Tennis shoes and phone lines??

**Servite** · March-03-13, 04:04 AM

Question, does anyone know what it means when there are a pair of tennis shoes tossed over a phone line in front of a house? I've been told by co-workers that it means different things from city to city. My concern about it is that the house next to my Mom's has a pair of shoes hanging in front of it. The residents of the home seem to be a group of young men in their early 20s. Any insight would be appreciated.

**pgn421** · March-03-13, 06:23 AM

Originally Posted by Servite

Question, does anyone know what it means when there are a pair of tennis shoes tossed over a phone line in front of a house? I've been told by co-workers that it means different things from city to city. My concern about it is that the house next to my Mom's has a pair of shoes hanging in front of it. The residents of the home seem to be a group of young men in their early 20s. Any insight would be appreciated.

It means either gang or drug activity.

**Wingnatic** · March-03-13, 07:03 AM

When I was a kid it meant it was the end of the school year and rather than bring those stinky shoes home at the end of the school year , kids would hang them on a line to air out

**Bill07073** · March-03-13, 07:55 AM

Originally Posted by Servite

Question, does anyone know what it means when there are a pair of tennis shoes tossed over a phone line in front of a house? I've been told by co-workers that it means different things from city to city. My concern about it is that the house next to my Mom's has a pair of shoes hanging in front of it. The residents of the home seem to be a group of young men in their early 20s. Any insight would be appreciated.

Here is a link to Wikipedia with a fairly good explanation:

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

**DetroitPlanner** · March-03-13, 11:41 AM

It means you don't get around much. Seriously. You will see lines and trees covered with shoes throughout the United States. There is not one economic class or ethnic group that this is associated with other than kids bored as hell. You also need to be in an area where there are either trees or overhead power lines [[I was amazed to learn that places like Canton had few overhead lines or that N Dakota has few trees!) Not exactly what I was brought up as being normal.

**Servite** · March-03-13, 12:24 PM

pgn421, that's what I had heard, too. My friend in New York, who is a cop, told me that the shoes identify a drug house. However, I have a friend in L.A. who said that it means that a gang member had been killed.

**Servite** · March-03-13, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

It means you don't get around much. Seriously. You will see lines and trees covered with shoes throughout the United States. There is not one economic class or ethnic group that this is associated with other than kids bored as hell. You also need to be in an area where there are either trees or overhead power lines [[I was amazed to learn that places like Canton had few overhead lines or that N Dakota has few trees!) Not exactly what I was brought up as being normal.

Seriously, it meant kids were bored in 1970, now, it's a little more complicated.

**pgn421** · March-03-13, 04:22 PM

Servite- i see those tennis shoes all over the city every day. I drive the city streets, every day, from east side to west side.

**Django** · March-04-13, 03:36 AM

I hate to break the news and ruin all the drama but it means some kid got a NEW pair of shoes and found a creative way to get rid of the old pair.

**GPCharles** · March-04-13, 11:43 AM

In Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, some student tossed the shoes of Luna Lovegood over a beam in a corridor at Hogwarts. I don't think that was drug related. More like "Luna is wierd" related.

**Honky Tonk** · March-04-13, 12:51 PM

I see a lot of Cole Haan wingtips hanging off the wires in GPP.

**GPCharles** · March-04-13, 01:15 PM

Cole Haan? Please - Belgians.

**iheartthed** · March-04-13, 01:17 PM

Originally Posted by pgn421

It means either gang or drug activity.

Like 20 years ago. Now it probably doesn't have much relevance at all.

Shollin · March-04-13, 01:31 PM

I'm confused why the teens were robbed of shoes when the robbers could just grab a pair from a power line?

**Honky Tonk** · March-04-13, 01:36 PM

Originally Posted by Shollin

I'm confused why the teens were robbed of shoes when the robbers could just grab a pair from a power line?

No ladders, silly.

**Django** · March-04-13, 03:50 PM

Has anyone ever tried to toss a pair of shoes around a power line? Its a hell of a lot harder than you would think

[[I just bought a new pair of boots)

**softailrider** · March-04-13, 07:36 PM

Just another way to make your neighborhood look even more ghetto. As if all the abandoned, burned out houses weren't enough. Old shoes hanging down from power lines adds a little something extra to the atmosphere.

**Wingnatic** · March-04-13, 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by Django

I hate to break the news and ruin all the drama but it means some kid got a NEW pair of shoes and found a creative way to get rid of the old pair.

Exactly .. at the end of the school year we had to clean out our lockers and the gym shoes we wore and stunk up , was one of the items . I don't think in 1962 that had a drug/gang meaning lol

**ggores** · March-05-13, 09:51 PM

Oy. No no no. Simply, walking around the neighborhood the threat of having your sneakers taken off and "thrown over a phone line" was more like Red Rover than anything else. Like we used to say, "stop being SO dramatic." Watch your shoes.

**mercyme** · March-06-13, 11:10 AM

I live in North Florida [[NOT to be confused with South Florida

). Used to frequent a restaurant that a pair of sneakers was thrown over the phone wires. A couple of months later I read that the restaurant was the site of several drug arrests. Maybe no connection but makes me wonder!