Mall memories.

Ha, I so remember Contempo Casuals as a mall fixture from the 1980s-90s. I thought it was an oddly named store even then, and was wondering what the heck happened to all those stores.

According to this, the stores were converted to Wet Seal and Arden B stores (I don't remember seeing either of those chains around lately either, but I really haven't been looking).

It's funny, we take photos and videos of the big moments in life, but really, what I want more than anything is just photos/video of the standard things we've lost, like the inside of a 1967 grocery store, or a 1974 school. Which is why this big-haired mall-memory photo essay is such a treat. (Warning: The link goes to a BuzzFeed roundup of the photos, don't click on the link in the BuzzFeed lead, it warns of malware.)

Once not that long ago a friend and I started naming THE ULTIMATE 1980s mall stores. I can't remember the full list, but here's part of it. Not the boring everyday stores, but the ones whose very name shouts '80s. What did we miss?

--Orange Julius
--Karmelkorn
--Cookie Factory
--Contempo Casuals
--Chess King
--Limited
--Benetton
--Gantos (Minnesota)
--B Dalton (formed in Minnesota--originally the B stood for Books, and the Dalton was a tweak of Dayton's)
--Claire's
--Spencer Gifts
--Structure
--Musicland
--Sharper Image
--Egghead Software
--Merry-Go-Round
--Suncoast Pictures
--Shirt Shack

Taste of the '90s?

OK, so Crispy M&Ms aren't really the taste of the '90s, since they only came out in 1999 and were discontinued in 2005. But when we eventually write a 2000s-themed follow-up to "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops" and "The Totally Sweet '90s," they will have earned a page.

Crispy M&Ms are back, Jack. They're even offering coupons.

I also find it kind of funny that M&Ms demands you give them your birthdate before they'll let you look at the Crispy M&Ms site, like it's Jim Beam or something.

Brenda the big mouth

Tara recaps another classic "Beverly Hills 90210" episode, this one where Brenda handles calls on a teen hotline and Kelly wears a totally awesome fringed jacket.

This reminds me of that weird billboard where they show a teen girl sitting on her desk on the phone chatting with her friends, and the text says something like "do what you love," and then shows the exact same girl chatting on the exact same phone, and now she's helping out on a teen hotline. Man, no pressure there. Hope you don't give bad advice to some poor kid on the edge of suicide, now!