Everything Old is New Again

Ok, back in 1977, Vans deck shoes were THE shoe to wear. I was a huge fan of the Z-Boys of Dogtown (Stacy Peralta = HOT!) and the Surf/Skate look was the look I chose:

In the winter, the standard uniform was Levi's Original Shrink to Fit Button Fly 501s worn with a long sleeve t-shirt from Harbour Surfboards in Seal Beach. To complete The Look, Navy blue or Baby blue Vans were de rigueur.

Then Vans came out with the 2-toned shoe in a Blue/Red combo

(which, when you think about it, are nothing more than canvas saddle shoes but let's not think about it, 'kay?) and all the cool kids wore them. But some of us took it a step further. We'd go down to our local House of Vans and custom order our shoes in whatever color combo we wanted. And to take it even more further, we'd order the left shoe to have the opposite color combo than the right shoe. How Crazy Cool is THAT?!?!

Styles changed, as they tend to do, and while the classic deck shoe has never gone out of style, the 2-tone shoe became "uncool" and everyone switched to the "Old Skool" skate shoe

Flash forward 32 years later. That's right, I said THIRTY TWO YEARS. Today I took Thing 1 to the local House of Vans store (It's no longer called "House of Vans" but that's what *I* call it) to buy him a pair of the classic Navy Blue Deck Shoe. Something caught my eye. I gasped in delight and a tear came to my eye.

There on the shelf, I saw MY shoes:


That was the exact color combo for each shoe I custom ordered back in 1977, Thirty Two (32!) years ago.

I must go back and buy MY shoes and I will wear them with a pair of Levi 501s and a long sleeve Harbour Surfboards shirt and I will pretend it's 1977 when life was all about going to the beach (20th Street in Huntington Beach) and going to the next party.

I need a tis-sue.