Comments on: Shoefiti: shoes on powerlines

Shoefiti: shoes on powerlines

Rumple — Mon, 28 May 2007 11:38:24 -0800

Shoefiti: Shoes on powerlines. Shoefiti Phenomenology. Not to be confused with shoe trees.

By: nasreddin

nasreddin — Mon, 28 May 2007 11:52:21 -0800

Please do not use the word "phenomenology" if you do not know what it means. Especially not if you live in Williamsburg. Hipster assholes.

By: mendel

mendel — Mon, 28 May 2007 12:07:03 -0800

Nor shoe trees? (do do, de do do)

By: jeremy b

jeremy b — Mon, 28 May 2007 12:17:06 -0800

Merrriam-Webster.com: Main Entry: phe·nom·e·nol·o·gy Pronunciation: fi-"nä-m&-'nä-l&-jE Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural -gies Etymology: German Phänomenologie, from Phänomenon phenomenon + -logie -logy 1 : writings and/or images describing of the idiosyncrasies of a particular culture or subculture. Seems like pretty spot-on usage to me, Nasreddin.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Mon, 28 May 2007 12:19:38 -0800

Growing up (near Detroit and later in Louisville, Ky.), I always heard the story that gangs threw shoes up on phone lines to mark their territory. It makes sense (somewhat), but I (cynic) always assumed that was urban legend, especially considering some of the neighborhoods where I would see shoes. Eventually, I just decided that it was more like a prank, either something to do with getting rid of old shoes or bullies, i.e. a meaner prank like locking someone in a locker or giving them a red belly, etc. Shoes as gang signs on Snopes.

By: grytpype

grytpype — Mon, 28 May 2007 12:22:34 -0800

Ugh, I hate ghetto bullshit like this. Why do people fuck up their own neighborhoods?

By: Kellydamnit

Kellydamnit — Mon, 28 May 2007 12:39:52 -0800

It's enough of a problem in Buffalo that the online CityStat system (where you would report, say, missing recycling bins, downed trees, etc) has a category for it.

By: Salmonberry

Salmonberry — Mon, 28 May 2007 12:51:49 -0800

This has been going on for years around here, at least since I was a kid. Just something teenagers do, really.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Mon, 28 May 2007 12:57:24 -0800

Reminds me of the scam in Wag the Dog, where the Dustin Hoffman character thinks up throwing old shoes onto trees etc to honor the invented war hero, whose last name had the word shoe in it.

By: Tbola

Tbola — Mon, 28 May 2007 12:58:13 -0800

I never really understood what dangling shoes were supposed to mean until I saw some guy trying to get his shoes back down. You have to throw stuff at them repeatedly - hoping to just hit one of the shoes and have them flip back off - but you also have to take care not to break anything with the thrown object. Tennis balls would seem to be a good choice for throwing - baseballs, a bad choice. All the same, retrieving a set of dangling shoes seems hard to do with any sense of privacy or dignity... and that is ultimately my guess as to why they are thrown up there in the first place. (Unless, of course, you have a really good throwing arm... in which case, you are probably "cool" and your shoes are relatively safe from chucking.)

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Mon, 28 May 2007 12:58:51 -0800

The rubber souls of the shoes ground the power lines so you can go climb them without fear of electrocution. Go try it!

By: meech

meech — Mon, 28 May 2007 13:12:34 -0800

In New Zealand, the urban myth goes that the house nearest the dangling shoes will sell you drugs...[covered in the Snopes article]

By: Devils Rancher

Devils Rancher — Mon, 28 May 2007 13:15:03 -0800

This was the final straw for me, when reading Jame's Frey's a Million Little Pieces. I was beginning to suspect that he was full of bullshit, but when he describes his search for drug dealers, as (I paraphrase) "Going to the place where the shoes hung over the lines, to get what I want." He took the urban legend and ran with it as fact, showing his ass in the process.

By: The Straightener

The Straightener — Mon, 28 May 2007 13:37:44 -0800

The only time I saw a set sneakers slung over a phone line that I thought was an obvious marker was a couple months ago in Southwest Philly. They were the only set of sneaks hanging from the wire that ran the length of the block and they were hanging directly in front of a house that had black plastic taped over all the windows. That struck me as awfully suspcious, as it was a high drug and gun violence area and there wasn't like there were any renovations going on or anything. I was there to look at an adjacent property for a client (who refused to take it) and in the process of asking around with neighbors on the block I got someone to identify the house as an active crackhouse. But yeah, as a general rule it means absolutely nothing.

