Wishing for the Boom Boom '90s

Wendy Wallis looks back on the 1990s as a time when she didn't need to give a second thought to the cost of things like dinner out with friends.

An independent software consultant for 20 years, Wallis says her company had more work than it could handle during the boom years of the '90s. But 18 months ago, she was forced to abandon her career path — and her comfortable six-figure salary — when the work dried up.

Now, the 49-year-old from Walnut Creek, Calif., is working as a mortgage broker and selling off possessions to maintain a cash flow.

"It's an incredible place to be when you're used to going out to dinner every night and you haven't been out to dinner in three months," Wallis says.

But more troubling to Wallis is the lack of innovation she sees going on in the technology world because many of the major players have had to cut research and development budgets. And like Wallis, many of her friends and former colleagues who worked in technology in northern California have been forced to look for work in other industries.

"They're missing the drive of changing things and moving things around and making a difference, all the way to 'Will we be able to afford the same lifestyle again?'" she told ABCNEWS.com.

Such nostalgic feelings for a time period that ended not so long ago might seem unusual.

But experts point to the dramatic changes in many peoples' financial situations and increased anxiety levels since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the recent sniper shootings. They say the good old days — for some people — weren't all that long ago.

"Normally it would be odd to start getting nostalgic on a cycle of four years rather than a cycle of 10 or 20," says Robert Thompson, director of Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. "But it's not unusual given that we've had some cataclysmic and fundamental changes going on."

Return of the Sock Puppet

Pop culture watchers say nostalgia for 1990s pop culture will probably not emerge for years to come, simply because many television shows, songs and movies that were popular late in the decade are still hot now.

"You're only going to get that charge off of the things that we aren't even aware that we've forgotten," says Tim Burke, a cultural historian and history professor at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pa.

But looking back on 1990s cultural icons is already starting to show up in the media.

For example, the infamous sock puppet that was once the pitchman for Pets.com (a company that spent a reported $2 million on a 30-second Super Bowl commercial spot in 2000) is now the "pitchman" for 1-800-BAR-NONE, a company that provides car loans to people with bad credit.

And a recent magazine advertisement by Phoenix Wealth Management shows a group of four young, hip-looking 20-something men wearing open-necked shirts that would not look out of place at the latest nightclub opening, with the caption "Company founders, circa 1997."

Seated in front of the these young entrepreneurs is an older, graying, distinguished-looking man in a light blue button-down shirt and conservative yellow tie, described as the "Company whiz kid, circa 2002." The tagline for the ad: "Money. It's just not what it used to be."

A spokeswoman for Phoenix says the ad is meant to convey the message that traditional ideas on who has money has changed and that people from a wide range of backgrounds can be considered high net worth individuals.