Yo! Opening night at 90’s Experience was hella fresh, dude

For a limited time (through August 2019), you can go to an interactive pop-up museum at Oakland’s Jack London Square and have a 90’s Experience! No, not in the nonagenarian sense (although that might be interesting, too!)

At this 90’s Experience, you get to relive the era of grunge music, slap bracelets, acid wash jeans, and party like it’s 1999!

A nostalgic mixtape of 90’s jams gets the party started inside the former office space (no pun intended, Mmm kay?) while energetic staff members highly encourage visitors to snap pictures with fun 90’s-themed displays, including:

  • The throne from the popular Will Smith TV show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air:

  • Laser beam school portrait background:

  • Giant cereal boxes and milk cartons:

  • You can recreate Nirvana’s iconic Nevermind album cover:

  • Doodle on a giant composition notebook page with giant scented markers:

  • Beep, beep! 1-4-3 means I love you! Look at this giant pager:

  • Teenage bedroom with a day bed, Trimline corded phone, and posters of boy bands and Britney on the wall:

  • I’ll be there for you…Have a seat on the Friends couch or take a pic with the curvy yellow frame hanging on the door:

Before they let us inside the pop-up museum, a staff member asked us, “What’s your favorite 90’s movie?” I said, Titanic! Like Rose promised Jack (who could’ve fit on that door, by the way), “I’ll never let go…”

As my trip down memory lane came to an end (and into the gift shop), my heart sank with the realization that I had just spent $32 (plus fees) for an experience that wasn’t all that and a bag of chips. The experience was enjoyable, but left me wanting more.

For instance, I would have liked a room where you could learn 90’s dances, like the Achy Breaky Heart, Vogue, Macarena, or Kid ‘n’ Play! Where are the Magic Eye books or posters? How did dial-up internet sound? (Listen here.)

But it’s all good. I learned that the 90s Experience will donate a portion of its proceeds to a variety of local non-profits, so I gotta give ’em props for that!

Good times: In the 90’s, I graduated from high school and college, visited France for the first time, and got my first car! Tell me in the comments below: What’s your favorite accomplishment, movie, song, or memory of the 90’s?