Back in Philadelphia a dirty little newspaper was in its first year as a full-fledged, 52-issues-per-annum alt-weekly. 1987 saw the first installment of the "City Paper Awards." In our Jan. 2 issue we explained in typically earnest fashion that we all needed a break from "stories of greed, corruption, incompetence and nastiness" so we were going to recognize the "widespread, diverse crowd of people ... who act as a kind of counterbalance." We gave shouts to Mark Breslow and Taller Puertorriqueno, while recognizing that "aging mill town along the Schuylkill [that] has been about to happen forever." As in Manayunk.

But we tackled issues, too. There was the "War on Drugs"-inspired pot shortage. Noel Weyrich covered the shit out of Mayor Goode's controversial trash-to-steam plan. Powelton Village and Northern Liberties continued their slow marches to gentrification. Bruce Schimmel told of ditching his car for a scooter. We reported people locking their bikes to parking meters! We intercepted a memo that WXPN was planning to drop reggae, punk and most jazz in favor of a kids' show, world music and an "as yet unnamed afternoon show that would combine folk, folk-related and soft-rock styles." Oh, how we howled about this. Frank Blank covered Bucky Fellini as if it were the start of something big. We bemoaned the "classic rock revolution." Our fall style guide featured, among other lithe models, our advertising manager Paul Curci in a puffy shirt and pants that gripped his ankles. Robin Rice reported on the futon craze. We talked to Ray Murray when the TLA theater was giving up the rep house racket, and we wondered if the new Greyhound terminal would suffocate Chinatown. Presciently, we endorsed Ed Rendell over Wilson Goode in the Democratic mayoral primary.

Much of the big news for CP in '87 revolved around cartoons. We received our first angry letter to the editor wondering why we hadn't run Lynda Barry's Ernie Pook Comeek the previous week (this would never, ever happen again). We profiled Matt Groening and later added his Life in Hell, following overwhelming reader response. We then profiled Lynda Barry, wondering why someone who "a couple years back would have made anybody's top 10 list of funniest people in America" had gotten so dark. On Aug. 14 we finally gave up our silly cartoon skyline logo.

Later in the year longtime editor Chris Hill stepped down to take a job with Rodale, and managing editor Violette Phillips stepped into his shoes. In the Nov. 6 issue we ran a cartoon by P.S. Mueller: A man sits at a desk, the caption reads "Full blown batshit crazy and still holding down a productive job." Three weeks later City Paper introduced its new managing editor, David Warner. That Mueller cartoon would adorn Warner's desk here for the next 15-odd years.

We're counting down (or up) to our 25th anniversary. Next week: 1988! Ed Bacon! Cindy Fuchs! Box lacrosse! Men in dresses!