Culture is a very broad term. Multiple times through out years of public schooling I had been asked the extremely broad question, “What is culture?” Truth be told I really never knew how to answer that question. In some way you can say that I felt under educated about the world and all it’s inhabitants, major social events, individual circumstances, thousands of years of modern history, and millions of other aspects of this planet that make up culture to give a proper answer, and I hate to say it but I was right. The way I see it a “culture” is not something to be explained from the outside in. Instead I feel a person must be amongst those in the culture to absorb it, learn from the people that make up the culture, and see first hand what that culture is, so that you can fully understand it and answer the question of, “What is culture?” with an honest and educated answer.

This is why over the past Saturday I set my alarm for 5:30 am in order to head to Beverly Hills with my partner in crime, Brice Waller, to be taught a little something about the lifestyle the surrounds sneakers and the enthusiast that make it a part of modern society.

First off I would like to commend the dedication these so called Sneaker Heads have. The last thing that ever pops into my head on a perfectly good Saturday morning is to wake up at the same time as the sun rises and stand in line for hours to be systematically let into a store who’s mall operating hours do not even officially start for 2 more hours. But hey, I was there to observe this lifestyle and learn a little about it, so after a quick cat nap in my car I hoped in line to join my buddy Brice to see what the hub-ub was all about.

What I quickly learned by those around me was that there was much, much more than shoes making these people stand in line. On this particular day three new models of Kobe 6’s were being released (Chinas, Gass Blues, and Rices) . Now, put your biased beliefs about the Laker’s and the man that carries the team’s weight on his shoulders aside, and realize that in the Los Angeles sneaker community this was, LITERALLY, the reason these people got out of bed this morning. 

Taking a look at the Chinas while in the cover of a parking structure, I will be honest, I felt as if I was looking at a nice pair shoes, but that was it. However, once we began to drive through the now awake streets of the city, as the early morning light peered through the buildings that line the sky of Los Angeles, I had an epiphany…

These were not shoes. These were an extension of the City of Angels themselves. These shoes are models for the man who plays for the city of LA, and that man has claimed the last two NBA titles, five in all, and as of tonight when I post this he is the #6 highest scorer in NBA history. These  shoes have a story, heck, you can even say the color ways are stamps in time of where one man was in the course of his highlight reel career when they were released. That was when I had my even bigger picture moment.

The culture that surrounds sneakers is much more than simply covering your feet with a nice color way. However, this is something I had already assumed. But once I put myself in the middle of this culture and talked to those that were apart of it, like the guy in line that was dressed in full head to toe Nike Kobe gear, who described himself as an extreme fan of the player who, without him, these shoes wouldn’t have even existed. Or other proud residents of LA who wear these shoes with pride because their city’s team and it’s key player has held the title almost as  many times as the Jordan era Chicago Bulls. My experience and introduction into sneaker culture showed me that it is not All For Everybody to understand or participate in, but those who do have a deeper appreciation for much, much, much more than things they we on their feet, and the is something all and everybody should commend.