What did Houston look like in 1987? Take a step back 30 years to see what made the Bayou City tick

PHOTOS: What Houston looked like in 1987 Outside Lakewood Church, 7400 E. Houston Road, Jan. 25, 1987. Click through to see what Houston looked like 30 years ago... PHOTOS: What Houston looked like in 1987 Outside Lakewood Church, 7400 E. Houston Road, Jan. 25, 1987. Click through to see what Houston looked like 30 years ago... Photo: Buster Dean/Houston Chronicle Photo: Buster Dean/Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 126 Caption Close What did Houston look like in 1987? 1 / 126 Back to Gallery

This week we take a look back at what the city of Houston was up to three decades ago in 1987.

That year the city was still smarting from an oil bust in 1986 that continued to affect everyone from the big wigs in silk suits in high rises to the men and women in hard hats and work boots at the refineries.

The colossal fall in oil prices that began in 1982 and accelerated in 1986 not only sapped Houston's wildcatter spirit, but undermined Houston's economic foundations.

FLASHBACK: 1980s oil bust left a lasting mark

Houston, as has been reported, lost more than 225,000 jobs, about one in eight, and the unemployment rate climbed above 9 percent - nearly double today's rate. Office vacancies soared above 20 percent. Office rents plunged.

Loan payments to banks soon followed. Risky commercial real estate and energy loans went bad and hundreds of banks failed. Construction ground to a halt. More than 200,000 homes stood vacant. In 1987 Harris County alone had more than 30,000 home foreclosures.

The 1987 edition of the Offshore Technology Conference at the Astrodome only had 25,000 attendees. Five years before, it drew nearly 100,000 oil and gas luminaries.

SHAMROCK DOWN: Shamrock Hotel was demolished on this day: June 1, 1987

Author Robert Bullard’s 1987 book “Invisible Houston” looked at the condition of the “Golden Buckle of the Sunbelt” as it weathered one heck of a financial storm. Of course the book is not all about the people who missed a payment on their weekend Cadillac. He wrote about the minority population that suffered the most.

The Houston of 1987 was not the diverse, artsy, cosmopolitan foodie paradise that some may see it as today.

For the most part life went on in Houston in 1987, as it always does. The oil-rich donor community wasn’t “tapped out” and things like the Menil Collection and the Wortham Center were both opened in 1987. To this day they are key parts of Houston’s cultural landscape.

The Houston Chronicle was sold to the Hearst Corporation in March for $400 million, but this reporter doesn’t quite remember what that changed at the paper as he was just a month shy of turning 4 years old.

At the time it was said that the paper would have fetched a higher price had it not been for the oil bust.

The seeds of the Houston Art Car Parade were planted in 1987 when Houston International Festival officials asked the Orange Show peeps to organize a parade built around decorated cars. In 1988 the parade debuted and a new Houston tradition was born.

MISS YOU: 30 things Houston has lost over the years (while it was busy gaining so much)

That June, though, Houston officially sad goodbye to the Shamrock Hotel as it was demolished to make way for Texas Medical Center parking. The last of it was carted away by the end of the year.

Houston did gain a convention center in the new George R. Brown Convention Center, completed in September. A complete overhaul this past year in anticipation of Super Bowl LI crowds has transformed the structure.

Houston Astros hurler Nolan Ryan got his 4,500th strikeout, but the team would finished third in the National League West, fourteen games back from the San Francisco Giants. Just the year before, the team had nearly made it to the World Series but couldn’t get past the New York Mets.

These were the salad days when Houstonians could watch the ‘Stros on KTXH-TV, better known as Channel 20, without a cable bill.

DOME DAYS: The Astrodome was a symbol of Houston's 'can-do' attitude

The Houston Oilers did actually make it to the AFC Divisional Playoff, only to be bested by the John Elway-led Denver Broncos who would later be beaten by the Washington Redskins in the Super Bowl. Head coach Jerry Glanville and quarterback Warren Moon had brought NFL playoff football back to the Bayou City after six years.

The 1986-1987 Rockets didn’t do much better, knocked out of the Western Conference Semifinals by the Seattle SuperSonics (RIP) in six games. The year before, the Rockets were defeated in the NBA Finals by the Boston Celtics, so hopes had been high in the city.

Houstonians who could afford tickets were entertained by concerts from Billy Joel, a Roger Waters-free Pink Floyd at the Astrodome, Bon Jovi, comeback kid Alice Cooper, David Bowie, U2, Tom Petty and Def Leppard. Madonna was popular enough to play the Dome that summer on her “Who’s That Girl” tour.