Who was City Paper in 1994? It was Vance Lehmkuhl, Neil Gladstone, Margit Detweiler and Frank Blank interviewing Michael Moore, Caterpillar, Ben Vaughn and Ben Arnold, respectively. It was Michele Frentrop taking pictures and Laura Bruni booking ads. Amy Shuck reviewed food, Josh Zimmer profiled Philly's doormen and Angelina Sciolla investigated Ritalin in schools. It was Terry Donnelly and Ketan Ben Caesar writing letters to the editor so often they might technically have been freelancers. It was Major Jackson talking to Schooly D. Those aren't the only whimsical names; how about Remi Newman, Robert Wisdom, Daisy Fried, the pseudonymous Trevor Bats (can someone tell us who he actually was?) and intern Plato Hieronimus?

CP was publisher Bruce Schimmel looking boldly to the future. "Though daily printed newspapers ... will die a dinosaur's death, I predict that current trends in illiteracy ... will reverse as America goes online," he wrote. How openly had City Paper embraced the rise of the machines? You could submit your listings online! In '94! It was easy:

Here's how: 1. Set up your modem to 8-1-n (up to) 14, 400 baud 2. Call 215-732-8929 3. Log in and select "L" 4. Give us all the usual information: ... DO NOT type your information in ALL CAPS.

Just as mind-blowing: We ran a Magic Eye on the cover of the December Book Quarterly — and it actually worked! It still works. It's a naked lady with an apple and a snake. Not kidding. And look, CP backed Sam Katz, Republican candidate for governor. Aw.

Occasionally, CP did take a look back. A great tradition was continued when we ran a "what should we do with the Navy Yard?" story on the cover for like the hundreth time in our short history. Dougo, a letter writer, lamented "Why couldn't it have been Kurt Loder instead of Kurt Cobain? IS THERE NO JUSTICE?"

Howard Altman took a session with a past lives regression therapist. "I coulda been somebody. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been Cleopatra," it began. (Howard drove hookers around for another story and, we can only assume, wrote the fantastic pun headline pictured at left.)

And Margit talked to local scenesters about the closing of Steve Mountain's rock club Chestnut Cabaret. Jim Sutcliffe, publicist for Electric Factory, recalled seeing Chris Isaak at the Chestnut three times "before he was Chris Isaak." And Bryan Dilworth, booker for Khyber Pass, "saw a great Butthole Surfers show there. It was one of the only clubs I ever smoked weed in. During reggae shows that was great." Good times.