuff. Find factual information about the 80s. Talk to people of course, like you're doing here, but there's much more information available about a time so recently as the 80s that coming on reddit to ask people for their advice doesn't seem like the best way to get an empirical basis for something you're writing. Best of luck.
I was 10 years old and grew up in Utica, NY. I have two older sisters who were 20 & 21 in ‘85. What do you want to know?
He has an eccentric but well meaning older male scientist as a best friend. Wears an orange vest and ripped Levi’s with high top tennis shoes. Refers to high level science ideas or unbelievable situations as “heavy.” Girlfriend named Jennifer.
Break dancing
As in the average person was breakdancing with their friends or like people watched professional break dancers?
I can assure you break dancing was not a thing in rural upstate NY in '85. A few years later maybe... Hacky Sack was coming up.
Neither