Ah, the 1980s. The days of big shoulder pads and bigger hair, achieved by spraying enough Aqua Net to turn everyone into mobile fire hazards. If you grew up during this decade, chances are you knew someone who owned a pair of neon leg warmers, you skinned your knees roller skating (because protective gear wasn’t a thing), and you learned the lyrics to Billy Idol or Led Zepplin songs by squinting at the cover insert on your cassettes. Here are 13 more things you’ll remember if you grew up in New Mexico during this decade:
You may well remember this as the worst game ever! In 1983, the company loaded up 14 trucks with unsold Atari products (including this game) and buried it all in a landfill in Alamogordo. They were unearthed again in 2014.
Perhaps you shopped at the Winrock Center Mall in Albuquerque or headed to Santa Fe Place when it was still known as Villa Linda Mall. Anyone remember the department store called Dunlaps?
The 1980s weren’t just about John Hughes movies and mullets. Some pretty dark events happened during this decade in New Mexico. Everyone who was old enough to watch the news remembers the horrors of the 1980 New Mexico State Penitentiary riot.
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In 1988, Tara Leigh Calico left her home in Belen for a bike ride and never returned. Although the case received national attention on shows like "America’s Most Wanted" and "Oprah," the case remains unsolved. For more info.
In 1987, 19-year-old Darci Pierce kidnapped a woman named Cindy Lyn Ray outside a prenatal clinic at Kirtland Airforce Base. Pierce had faked her own pregnancy and snatched Ray because she wanted her baby. Pierce drove to the Manzano Mountains where she used a car key to extract the baby. Pierce took the baby, who lived, and left Ray to die. Darci Pierce is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence. (Pictured: Manzano Mountains.)
What other events would you place on this list?
Perhaps you didn’t grow up during the 1980s. Next time you’re feeling nostalgic for the past, check out one of these retro places in New Mexico.
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