Nike Air Force I -- 25th Anniversary "Bawlmer"

My current chain.

So I have a bit of a thing for shoes. My second job ever was at Rudo Sports in Northwood shopping center. This was pretty much a dream job at the time (1990-1993), even if I was working for minimum wage (I think it was $4.75 back then). I got mad discounts on tenners, and happened to work with KW Griff who was DJ'ing every Friday at Paradox. Jimmy Jones, Booman, Rod Braxton and others would be in the store constantly, goofing around and getting me seriously hooked on the club and house tracks. I had crazy mix tapes then, but after some car break-ins where I lost a '30 case' of cassettes, not many are left.

The hot shoes back then were Reebok Classics running shoes, Air Max Is, K Swiss, and Jordan VIs, with a few ACGs and trainers thrown in. The king of all shoes though were the "Airs" (Air Force I's). I was vaguely aware of this back then, but Baltimore was really the only place in the country still selling Airs back then. I've seen the importance of Baltimore in keeping this shoe alive before the 'sneaker craze' of today mentioned in a few sneaker books (Where'd you get those by Bobbito Garcia), but this Nike pamphlet I just picked up last weekend at Nort/Recon breaks it down! This is a nice glossy ad for the upcoming 25th anniversary releases and Baltimore gets a full spread with a nice name check for "Charley Rudo Sports"! The maroon shoe is the colorway of the Rudo signage, and I'm going to be all over them when they get released.

[EDIT: More Baltimore shoes here: "Cloverdale Park"]

[Click for a readable image. You should probably download it for best viewing]

While searching for info I stumbled on this completely insane trainspotter site on Baltimore transportation.
I can't believe something like this exists!