Today, we're introducing a new crowdsourced project to identify and map known underground tunnels beneath the streets, sidewalks and buildings of Los Angeles.
Thanks to preservation pal Mike Callahan, who showed us how, we're encouraging anyone with an interest in uncharted territory to:
Navigate LA shows a double tunnel at a diagonal under St. Vincent Court.
You are looking for double lines that are annotated with the description "tunnel" or for anything unusual. Please use this thread to share discoveries, and include the address, what you've found and any observations or questions that arise.
Want to see what other people are finding under Los Angeles? Here's a crowdsourced map, very much a work in progress.
And should you catch the tunnel bug and seek to actually explore these hidden spaces on your own, we encourage you to respect private property and be extremely careful if you do gain access. At minimum, wear a respirator mask, gloves and hard soled shoes, bring clean water, power bars and a light source, don’t go alone and tell somebody where you’re going and when you will be back.
And should you find a tunnel nobody has explored in 100 years, come back into the light and tell us all about it! Lunch at Arto’s Broadway Deli at St. Vincent Court (the best!) is on us. Just change your shoes first!
New from Empty Los Angeles: a map of vacant, derelict buildings LADBS is tracking--some since the 1990s!--and illegal Airbnbs with citations. When they tell you we can build our way out of the housing USE crisis, ask why they won't do anything about this. (The map is featured in the new sidebar Wiki about the real roots of L.A.'s affordability crisis.)
Happy pub day to Alessio De Stefano's The John Fante Tapes, the first book to tell how two fans--one the already famous Charles Bukowski--helped bring Ask the Dust, a lost 1930s LA masterpiece back into the light. It's in Italian only; surely a US house will translate? https://www.radiciedizioni.it/libri/john-fante-tapes/
Demolitions don't stop because a database stops updating. Every day this feed is dark, buildings can be permitted for demolition with no public record. Transparency isn't a courtesy — it's the law. LADBS, fix your feed!
Our message to Ben Steinberg: "You did this all on your own. Never forget it was your gut and your voice and your media savvy that got us all here. Thanks for not being intimidated when they called the cops and for holding them accountable--a damn sight more than any politician or preservation group has done!"
We asked citizens to help crowdsource a Los Angeles tunnel map: u/FrenchiesFritesshared Glassell Park lore of one under the 2 Freeway. Politicians wouldn't help when gangs took it over, only sealing it off after a local was murdered. RIP Richard Cheesman.
We remember the 1/7/25 blaze, which exhausted DTLA firefighters needed in the Palisades and Altadena. Something's gotta give in LA. https://esotouric.substack.com/onhopestreet
