Our Checkered Past

Still three years shy of its 20th anniversary, “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” waits for no party. It’s being screened this spring on college campuses nationwide in a push by Universal and Vans to stoke sales of both the video and the cult flick’s signature sneakers.

Sean Penn, who gave those canvas slip-ons legs as the perpetually stoned Valley surfer duuude Jeff Spicoli, has a wife and kids now. The Sherman Oaks Galleria, where Jennifer Jason Leigh’s love-tortured teen swabbed tables at Perry’s Pizza, is no longer a mall.

But the shoes, black and white with checks all over, are the same--only somehow better. They signify an era whose contributions to pop culture are easily dismissed, yet what do our retro-conscious youth call a clueless individual? A total spicoli.