“Oldies music” that was oldies in 1992 is really old, at least from our 2025 perspective. Oldies referred to slow, simple ballads about love, broken love, unrequited love, and fast cars blended with tragic death, mostly recorded in the 50s and early 60s. This music was popular in Mexican-American culture, becoming synonymous with Sunday night cruisers in East L.A. who inched along Whittier Boulevard in immaculately restored 50s Detroit metal.
There was a nightclub in the Los Angeles area in the 80s and 90s that played oldies music as part of its dance floor playlist. The DJ would throw in some 70s and 60s surf music and other older tunes that were not necessarily from the oldies genre. They played some current club and house music to mix things up but the focus was always oldies.
It was named “The Hop” and there were several locations throughout the SoCal area. The one I frequented was in Puente Hills, a large sprawling mall and business complex in the San Gabriel Valley. In those days, this is where people hung out and socialized in a real-life intimate context. Our eyes were peeled on people, not screens. Maybe this was better, maybe not. Old people say it was better but I am too open-minded to spout generalized romanticism of the old days like that. The Hop closed down long ago and the Puente Hills Mall, unlike many malls, remains open for business and continues to evolve as it seeks to accommodate modern consumer entertainment tastes.
The Hop, due to its musical offerings, catered to older people and older Latinos. I was going through a cougar-hunting stage in my late 20s so this was a great place to pretend I could hook up with an older woman in a short hoochie skirt who was similarly looking to hook up with younger men. In all the years I went there, this never happened, however. Inevitably, I drank more than I danced, and I held up many walls until the last call. I had no courage and I never asked a woman to dance; the thought of doing so evoked paralyzing fear which bordered on the phobic.
My theme song from that period was “How Soon Is Now” by The Smiths, a group that is an oldie now.
There's a club if you'd like to go
You could meet somebody who really loves you
So you go and you stand on your own
And you leave on your own
And you go home and you cry
And you want to die
