Why do people do that?
The phenomenon of throwing shoes over power lines goes back at least to the 1970s. Its still done to this day, and probably will as long as people wear shoes, but now it is now engrained in our culture: a kind of rite of passage for kids, celebrate graduation or a way to honor a lost friend from the neighborhood.
How it started is a more sorted story... its not a coincidence that it started in the '70s, when drugs began to ravage urban neighborhoods across the country. Drug dealers & gangs established turf and throwing shoes over the wire on their block was how they mark their turfed — a clear warning to the ops that they were on enemy territory.
This photo was taken by Brett Stein on Lincoln Rd. in Brooklyn. Circa 2012.
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