I’m not old, just retro: How to spend a weekend like it’s the ’90s in Charlotte
In the 1990s, Charlotte Gen Xers and millennials ice skated at Eastland Mall, roller skated at Kate’s Skating Rink and “cruised” the parking lot at The Arboretum (surely annoying workers at Taco Bell and Ben & Jerry’s). Nights were full of dancing at one of the city’s many nightclubs. The JFG Sign was still prominently displayed on I-277.
If you weren’t in Charlotte in the ’90s (you hadn’t yet moved here or you weren’t born yet), your FOMO antidote is here.
We’ve designed a ’90s weekend tour that will recreate a weekend in Charlotte as if it was the ’90s once again and will help us all understand why there’s often a collective, melancholic response — sometimes, rightful outrage — to many older Charlotte joints closing.
[REMINISCE ON AN OLDER, ARTSIER CHARLOTTE: What was Charlotte like in the ’90s?]
Using this guide, you can frequent the places that are still around — those non-flashy, Instagram-less, laden-with-history spots scattered across the Queen City. Mark your calendars — or actually, set back your paper calendar 30+ years — for a two-day rendezvous with the ’90s.
Friday night
10 p.m.: Start off the weekend strong, and head to LoSo for a full-fledged ’90s Night at Goldie’s Friday, Aug. 30. Goldie’s was obviously not around back then, but the live band Gump Function — a ’90s tribute group — was. The drinks and decor will be catered to ’90s style, too. You’re encouraged to dress the part. Graphic tees, plaid shirts and maybe a cosmopolitan or two await.
Saturday
10 a.m.: Get a NY-diner inspired breakfast at Landmark Diner, circa 1990. These days, there’s no smoking section inside the dining room — we don’t need to be that authentic.
11:30 a.m.: Sip a coffee, coffee-house style. Skip out on minimalist third-wave shops just for a day, and — dare I say — leave the laptop at home. While the majority of coffeehouses from the ’90s have closed, there is Crossroads Coffee House in Waxhaw, which opened in 1999, Smelly Cat Coffeehouse and Roastery in NoDa, which opened in 2000, or a church coffee shop in Pineville, The Well, that’s been around since 2003. Mugs Coffee off of Park Road is a newer space (opened in 2011) that also captures an eclectic coffeehouse feel, with poetry readings and writing workshops that feel very ’90s adjacent.
12:30 p.m.: Go shopping at VisArt Video, a nonprofit dedicated to film education, in Eastway Crossing. VisArt has been selling top-notch DVDs and VHS since 1984 off of 7th Street, but relocated to Eastway Crossing in 2015. The shop also hosts a 1980s and 1990s summer movie trivia night. The VHS fitness potluck class, every Thursday at 10 a.m., lets attendees pick a video tape to exercise along with — the majority of which are from the ’80s and ’90s, featuring Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons. To make it extra ’90s, maybe you can request Tae Bo or Denise Austin workouts — we could all use a little Billy Blanks in our lives.
1:30 p.m.: Grab lunch at Lupie’s Cafe, which opened in 1987. This mother-daughter team slings comfort food in the coziest hole-in-the-wall spot off of Monroe Road.
3 p.m.: Take a group of friends out for some proper childlike fun. Depending on what suits your fancy, we’ve got a couple of options for you.
Visit Kate’s Skating Center in Rock Hill, which is a 40-plus-year-old venue decked out in neon lights and old carpets to give skates a real vintage, untouched, glow-in-the-dark feel. And Kate’s Skating Rink has been around since 1961 and is still a family-run business. Billy Thompson, the vice president of the National Rollerskating Association, told North Carolina Rabbit Hole in 2022 that the 1980s were the heyday of roller skating, but many of these places have managed to make it through the ’90s and beyond. While locations in Gastonia and Indian Trail have been recently updated, there’s nothing more escapist than some quad skates, a smooth floor and an aux blasting 2Pac or Madonna. Check this Tiktok out for some skating inspiration.
Go bowling at 10 Park Lanes. Well, it’s now Bowlero 10 Park, but at its core, it’s the 10 Park Lanes that Charlotteans have been rolling strikes at for decades. While bowling has been popular since the 1950s, bowling alleys also have a firmly rooted place in 1990s culture. If there’s one thing about Park Lanes that endured, it’s that it has been and likely always will be packed.
