I remember back in the early 80's there was a "What If" of the Superman comic series. In that one off story Superman reveals himself to the world on the Eve of 2020, which coincidentally is when all the cities on the east coast of the US are merged into one, and they rename the entire mega-city "Metropolis". The comic's popularity was discussed in Time magazine. That publication started a pop culture treatment where "the future" starts in 2020, partially because 2000 was too close and all the "cool future stuff" was clearly not gonna happen that soon.

Remember "In the Year 2000" on the Conan O'Brien show? Seemed like it would never actually get here.