Photograph taken on the University of Louisiana Lafayette campus near the Intramural Athletic Fields, Lafayette, Louisiana.
This is a relatively untouched photograph. After I put up this entry I brought it into Illustrator and traced it. Now I’m trying to think of an interesting background to put behind the shoes. Any ideas?
Bill Chance 
Bill, generally in New Orleans, shoes on a wire means you are in a drug neighborhood. I have no idea what it means upriver.
— Ray
I’ve read that, not only in New Orleans, but in most large cities – but wonder if it isn’t an Urban Myth. I’ve seen too many kids throw shoes just for grins.
At any rate this spot – http://g.co/maps/4rcw5 – didn’t look like a drug area to me.
I do wonder if there is a story behind those shoes. They weren’t the only ones on those wires (they were a lot higher than they look in the photo). They were all athletic shoes – cleats – and I’m sure they were thrown up there after games on the intramural fields.
Maybe the tradition is to throw your shoes after your last game before graduation?
Hi Bill, before the storm I used to live in the upper 7th ward — Esplanade Ridge. Whenever drug dealers set up shop they’d toss an old pair of kicks over the wire. We neighbors took them down quickly. It’s no urban myth.
I have seen this type of thing before and heard it means drugs can be purchased nearby. Don’t have ny solid proof of this idea.