6:30 p.m.: Grab fish ‘n’ chips and a pint at Sir Edmond Halley’s, more colloquially known as Sir Ed’s, in Park Road Shopping Center. It’s got a winding menu and trivia for the masses — and has since 1996. It feels like a local’s joint, reminding guests what it was like to pop into a neighborhood bar where the bartender knows your order. Mine is a Guinness, paired with thick fries doused in malt vinegar.
8 p.m.: See a show at iconic The Milestone Club in Enderly Park. It’s a must-cross-off Charlotte bucket list item. While The Milestone was popular long before the 1990s, if you track down a specifically punk or grunge band on The Milestone’s lineup, you’ll get a bonafide ’90s feel. You could also pop into a free show at Comet Grill, where artists like Mark Schimick, who toured with ’90s bluegrass legend Larry Keel, regularly play.
10 p.m.: Pop into Smokey Joe’s, circa 1984. It’s weird, wonderful and as divey as it gets. If you ask the regulars questions about their past lives in past decades, you’ll really be transported back in time. The pool tables, open mic nights and darts — a bar game that became increasingly competitive on a cultural scale in the 1990s — lure guests away from their phones, a sight so rare these days that it’s worth popping into a dive bar.
Sunday
10 a.m.: Let the sweet tooth take the lead this morning. According to Kathleen Purvis, who wrote “What Did Breakfast Look like in 1986?” for Charlotte Magazine, Krispy Kreme back then wasn’t the routine Krispy Kreme we know today. It was a 24-hour, working-class, humble doughnut joint. The open-all-night Krispy Kreme that Purvis discovered in 1986 closed in 1994, but other 24-hour Krispy Kremes remained open through the ’90s and beyond. For nostalgia’s sake, grab a glazed donut at any of the locations in the Queen City. The vending machine popping out Krispy Kreme donuts in South End (which, for the record, is open 24 hours) would be quite an ironic contrast to the sit-down Krispy Kreme feel of decades ago, but the future is now, right?
2 p.m.: Shop and talk like it’s 1995! Is that a phrase? Let’s make it one. Boutiques like Boris and Natasha, circa 1999, with eclectic fashion and Lunchbox Records — with a glorious maze of cassettes, CDs and records — are great places to begin. Lunchbox has been a record label since 1990, but opened a storefront in 2005. Or, snag a paperback from Park Road Books, which has been around since 1977. And, in true ’90s fashion, rub some elbows with your neighbors and ask fellow shoppers where to head next. (No Googling!)
3:30 p.m.: It’s game day. But not the kind you’re used to on Sundays in Charlotte. It’s a retro arcade kind of game day. Visit Super Abari Game Bar to meet all of your throwback Mario Kart and Mortal Kombat needs. It reopened in a new location in 2022, where the TV wall plays movies from the 1980s to early 2000s, giving a retro backdrop to an already retro-leaning ambiance. The beer is cheap, the ginormous Game Boy is wall-sized and the informal “living room” keeps it refreshingly casual.
If you’re more into some action and movement, track down some laser tag at Mission Laser Charlotte. Laser tag toys and laser tag arenas were popular in the ’90s, going hand-in-hand with the popularity of arcades. Check out this New York Times story from 1998 to really get into the spirit: “So it goes in laser tag, perhaps the only sport besides jacks that allows a fourth grader to whip a 29-year-old weighing in at 200 pounds.”
6 p.m.: Find that familiar red roof, grab a seat and order a pizza. Specifically, visit this retro Pizza Hut in Monroe, with its original aesthetic. Sit-down Pizza Huts — red-checkered tablecloths and all — are now few and far between in Charlotte, but they were once all the rage after football games, for first dates and as beginning gigs in the service industry.
8 p.m.: Start the day how you finished: with a sweet treat. Check out time-bending Ninety’s Dessert Bar in University City area or Rock Hill, SC. The website says it was “born from the creativity of a team of ’90s kids … a nostalgia-driven experience that transports you back in time.” With ’90s-themed artwork and nothing short of utter saccharine indulgence, this is a go-big-or-go-home spot.
Enjoy the ’90s weekend — whether it’s your first time or you’re reliving the glory days. We won’t judge if you want to throw on a windbreaker tracksuit, an old flannel or some platform shoes.
Uniquely Charlotte: Uniquely Charlotte is an Observer subscriber collection of moments, landmarks and personalities that define the uniqueness (and pride) of why we live in the Charlotte region.
