One of the Many Stupid Things I Did in the ‘80s.

In the fall of 1987, my squad of friends decided to book a vacation that would happen during the upcoming spring break of 1988. We went to a travel agent in our local mall and all sat down and set up our flights and hotel reservations. I remember it cost us each $400 to book the entire week in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The first issue that I think back on regarding this is….. There were 8 of us going. Each of our parents actually ALLOWED us to go into the travel agency and book this trip on our own behalves. I literally was still 16 years old at the time. And our parents ultimately ALLOWED us to fly on our own to Daytona. It was a different time then.

Although I did many stupid things when we got to Daytona, this story is not about the trip, itself. This is about something I did to PLAN for the trip when we first booked it.

As the excitement started to build over our pending vacation, we all had the need to try to get ahold of fake ID’s so that we could REALLY enjoy ourselves on our vacation.

So, 3 of us created a plan. 3 of us. Me, and two other girls. These 2 girls are going to have fake names in my story because they are now extremely successful members of our community,  amazing parents, and overall good people. Names have been changed to protect the “innocent.”

(I am cracking up right now as I type this up !!! Ohhh the memories.)

Here was our plan. Our plan was to skip school. Get on the Trailways bus into Port Authority and start walking around NYC in search of a sketchy storefront who advertises – “We sell ID cards.” (I’m assuming someone must have told us that NYC is “the place” to score some fake IDs.)

So.. One morning …..Myself, “Nellie”, and “Karie” bought our bus tickets and hopped on the bus to NYC super early. It was a school day, so we needed to get back upstate (Kingston) by 3:00. This was going to be a fast moving mission. Get in, get the goods, and get out.

You have to keep in mind that neither of us had ever been to New York City before. We didn’t know anything about NYC. We didn’t know about the different sections of Manhattan, the way the streets were numbered, that the city was made up of burroughs . NOTHING. We just knew it was “The City” and that it was a crazy place.

Also, this was 1987.  It was a different city than it is now. It was not safe anywhere. Homicides were at a record high, subway tunnels were riddled with homeless people and subway cars were practically covered with ugly graffiti. The crack epidemic was raging. It was the era of window washers coming up to your car while waiting for the traffic light to turn green. It was bad.

Our bus rolled into Port Authority and we got off. I specifically recall people coming up to us begging for money. I recall a homeless person laying in a corner. There was a piece of pink bubble gum all stuck in their afro. It was sad and scary.

Port Authority was so dark and dreary. We walked towards the bright sunshine that led us to the doors to the streets of NYC. We opened the doors and there we were. 3 lost girls from upstate NY standing in the middle of what I know now to be Hells Kitchen area of Manhattan. I was 16, Nellie was 16, and Karie was 17. We were like 3 Dorothy’s arriving in Oz. Instead of clutching onto Toto in fear and confusion, we were clutching our purses.

Back then I had no idea we were just blocks from Times Square, Broadway, or Empire State Building. To me…I felt like a mouse in a confusing and intimidating maze. No idea where I was.

We started walking down a street. We got whistled at and cat called by people. It was creepy ! We kept walking and ignoring the comments. And we would sometimes stop and look inside a store to see if it looked safe to go in. As we were deciding to enter one of the ID stores, a man walked up to us and said – “You looking for IDs? I make the best ones.” We all raised our eyebrows and said “Yea – we need Ids.” He then said – “Alright, follow me.. Don’t worry we are going some place safe.”… We followed the guy and he opened the door to a Burger King……….Burger King is safe, right? And so we followed him up to the 3rd floor of the restaurant. As you all know, in NYC all the fast food seating areas are located up several floors.

So he sat us down at a booth-style table. We all scooched in the booth. He then started asking us what kind of IDs we need, how much we were willing to pay for them, etc. Then he asked us a question— and I don’t recall what it was specifically .. but it required “Nellie” to pull her wallet out of her purse.

You can see where this is going, right??

As he was talking to us, his hand flew to one side pretty hard and he knocked “Nellies” wallet to the ground. He was seated on the outer part of the booth. He bent over to pick up her wallet for her, as if being a gentleman and helping her. But – In the blink of an eye … He grabbed all the cash from it and took off running!!!! We got ROBBED !!

Guess what ?!! We started chasing the guy!! Yelling and screaming “He stole our money!!!” We ran down the 3 flights of Burger King steps.  Just like in the movies .. Round and round down the staircase, out the door to the streets and towards the nasty steps to the subway. “Karie” kept running after him even down into the subway tunnels and I kept yelling from the bottom of the stairs “Karie ! Don’t ! It’s dangerous !” .. I remember we were in absolute shock. I think Nellie had a couple hundred bucks in her wallet.. GONE. She was crying. I remember we were all out of breath and defeated as we walked up the subway steps back onto the streets. The smell of urine on the subway steps was stuck in my nose. Awful !

You would think we would be so upset and so scared that we would just want to go home right away after that. 

But we didn’t !

We continued on our mission and told “Nellie” we would lend her the money for her ID once we locate them.

What was wrong with us??!!!

We were shaking like leaves, walking down a few blocks, and came across a store that didn’t look too bad inside. I recall standing in front of a blue tarp and having my photo taken. We got ahold of some ID cards. All 3 of us. I wish I saved mine . I don’t even remember what it looked like.

I don’t recall if the IDs were accepted once we were in Daytona. I’m sure I tried using mine, but 33 years ago…. I can’t recall.

We eventually made it back home by 3pm.  Back then you actually had to wait until you saw your friends in person to tell them what happened (because no internet or cell phones.) But we kept it a big secret. Only the Daytona squad knew what happened that fateful day of November 10, 1987.

This story has not been told to anyone else ……until now.