A lot happened in the year 1987, including the debut of a family-friendly TV sitcom set in San Francisco. The name of the show was Full House, and we’ll be doing a deep dive into this popular comedy over the coming weeks.
But first, to get a sense of the times and trends that helped shape this series, here’s a quick look at the pop culture events that occurred in 1987.
January Beverage brand 7 Up released 7 Up Gold, but it was eventually pulled from the shelves due to poor sales and reviews.
January The first Trojan and Lifestyles Condom campaigns aired. They each expanded their campaigns to 6 more markets.
January 31 The last Ohrbach’s department store closes in New York City after 64 years of operation.
March The Human JukeBox was ticketed on the San Francisco Wharf for playing a song 13 decibels over the legal limit. He quit his gig after being ticketed.
March 1 The first Starbucks outside of the US is opened in Vancouver, Canada.
March 2 American Motors Corporation is acquired by the Chrysler Corporation.
March 19 In Charlotte, North Carolina, televangelist Jim Bakker, head of PTL Ministries, resigns after admitting an affair with church secretary Jessica Hahn.
March 24 Michael Eisner, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and French Prime Minister and future President of France, Jacques Chirac, sign an agreement to construct the 4,800 acres (19 km2) Euro Disney Resort (now called Disneyland Paris) and to develop the Val d’Europe area of the new town Marne-la-Vallée in Paris, France.
March 29 The World Wrestling Federation (later WWE) produces WrestleMania III from the Pontiac Silverdome In Pontiac, Michigan. The event is particularly notable for the record attendance of 93,173, the largest recorded attendance for a live indoor sporting event in North America until February 14, 2010, when the 2010 NBA All-Star Game has an attendance of 108,713 at AT&T Stadium.
March 29 A hybrid solar eclipse was the second hybrid solar eclipse in less than one year, the first being on October 3, 1986. It was annular visible in southern Argentina, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan (part of the path of annularity crossed today’s South Sudan), Ethiopia, Djibouti and northern Somalia and totally visible in the Atlantic Ocean, lasting just 7.57 seconds.
April 5 The Fox Network makes its primetime debut.
May 21 Andrew Wyeth, with his “Helga Pictures,” becomes the first living American painter to have a one-man show of his work in the West Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
May 30 DVD is introduced.
June 17 With the death of the last known dusky seaside sparrow, native to the US state of Florida, the subspecies becomes extinct.
June 19 Teddy Seymour is officially designated the first black man to sail around the world, when he completes his solo sailing circumnavigation in Frederiksted, St. Croix, of the United States Virgin Islands.
June 28 An accidental explosion at Hohenfels Training Area in West Germany kills 3 U.S. troopers.
June 30 Canada introduces a one-dollar coin, nicknamed the “Loonie”.
July 3 Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand pilot aHot Air Balloon crosses the Atlantic Ocean.
July 21 Mary Hart’s legs get insured for 2 million dollars.
July 25 The East Lancashire Railway, a heritage railway in the North West of England, is opened between Bury and Ramsbottom.
July 30 PowerPoint is bought by Microsoft.
July 31 Docklands Light Railway in London, the first driverless railway in Great Britain, is formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
August Starbucks is bought by Howard Shultz and a group of investors from Jerry Baldwin.
August 7 The Colombian frigate Caldas enters Venezuelan waters near the Los Monjes Archipelago, sparking the Caldas frigate crisis between both nations.
August 7 American Lynne Cox becomes the first person to swim the Bering Strait, crossing from Little Diomede Island to Big Diomede in 2 hours and 5 minutes.
August 16 The followers of the Harmonic Convergence claim it was observed around the world.
August 19 The Order of the Garter is opened to women.
September 7–21 The world’s first conference on artificial life is held at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States.
September 15 Pope John Paul II arrives in Los Angeles for a two-day papal visit, his first one ever to the city, where he makes an arrival day speech to local leaders of the U.S. entertainment industry.
September 17 Pope John Paul II arrives in San Francisco for his first visit to the city, in which he embraces several AIDS sufferers, including an infected child, and proclaims abstinence from illicit sex and drugs are the two main ways to avoid infection.
October 14 A young child, Jessica McClure, falls down a well in Midland, Texas, and is later rescued.
October 22 The pilot of a British Aerospace BAE Harrier GR5 registered ZD325 accidentally ejected from his aircraft. The jet continues to fly until it runs out of fuel and crashes into the Irish Sea.
October 22 Dolphins are deployed to the Persian Gulf to locate mines.
October 23 British champion jockey Lester Piggott is jailed for three years after being convicted of tax evasion.
November 1 The InterCity 125 breaks the world speed record for a diesel-powered train, reaching 238 km/h (147.88 mph).
November 7 Lynne Cox swims between the Diomede Islands from the American Little Diomede Island to the Soviet Big Diomede Island.
November 12 The first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Mainland China opens in Beijing, near Tiananmen Square.
November 22 The Max Headroom Incident: An unidentified person hijacks two television stations in Chicago, Illinois, and broadcasts video of them wearing a mask in the likeness of the character Max Headroom.
December 1 NASA announces the names of 4 companies awarded contracts to help build Space Station Freedom: Boeing Aerospace, General Electric’s Astro-Space Division, McDonnell Douglas, and the Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell.
December 10 A squirrel closes down the Nasdaq Stock Exchange when it burrows through a telephone line.
December 18 “Final Fantasy” debuts.
December 23 Squeaky Fromme Escapes prison. She was captured 2 days later.
December 30 Pope John Paul II issued the encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis (On Social Concern).
December 31 An invasive parasite of honeybees is found in the United States.
SCREEN TIME WITH SAM 
Fascinating! I don’t think the Loonie lasted.
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