Have you ever wondered what Ohio State’s campus looked like back in the 1980s?
Well, wonder no more. The 1980s were a unique time in life: the last decade before the internet, back when a phone was something bolted to your kitchen wall. It was a time of wild fashion, great music (I said it, and I meant it) and absolutely insane haircuts.
This footage was shot in October 1986 on a sunny autumn day. Enjoy this blast from the past, friends.
The skyline looks different, but it’s hardly unrecognizable.
The LeVeque Tower and the Huntington Building are as prominent as ever.
Once the guys get down to campus, things start to look a little more 80s.
Take a look at N High Street facing downtown. Such boxy designs.
The man behind the camera explains that he lived in this house in the 1970s while attending OSU for only $1/day. Can you imagine rent for $30/month?
The guys were particularly impressed with this new, two-story McDonalds.
The interior is so late-80s/early-90s. I forgot how interior design back then was just, “How many fake plants can we fit in here?”
Long’s Book Store was still looking fresh.
I can’t imagine the amount of embarrassing photos that used to get developed at this Cord Camera.
The Oval was just as pretty as ever. Blue skies, green grass, and a gentle breeze.
The Newport was showing Monday Night Football.
And Kinko’s was still around, waiting to make copies of your English Lit project.
Columbus in the 80s. What a time to be alive.
So, what happened to all of these places?
The two-story McDonald’s and the Cord Camera are long gone, and Long’s Book Store followed a slower road to the same place. Long’s sold textbooks to Buckeyes from 1909 until 2005, when the name moved down to the Barnes & Noble at the Gateway. The original building at 15th and High sat empty for over a decade before coming down in 2016 to make room for the 15th + High redevelopment. That corner is now University Square, with offices and first-floor restaurants where generations of students once lined up to buy textbooks.
The Newport, though? Still standing, still loud. It opened in 1921 as the State Theater, spent years as the Agora, and has been the Newport Music Hall since 1984. It bills itself as America’s longest continually running rock club, and it’s still booking shows on High Street like it’s no big deal.
Kinko’s technically lives on inside FedEx Office, which might be the least 80s sentence ever written.
You can watch the full video below.
The footage comes from YouTube channel videoholicreturns, and if you’re not ready to leave 1986 yet, there’s a part two that spends even more time on campus:
