Note: This was originally posted on April 29, 2006 at 4:11am. It was written for and posted on a forum I frequent that has a profanity filter, which explains all the silly instances of “fking” and whatnot. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: This is very long and I wrote it while I was faded… Which explains why I am posting it at 4:00 AM PST.
Okay. So I got into the sneaker game a couple of months ago. I honestly can’t pinpoint the moment at which I became interested in sneakers, but, for what it’s worth, I have been viciously scouring websites like Hypebeast and High Snobiety for the past couple of months. Well, on Monday of last week, said websites report that Supreme will be releasing their limited edition Nike-collaboration Blazers on Friday. Giving special consideration to the fact that I have been in love with these shoes for months, I am fking stoked.
Well… Fast-forward to Friday, April 21. I couldn’t find anyone who was willing to take me to Supreme at 8 AM that morning, which is to be expected, considering most of my friends are reasonable people. So I decided that I was going to take the 4:44 AM bus from the corner of Severance & Adams to the corner of Fairfax & Beverly. And that is what I did. While on the bus I read a couple of chapters of Opening Skinner’s Box for my Psychology discussion and took notice of an extremely attractive girl that was sitting directly across from me. Unfortunately, she got off after only a couple of stops to go to some stock market class… Oh well.
Fairfax and Beverly… That’s where I got off the bus, and that is a couple of blocks away from Supreme, which is at 439 N. Fairfax. So I walked… I walked down Fairfax Avenue at 5 AM in Los Angeles. Suffice it to say I saw some strange things… Such as a homeless man jerking off. Now, I didn’t see his dick or anything, he was underneath a blanket, but I knew what the fk was going on, and it disturbed and saddened me. So I picked up the pace and soldiered on.
I arrive at Supreme. Unfortunately the line wasn’t going in the direction from which I arrived, so I was forced to walk past all the people who were already lined up. A couple of the dudes who were first in line said something like, “Too late, bro!” but I just shrugged them off and kept on keepin’ on.
Well I kept on… And I kept on… And I kept on… Until I reached the end of the block, and then some. That’s right, the line went all the way around the corner at 5 AM. Truly insane.
The next couple of hours aren’t very exciting. I do some more Psych reading and chill a little bit.
At around 10 AM, the got-damn cops show up…. Apparently they had been receiving complaints that all these fkin’ sneakerheads have been clogging up the sidewalk… So they felt it was necessary to bring 4 squad cars and 7 officers to tell us to move over, hah. LAPD… You are a true asset to the community.
So I guess it turns out that the fkin’ pigs are good for something, because they must have pressured Supreme into opening early… They opened the doors at around 10:30, which is something they don’t normally do until 11 or noon. Fking lazy skaters.
Hah, I forgot to mention the setting. The area of Fairfax in which Supreme is set is ultra-super-mega-Jewish. So all day long we were fielding questions from old Jewish ladies: “What are you waiting for?” “Shoes!?!?!” “You’re waiting for shoes?!?!?” “What kind?” “Blah blah blah…”
The highlight of such encounters occurred when an old dude rolled up to me: “What are you waiting for, blah blah blah…” The conversation was pretty standard up until the point where he mentioned this: “I remember when we used to wait in the breadlines in Russia! But to wait in line for SHOES!?!?! In America!?!?! That’s crazy!” Yeah, that old guy was pretty fking dope.
So anyway, back to the shoes….
At around 1 PM, I’m finally in front of Supreme. At this point I have already missed my Biology lecture and Psych discussion but, fk it, I was about to buy some dope shoes. I didn’t want to take the fking bus back to ‘SC, so I asked my friends of the past 8 hours for a ride. They responded: “Sorry man, I’m going to Pasadena,” and, “Nah, I’m going to the Valley.” Oh well.
I was pretty worried going into the shop. I mean, 200+ people were in front of me in line, what if they didn’t have my size? All that waiting for nothing, that’s what. But, luckily, when I walked up to the counter and said, “10, White,” they responded, “Alright.”
$181 and change after taxes. Size 10 Supreme Nike Blazers. Diagonal grid stitching. Snakeskin swoosh. Gucci strip on the back. Gold Supreme ring. 3 pairs of laces, all with gold tips. Was it worth it? Was it worth waiting in line for 8 hours and missing the last of my Psych discussions? Yes.
Story doesn’t end there, though, friends… I still had to get back to USC. Unfortunately, I headed back to the bus stop, where I waited with my brand-new $180 shoes so I could pay a $1.25 fee. In a twist of fate that can only be described as the opposite of unfortunate, though, a Lexus RX330 stopped directly in front of me… “Get in!” the driver said. It was my line-mate of the past 8 hours.
Rod was his name, and his girlfriend’s name was Nancy. They were the pair that had told me they were headed toward the Valley earlier. Luckily for me, they saw me waiting at the bus stop and took pity up on my poor soul and decided they would take me back to SC. We talked about all sorts of sht: sneakers, psych, Blind Date…. Not only did I get a ride home, but I got some fun conversation as well.
I got home 9 hours and $181 dollars later…. Would I do it again? Absolutely.
Cliff’s Notes: I bought some sneakers for $181.
Another note: I don’t really hate cops or anything, I was just being an internet hardass because I was a little drunk.
