Garages in the ’80s were less about parking your car and more about being a catch-all for everything you needed to get out of the house as consumer-driven culture kicked its jazzercised butt into high gear.
Single story family house with driveway
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It was also a place where parents (okay, let’s face it, Dad) could “tinker”—a term that may have fallen out of fashion but simply means “an act of attempting to repair something” (which makes us feel a little less bad for saying it was Dad).
’80s Garages Were Total Chaos
In those pre-Marie Kondo days, organization was a little less about de-cluttering and more about banishing. In reality, ’80s garages were often a Wild West of home storage and if you wanted to lose something, this was the place to put it.
Cluttered Garage
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Garages were also a suburban sanctuary—closed-off spaces that, when the door slowly rose (or quickly, if you had one of those new fancy automatic openers), revealed an outdoor extension of your home. Neighbors could get an idea of your family’s varied interests, latest purchases, or even darkest secrets.
Let’s click “open” on the remote and enter the world of ’80s garages to see what treasures we might find.
LOOKS: Things you’d likely see in an awesomely ’80s garage
From scandalous bikini calendars to your dad’s AMC Gremlin, ’80s garages were a treasure trove of adventure, good fun, and sometimes downright danger.
Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz
LOOK: Things You Saw at Grandma’s House
Step into Grandma’s house, where cookie tins hold mysteries and even the toilet roll cover has a story to tell.
Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz
LOOK: Can You Recognize These Iconic ’70s Objects
Let’s take a walk down a very groovy memory lane and ponder some of the things that made life easy, fun and undeniably cool in the ’70s.
Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz