Have you ever seen this? There’s a couple of places in my home town where someone’s sneakers are tied together and hanging from untility lines. Someone told me there’s a place on or near the Univeresity of Dayton campus that has shoes hanging from lines. Anyone know the reason for this or it’s meaning? Thanks.
I know I saw it in a movie once, then all of a sudden it became some kind of fad. Can’t remember the movie, damn. But I have seen tennis shoes hanging from utility wires in every town I have been to in the last couple years. Crazy huh 
There was a UL that they marked gang boundaries, which turned into reality as gangs heard this and took it up.
Of course, near a uni, it’s probably students out to stir things up and make people think there are gangs around.
Cecils take on the subject:
Why do you see pairs of shoes hanging by the laces from power lines?
I see this very rarely around the Bay Area, but when I visited Goleta (UC Santa Barbara) there was a friggin’ Foot Locker up there. It’s very much a college area, but I haven’t seen it in/near any other campuses I’ve ever been to throughout California (and UN Reno).
Since I actually GO to UCSB and live in the infamous Isla Vista community, I thought I’d share my two cents. Most of the time it is just drunken party-goers who decide to steal their friends (or not) shoes, tie them up and throw them over the power line to see if they can get them to stay.
Isla Vista is an extremely unique community as it is populated pretty much exclusively by college students (UCSB / SBCC), thus as you can imagine…alot of “weird” stuff goes on that you normally wouldnt see elsewhere (other college campuses included.)
When I was a kid, it was something big kids did to mess with smaller kids.
Fortunately for those of us without so much body weight, pants are hard to throw and unlikely to catch on powerlines.
One hears that the old timers used to throw people’s shoes up in trees.
Wag the Dog, I expect.
But it seems that the custom predates the movie by quite a way.
I believe Cecil’s take is missing something- down on Parramore (Orlando’s equivalent of Martin Luther King Blvd. in every other US city- ie. where the rocks are) when someone is murdered, his friends throw his kicks over telephone lines before the funeral.