The following curious email request made its way to Windy City Times, so we said we’d share it with our readers, in case anyone can uncover the true tale of these shorts:
“I’m researching a story for the podcast Nancy from WNYC. I found these shorts mounted in a shadow box at the Halsted Brown Elephant at the end of September in 2013. The box looks hand-painted in parts and maybe wallpapered in others. There’s a rainbow racing stripe that runs around the entire frame. The shorts are mounted on a piece of wood with a hand-painted red and white plant-like pattern.
“The shorts themselves are Levis 501’s and they date to the early 1980s. The leather tag is torn out at the top and there is a big patch sewn in between the back two pockets. They are cut off but cuffed, making about a 4” inseam. I’m trying to find out the story of how the shorts got to the Brown Elephant. Who they belonged to, why they were mounted, and where they were displayed. Anyone with any info can reach out to me, Ben Riskin, at nancy@wnyc.org.” See photos.app.goo.gl/A7gqaTmm2RL15cc72.
So, anyone know the story behind these shorts?
Windy City Times