The original cast of 'Beverly Hills 90210': (clockwise from top right) Luke Perry (Dylan), Shannen Doherty (Brenda), Jason Priestley (Brendan), Gabrielle Carteris (Andrea), Brian Austin Green (David), Tori Spelling (Donna), Jennie Garth (Kelly) and Ian Ziering (Steve).

Today, fans of a certain 1990s teen soap opera took one look at their calendar and realized today would be like no other.

You see, today is 9/02/10. And so, for the only time this century, a glittering Darren Star-created drama is celebrated — it’s 90210 Day.

(Oops. Sorry Facebook group: That’s International Beverly Hills 90210 Day.)

(Full disclosure: I never completely jumped headlong into the Beverly Hills 90210 drama. I was trying to remember what I watched instead, then realized I was working nights during the show’s entire run.)

There are quite a few people highly interested in the show today — for example, Bill Simmons, ESPN’s Sports Guy, will be posting a podcast at some point today with the network’s fantasy football expert, Matthew Berry, solely to discuss the nuances of the show. Awards, such as “Biggest Plot Stretch Ever” and “Least Deserving of Being on the Opening Credits” will also be announced.

That said, Simmons, who mentions 90210 plot points often in his columns, says that after today, he’s retiring such mentions in his writing:

“The show premiered 20 years ago; it’s heyday was 15 years ago. I don’t want to be that guy who’s referencing things that happened 38 years ago,” Simmons said.

“Much like when (Michael) Jordan walked away from basketball and Jim Brown walked away from football, I’m walking away from ’90210.’”

Others have talked about favorite plot points, characters, etc. — from Jason McIntyre on The Big Lead, discussing both, to Maggie Coughlan at PopEater pointing out some guest stars who went on to be famous (Nice frosted tips, Ryan Seacrest.)

My contribution will be to talk about what has to be my favorite part of the show — seeing who was playing The Peach Pit After Dark. It was a weak plot device to get some music on the show and of course it worked like a charm.

A few months back SF Weekly pointed out 10 acts who graced Nat’s stage. It was literally a cross-section of music — from the spaced-out rock of Flaming Lips to the brilliantly catchy “Lovefool” by the Cardigans to the monstrously cheesy Color Me Badd. They even pulled in The Cramps, one of the greatest bizarro punk bands ever.

(In addition, they were able to get a gig from a band called Kara’s Flowers. You may not have heard of them by that name — but they became a lot bigger as Maroon 5. Also playing the Pit at one point — Wild Orchid, led by one Stacy Ferguson, who of course became Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas.)

Personally, I do remember seeing both Barenaked Ladies and Collective Soul on there. I wasn’t aware that the Corrs, Duncan Sheik, Christina Aguilera or Dick Dale did, however. (Thanks to dl004d for the tip — by the way, they also compare the Pit’s roster to that of The O.C.‘s club, The Bait Shop, which had a slightly edgier playlist.)

By the way, the Pit was also the launching pad of the songs of Ray Pruit. The less said about these Jamie Walters nightmares, the better.

In closing, celebrate 90210 Day by getting your DVDs out and watching some classic episodes. Try to figure out why Andrea Zuckerman was in high school at the age of 29. And finally, join the cause: Donna Martin Graduates.