You know you hung out as a teen in Red Bank, NJ in the ’90s if …

The Red Bank of the '90s was eclectic, soulful and energized — and if you were lucky enough to be a teenager in Monmouth County then, you probably wax nostalgic about your Friday nights spent haunting Monmouth Avenue and West Front Street.

An evening in Red Bank as a '90s teen usually started with your parents dropping you off at the 7-Eleven or near the Starbucks. (Both were easy spots for suburban moms and dads to unload the hormonal cargo out of the SUV and hop back on a main thoroughfare.)

There were limits to the amount of trouble a high school kid could get into in downtown Red Bank, and our parents felt secure in allowing us the freedom to wander there.

The pre-CoCo Pari era of Red Bank showed hints of the gentrification to come but several small stores and businesses cultivated a vibrant, punk rock and creative community. The kids loitering out front or browsing shelves aimlessly were welcomed instead of treated as a nuisance.

Being a teenager in Red Bank in the '90s meant trips to Funk & Standard, selling used CDs at Jack's for cash so you could load up on albums at Black Cat and books at The Book Pit.

It meant spending three hours philosophizing in the back of the Broadway Diner before walking over to Marine Park and spending three more hours doing the same. (Though, if you were one of those kids who hung out in the gazebo, you don't remember much about those conversations.)

Those old enough to have been young and reckless in the '90s remember a Red Bank powered by youth culture. If you were a teenager in Red Bank in the '90s, you likely remember many of the haunts — some closed, some still here — and activities listed below.

And be sure to let me know what I missed by dropping me an email.