Wednesday, May 9 was the day that the Nike Cortez Kenny III, the sneaker launched by Nike and Kendrick Lamar's Top Dawg Entertainment, was first available in Los Angeles.

For sale at the Blends store in Downtown L.A., the line of hopeful customers stretched from the doorway on South Los Angeles Street, around the corner and along 7th Street for a block, and then along South Main Street.

Those who arrived early enough were presented with a wristband that guaranteed they would be able to get into the store. Some latecomers were offered a standby wristband, but there were no guarantees with that one. A store representative told the Weekly this afternoon that he'd probably given out over 200 wristbands, and people were still arriving. No worries though — the shoe will be available at Blends for persistent sneakerheads through Sunday, May 13.

Fernando Huerta and Lenny Osorio, both 18, told us that they were prepared to wait for a couple of hours to get their hands on some of the merch. They were both more interested in the long-sleeve shirts that Nike has designed for Lamar than the shoes.

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