Ah, remember the good times, before the mortgage crisis hit, before gas was $4 a gallon, before Aloha Airlines, ATA and Molokai Ranch shut down with little warning? You know, way back last year.

If the 1980s were big, 2007 was ginormous. The hairstyles were smaller but everything else was super-sized and sassy. Conspicuous consumption even hit mid-priced items. Drive your SUV to Costco on Saturday morning to buy 6-pound bags of microwaveable meatballs? Why not?

In the 1980s, Hawai'i reveled in Japanese money. In the mid-2000s, we didn't care so much about Japanese tourists because folks from California were coming with serious bucks. The local economy was cranking and Hawai'i residents were spen-ding like happy vacationers.

Then things got serious. And scary. The $80 bill for two bags of groceries hurts more when the balance on the gas card is approaching the credit limit.

Part of the shock is how quickly everything changed. The high life didn't seem so high at the time, but in hindsight, those days last year were extravagant. Like VH1's "I Love the New Millennium," a nostalgic look at 2000s-era pop culture, last year's economy is already so far away that it can be remembered with wistful fondness. We were so carefree then. Good times.

Kitty-corner from each other on Kapi'olani and Pi'ikoi, the big Wedding Ring Shop and the grand Honolulu Design Center now look like hallmarks of a bygone age, when luxury wasn't only available in a small, exclusive boutique but in a grand multilevel showroom in the middle of town. Both were touted as creative, exciting, ideas-whose-time-had-come retail experiences.

Both opened in 2007. In 2008, it's hard to come up with the cash for boutique sofas and platinum rings when gassing up a Camry costs $70.

Poor Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center is behind the times again. The recent renovation to scrape off the 1970s closed, dark design has produced a 2007-style mecca to high-end name brands, just in time for the tourism slump and the economic downturn. As for local shoppers, why venture into Waikiki to look at overpriced stuff when the same stores are less than two miles away at Ala Moana Center, where at least there's free parking?

It feels like the end of a gilded era; austere and sober times are here. And there is always the lurking fear that we will look back at 2008 and say, "Gee, remember when gas was ONLY $4.39 a gallon?"

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.