Underground tunnels are the Loch Ness Monster of LA


By
 in , ,

If you’ve talked to any grumpy old man before, you know that the government is corrupt and hides things. Just look at Watergate. Or spying by the NSA. Or the 11 miles of tunnels supposedly used by the Los Angeles city government to smuggle alcohol during the Prohibition era.

According to online sources, including the Los Angeles Times and KCET, an expansive tunnel system exists underneath Los Angeles. Different sources report that the tunnels were used for different things, including alcohol delivery, bomb shelters, homeless shelters and mobster transportation. Government officials jog in the tunnels for exercise; rumor has it that select Los Angeles bars still have access to the tunnels that once smuggled them booze.

The website Atlas Obscura contains the boldest description of the tunnels — 11 miles long, once used by the Mayor himself to run the city’s black market for alcohol during Prohibition.

How did I find the tunnels? Pure luck. As I perused Google Maps for the location of Farmacia y Botanica Million Dollar — an excellent shopping choice if you’re in the market for potions or voodoo dolls — I noticed a spot not-so-subtly labeled “Underground Tunnels of Los Angeles.”

To access the tunnels, find the door marked “Los Angeles County Archives …Shipping and Recieving.” The tunnels are a big secret, so you have to earn your right to them by finding them authentically (or by just utilizing the power of Yelp). My only hint: the door is near the Los Angeles Hall of Records, located in Civic Center.

Now, at this point I must offer a disclaimer. Officially, the tunnels are not open to the public. So officially, entering the tunnels is considered trespassing. The door is unlocked, however. And in my personal opinion, if you don’t want people to trespass, you lock the door. And you don’t make your trespassable location an easy-to-find point on Google Maps.

Just in case, I’ll share my trademark Erin Rode Rule of Trespassing: “Sorry, I got lost.” After just a few minutes in the tunnel, however, I realized that my usual defense wouldn’t work. Typically, this response comes to defend myself after wandering off a hiking trail onto private property or something of that sort — situations in which I have a legitimate reason to be in the area.  I couldn’t think of any possible excuse as to why I was wandering around somewhere below the Hall of Records.

I’ll be honest — the tunnels aren’t much of a tourist destination, especially for me, a Los Angeles girl who gets antsy if she’s away from the sun for more than 10 minutes. But if you’re looking for a sad, damp place to escape Los Angeles’ gorgeous sunlight, the tunnels may be the destination you’re looking for.

The tunnels are definitely worth visiting just to say you’ve been there. Go downstairs, take some photos and get out before something jumps out at you. That’s what I did; I trusted the Internet’s claims that the tunnels extended for 11 miles without fully exploring them myself.

I may have been wrong, however. Curious about the tunnels’ history, I reached out to John Welborne, tunnel expert. His actual qualifications include coming from a family that has inhabited Los Angeles since the 1860s, and being a board member of a variety of the city’s historic societies, but I prefer the term “tunnel expert.”

Welborne explained that what many believe is a coherent tunnel system is actually many isolated underpasses, sewage pipes and storm drains. He pointed out that outside of Internet heresay, the tunnels have no concrete proof. According to Welborne, the 11-mile tunnel is a myth. In fact, Welborne believes even a few miles of connected tunnels is unproven.

“If I offered you $100,000 for giving evidence of three miles of tunnels, without including sewer pipes or storm drains, you wouldn’t get that $100,000,” he said.

Apparently, the tunnels are a fluke, a mirage, the Loch Ness Monster of downtown Los Angeles. And according to Welborne, even the Loch Ness Monster is more believable than an 11-mile tunnel route.

“The difference between the tunnels and the Loch Ness Monster is that there are people who truly believe they saw the Loch Ness monster,” he said.

But I truly believe I saw the Loch Ness Tunnels. I visited the dark, damp tunnel; I saw it with my own eyes. I even Instagrammed it, and Instagram doesn’t lie. And yet — I barely entered the tunnels; all I know they could have ended a few feet past the entrance.

So for anyone I’ve excitedly gushed at about the tunnels over the past week — A.K.A. anyone I’ve talked to in the past week — I’d like to issue a partial retraction of my statement. Partial because part of me believes the tunnel expert, even though I know that the tunnel system must exist, because I know I didn’t imagine it.

You’ll have to explore for yourself, and then decide if you identify as a believer or nonbeliever. But remember, I’m not condoning trespassing.

Erin Rode is a freshman majoring in environmental engineering and print and digital journalism. Her column, “The Rode Less Traveled,” runs Thursdays.