The True History of Sneakers

Over my soring break, I went to San Francisco to work in a soup kitchen for the homless that is located in a church called Glide Memorial. Over the course of the three days that I was serving, I learned many things from the people of the city of San Francisco who had been around since what seemed to be the beginning of time. I heard war stories from a retired General and stories of how his government pension went out during a depression and how that landed him in a state of homlessness and what he thought was hopelessness. He told of a day when he met a man who had been like him, but had decided that he would wake up everyday and live like it was his last day on earth. I know it sounds cliché, but it really was an experience in itself just hearing stories from all the people. From former Parks League Champion Basketball players, to convenience store owners who were robbed and never compensated for their losses, to even guys who were in Hollis, Queens during the reign of hip hop grandmasters, RUN DMC.

As I admired the old man's taste for sneakers, he leaned closer and asked, "hey kid, you wanna hear a story about these shoes?" Of course I was expecting him to say something about winning a fantastic basketball tournament while wearing his prized OG Pro Models, or even that they were passed down to him by someone he admired. But the furthest thing from my imagination was that he would disclose to me the sights, sounds, smells, and sensations of being at the concert where RUN DMC unleashed the power of music on the corporate shoe business and brought the Adidas brand back to life.

I had seen "Just For Kicks," and marveled at what it must have been like to be in the crowd at that concert on the day that would change sneaker culture forever, but never did I imagine that I would one day meet a man who was there, and lived the dream. He told me that as they screamed out for all the kids in the crowd to hold up their Adidas, he did so, unknowingly becoming an ambassador to all who live today for the sneaker culture. He told me that he left the concert missing one of his shoes, but he had picked up several pairs on his way out. I asked him how that could have happened, and he simply replied, "my brotha, if you was there, you would undastand that when you get that wrapped up in a situation where everyone around you is jumpin' around, screamin' 'my adidas, my adidas,' you know you ain't gon' be tha only one who ain't doin' it too. And I swear, I didn't know my snekas was gone till I got outside and felt some broken glass in ma' foot." I guess when you get involved in something that huge, no matter whether or not you have any idea of the affect it will have years later, you tend to go into a state of pseudo-euphoria. Not to mention the potential levels of drug and alcohol consumption that led to people forgetting they had even taken their shoes off.

Anyways, besides the man who was there in the days of glory, I saw OG Stabs, Superstars, AM 90s, AM 97's I saw a cat with some ghetto Ellesse's and much much more. The thing I realized is, whether they know it or not, the last pair of shoes they bought before becoming homeless or drug addicts were freezing me in a time capsule of true sneaker culture. For two hours a day, I was surrounded by nothing but sneaker history.

--B. Himo.--

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