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Mon, 28 May 2007 13:47:40 -0800

The only time I saw a set sneakers slung over a phone line that I thought was an obvious marker was a couple months ago in Southwest Philly. It was de rigeur in Philly when I was a teenager in the 70s. Still is as far as I know. It doesn't mean anything at all - other than the fact that it takes a bit of skill to toss your beat-up Chuck Taylors so that the laces loop around the power line. You'd see some pairs that would hang there for years....

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Mon, 28 May 2007 14:00:43 -0800

I hate ghetto bullshit like this I live in a very affluent Massachusetts town (I rent, I'm the poorest person in town I think), and there is a pair of shoes hanging over a power line a block away. They've been there about 2 months, near a park. I just think it's a teenager thing.

By: fleacircus

fleacircus — Mon, 28 May 2007 15:19:51 -0800

I prefer the Spathi.

By: heatherbeth

heatherbeth — Mon, 28 May 2007 15:51:31 -0800

As a runner I throw my training shoes over telephone lines when they have no more miles left in their soles. My last pair were thrown over a line in front of my former apartment and at the telephone pole where I finished my daily runs (it took 3 tries to get it tangled up). Good ol' Eugene, Oregon: Track Town USA. Woot!

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Mon, 28 May 2007 16:35:27 -0800

As a runner I throw my training shoes over telephone lines when they have no more miles left in their soles. Why the hell do you think anyone wants to look at your nasty old shoes?

By: toddbass10

toddbass10 — Mon, 28 May 2007 17:00:03 -0800

I've always wanted to create a photo book based on shoes on power lines.

By: heatherbeth

heatherbeth — Mon, 28 May 2007 17:05:05 -0800

Why the hell do you think anyone wants to look at your nasty old shoes? So that people like toddbass10 can create photo books obviously.

By: holycola

holycola — Mon, 28 May 2007 19:31:49 -0800

I'm not sure if self-linking is kosher in the comments, but I run another flickr group called High Flung Soles, mostly populated with photos I've taken of the phenomenon around Vancouver, BC. I don't consider them blight - instead, I think they're quite peaceful markers of city life. Sorry if this is too self-promoting.

By: serazin

serazin — Mon, 28 May 2007 19:51:26 -0800

I love shoes on phone lines. It's just this tiny and anonymous shout of "I am here!" that gives me a small satisfaction. Also, wasn't there some crappy 80s movie that had shoes over electric wires as a major theme? It turned out they were being thrown by some reclusive oddball who somehow saved everyone at the end of the movie. Ring a bell anyone?

By: The Deej

The Deej — Mon, 28 May 2007 20:35:48 -0800

holycola Self-linking in comments is fine, as long as it's relevant to the thread, and you identify it as a self-link. You're good!

By: Rumple

Rumple — Mon, 28 May 2007 20:39:44 -0800

thanks holycola, great flickr group..

By: scalefree

scalefree — Tue, 29 May 2007 01:03:32 -0800

3bm: It's a Philly thing, they wouldn't understand it. :)

By: plant

plant — Tue, 29 May 2007 04:28:09 -0800

So, if shoes => crack.. what was this advertising?

By: Divine_Wino

Divine_Wino — Tue, 29 May 2007 07:42:54 -0800

How would shoes be useful to mark territory for a gang? Oh shit, see those shoes on the power line? Who's territory are we in? Uh the British Knights? Pro-Keds? Oh no it's the Rod Lavers, we're screwed. Ugh, I hate ghetto bullshit like this. Why do people fuck up their own neighborhoods? Right, because in a blighted and underserved neighborhood with little or no street cleaning, public works repair and lots of shoddy slum construction and no stores but liquor and fast food the problem is that some teenagers chuck their sneakers over a power line.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Tue, 29 May 2007 14:46:41 -0800

I always thought it was a bullying thing. You beat the crap out of someone, take their shoes and throw them up on the line to be a dick and humiliate them. Phenomenon. Huh.