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Sneakers on the Power Lines, Sandwich in Our Pants

drugshoes.jpgIt was only four days ago that a friend of ours mentioned that shoes hanging from a power line meant it was a "safe" area for dealing drugs, or that it had to do with gang territory. He couldn't remember exactly. We thought that was stupid. We've always thought it was simply the work of some shithead bully.

Then we thought of the opening shot in the 1995 stoner-flick, Friday. There they were, a pair of sneakers dangling lifelessly from the power lines. Oh dear, we thought. That movie's full of drug dealers and gangs. And also Chris Tucker's funny catch phrases. "Daaaamn nigga!" Ha, we love that.

If you don't recognize the location in this photo, it's on Pike Street, between First and Second Avenues.

We snapped this photo today, on our way back to the office from Quiznos. We saw the shoes hanging above, and then realized we had in fact stepped into one of the little pockets of downtown where drug deals take place openly and frequently.

Oh no! we thought. What if one of these dopers are super hungry and try to steal our delicious Chicken Carbonara sandwich? We snapped the photo of the shoes, shoved the sandwich down our pants, and hightailed it out of there.

See, we were brought up in Wyoming where, at the time, the only drugs available were bad pot and trucker pills. That said, we've since lived in much larger metropolitan areas for much of the past decade, so we don't consider ourselves completely dim on the subjects of drugs, drug culture, or inner-city drug dealing. Which is why we're surprised we've never heard of this before.

What say you? Any truth to this? Or just another stupid urban myth? Please, discuss. Meanwhile, we'll be cleaning the Bacon Alfredo Sauce from our crotch.

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By Jack in on May 7, 2008 3:14 PM

Comments [rss]

  • See -- it IS about sex! I knew it!


    Isn't it always?

  • cynicali

    I always knew it to be an area where one could score drugs.



    As for the argument that cops would then just go and stake the location out to look for the drug dealers, well that's just silly. In most large cities the cops know where drugs are sold and often times who sells them.



    I was always told that the sneakers alerted the white-collar addicts and suburban high school kids as to what block of the shady neighborhood they needed to be cruising.

  • mbq

    Quil Ceda nailed it. But, then again, I'm older than any two of you added together.

  • Caffienated Penguin

    I always assumed it was just a bully thing... kinda makes me think though because my neighborhood has lot of those heh.

  • Katelyn

    See -- it IS about sex! I knew it!

  • Eco Geek

    In McMahon Dorm at UW you were supposed to throw a pair of shoes into a tree or on the lines the first time you got laid in the dorm.

  • LarryB

    In Brooklyn, it just meant that someone got a new pair of sneakers.

  • Kim Ruehl

    when i lived in the hood in nola, i was told that the shoes on the wires meant you could score near there. which seemed silly, because wouldn't the cops figure that out and just stake the place out?

  • vanderleun

    "shoved the sandwich down our pants, "



    You're just the Sandy Berger of the Seattlest.

  • When I was growing up, I heard the drug thing. No idea if it's a myth or not, but considering a good deal of drug dealers are idiots, chances are it now means that.



    Man, I hope someone doesn't threaten me on this thread too.

  • Simonian

    So if shoes hanging in the air freak you out, this ought to really get to you, Jack:



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZjNREiBFWE



    or just google "nevada shoe tree" and be boggled at humanity's weirdness.

  • aineko

    haha @ belltown crackheads. i see some absolutely bonkers crap in my alley that i wish was on video.



    anywho.. what about all the beatings?



    in addition to all the belltown/u-district cases where people are seemingly randomly attacked.. i work with three people who have all been randomly punched in the face within the last two years.



    i hear about these random punches and fights so often that i wonder when it'll happen to me.

  • Quil Ceda

    dang bro. it used to be when you jumped someone you took their kicks and tossed them up on the lines. show your tough and all. it dont mean jack now because that was like the 80's and nothing but little whitebois doing junk like that throwback style but it dont mean nothing.

  • Jack

    It's a sandwich, but I'm sure you're a lovely woman.

  • Lake City in the House

    Shoes in on power poles? Why? Why? Even the mighty Snopes doesn't know...

    http://www.snopes.com/crime/gangs/sneakers.asp



    I guess it will mean what ever we fear most... rorschach test for urban anxiety.

  • GroundedGirl

    I'm probably in a goofy mood, but "sandwich in our pants" is the funniest dang thing I've heard today. It begs for repetition-- "Sandwich in our pants! Sandwich in our pants!"



    Is that a sandwich in your pants or are you just happy to see me?

  • RMH

    I grew up in northern California and was taught that it meant someone had been killed near where the shoes were hanging.



    Frankly, I don't think it actually means anything anymore.

  • aineko

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe_tossing



    in chicago i took them as a general indicator of gang territory. not a specific gang, but more "be careful what area you're about to enter".



    i see them a lot on capitol hill, and don't think they indicate deal spots. they usually look to be the style of your typical local trendwhore.

  • fuzzirella

    I grew up in Tucson and was told that the shoes hanging from the phone line meant that there was a drug dealer living in the area.

  • Saxtor

    Also, I've been watching for the awesome SpudNuts sign to show up on the Flickr feed, which is right next door to "JAX."

  • Saxtor

    I think the the whole shoes on wires is generally a myth, and people just like throwing shows on wires. I could be wrong though...



    And I find the BelltownCrime videos funny, especially of the group who noticed him/her and waved up, and went back to smoking crack. I used to have an unobstructed view from my office of the backside South Hwy99 onramp at Blanchard before they put up the big fence. I called it CrackheadTV because at any moment, if I needed a workday pick-me-up, I could wander over there and peer down to get my visual fix. I saw EVERYTHING, most of which I'd rather not recount. BelltownCrime is tame in comparison.

  • Fangirl

    So then logically, cops should throw sneakers in areas they are staking out so they can arrest more people for either thinking it's okay to deal drugs and/or gang banging.

  • Katelyn

    WHAT? No! You flash your headlights at them to tell them the cops are nearby!

  • Megs_Elyse

    I had always heard that it meant that it was gang territory. I was also raised with the idea that you never flash your headlights at anyone who is driving without his/her lights on because it was a form of gang initiation. If you did, the gang member would turn around and run you off the road and kill you. Oh the bedtime stories my parents would tell me ...

  • Katelyn

    I can't believe you used the word crotch. Amazing. I've never heard this explanation for the shoes, I heard that it was people who had gotten laid or something and threw their shoes up there. To... prove it... or something. It's all kind of cloudy in my head.

  • ronaldholden
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