Mindy Henderson San Francisco Real Estate: High school fashion in 1982: Are you in these photos?

“And these children that you spit on, as they try to change their world …”

There’s no shortage of excellent fashion files in the Chronicle photo morgue, from bathing suits to Rick Barry. But I have a special place in my heart for these archive photos taken by Gary Fong, for a September 1982 project about different styles of dress in high schools. The Chronicle visited three local schools. There’s a very strong Breakfast Club-y Fast Times-y vibe to the images, featuring subjects deliberately chosen to represent a variety of cliques from the era.

This week is Part I: McAteer High School in San Francisco. If there’s a strong enough response, I’ll post 1982 photos for Part II (Tamalpais High) and Part III (Lincoln High) later in the summer.

Important! If you’re in these photos, please contact me at phartlaub@sfchronicle.com for my Let’s Go to the Q&A project. I’d like to catchup with the people in the photos for a joint San Francisco Chronicle/The Big Event fashion feature that would run in September.

A few more thoughts below the heartbreaker smoking Marlboro Lights …

* Above all, thanks to Gary Fong, who took an impressive amount of time setting up these photos, plus two more schools you’ll hopefully see later. In my travels through the archives, Fong is one of the legends. He took the photos that jumpstarted our “Star Wars Coronet project, and is quoted in the oral history. He’s still in the Bay Area at Genesis Photo Agencynow.

* I’m as surprised as you are by all the smoking. I went to Burlingame High School from 1984 to 1988, and there was a strict no smoking policy — although neighboring Mills High School still had a smoking section. It’s amazing how much San Francisco public schools have changed in 31 years. I’m pretty sure you can’t put soda in a vending machine now …

* Black and white disclaimer that multiple commenters will ignore because no one reads the post: Apologies that these aren’t on color film. The Chronicle didn’t run color images until more than a decade later, so it’s rare to find color photos from earlier than 1993 in our archives. Just pretend it’s an artsy Francis Ford Coppola/”Rumble Fish” thing. (Or you can accuse me in the comments of decolorizing the images, which at least one person does every time we run a fashion post …)

* The photos appeared in a September 24, 1982, Chronicle story about teen styles, written by Paul Liberatore. (Sample line: “Of all the styles, the punks are still the most outrageous with their colored hair sculpted into ugly terrains. They’re into spike bracelets, dog collars and chains, jackboots and goofy high-top tennies.) Liberatore currently writes a column for the Marin-Independent-Journal.

* McAteer High near Twin Peaks closed in
~~1982~~ 2002 with little protest. Enrollment and test scores had been going down, it was replaced by a School of the Arts and the campus now hosts Academy of Arts and Science. McAteer seems like it was a good school in the early 1980s, and I’m impressed by the diversity. RIP McAteer High.

* If you don’t see your favorite trend, chances are good it’s in the Tamalpais and Lincoln high school photos. (Topsiders! Derby jackets!) Fong, Liberatore and their editors did a good job of covering as many 1982 styles as possible between the three schools.

* Vertical photos usually don’t look good in these galleries. I’ve included a few more larger versions below.

* Please send me an e-mail if you’re in these photos!

PETER HARTLAUB is the pop culture critic at the San Francisco Chronicle and founder/editor of The Big Event. He takes requests. Contact him at phartlaub@sfchronicle.com. Follow him on Twitter @peterhartlaub. Follow The Big Event on Facebook.