"Underground Expedition through New York City with Erling Kagge
In December of 2010, I spent a week with Norwegian polar explorer Erling Kagge making our way through the underground of New York City. Starting in the Bronx and ending at the Atlantic Ocean in Jamaica Bay, Queens, our idea was to make our way from one end of New York City to the other through its myriad tunnel networks. In the process, I knew we'd also be exploring New York City's past -- making our way through more than two centuries of urban development, including streams that were once aboveground waterways in the pre-urban topography (17th & 18th centuries), to the city's first enclosed sewer along Canal Street (early 19th century), to the completely 20th-century labyrinth of the subway system. We wouldn't sleep in hotels during the week-long trip, but would camp in the tunnels or wherever we could find a spot.
It was freezing cold, often wet and miserable, far more difficult than I expected in many ways, and we only made it through a portion of the tunnels we planned/hoped to. It was also an absolutely wonderful trip. Overall it was five days and four nights, monday-friday. We slept three nights underground, and the fourth night didn't sleep at all.
The trip was originally Erling's idea and I can't thank him enough for the leadership, inspiration, and-- above all-- his complete willingness and excitement to do crazy, stupid, foolish, wonderful things like this. I also want to give me deepest thanks for the other people involved, both friends who helped to make the trip possible and journalists who were willing to accompany us on some or all of the trip to help make public the amazing world of the urban underground."
videographer Andrew Wonder
more
http://www.undercity.org/http://vimeo.com/18280328
14 Comments
EMPIREsays...great video. I too think cities are such a wonderful resource for exploration. Too bad it's so troublesome some times.
eric3579*quality
siftbotBoosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by eric3579.
vaporlockThanks for the quality eric3579, this video is great!
thyazidehttp://www.wowpedia.org/Undercity<= Been there done that.
EMPIREsays...>> ^thyazide:
http://www.wowpedia.org/Undercity <= Been there done that.
Horde Scum!! Be gone!
ant>> ^EMPIRE:
>> ^thyazide:
http://www.wowpedia.org/Undercity <= Been there done that.
Horde Scum!! Be gone!
"For the Hordes!!!!!!!!!!!!"
bamdrewGot an National Public Radio story here: http://www.npr.org/2011/01/02/132482428/into-the-tunnels-exploring-the-underside-of-nyc
I'm on the fence about how much you want to promote advanced urban exploration like this.
A lot of abandoned places are dangerous partly because they don't appear dangerous.
spoco2This is wonderful stuff. To be sure it's dangerous, and idiots who don't think can indeed get themselves very hurt, but things like that first disused station are amazing places, really beautiful and I love them because they are little time capsules.
Just a word on how he handles getting into places like when he removes the drain cover... just wear a yellow/orange vest and look like you're supposed to be there and you'll have no problem. Wearing 'civilian' clothes and looking around suspiciously is the things that makes people think you're up to no good. It's hiding in plain view, and can work a lot better than trying to not be seen.
But exploration of abandoned places is something I'd love to do, never have... so do so vicariously though a number of sites, http://www.opacity.us and http://www.abandoned-places.com being my two favourite for their superb photography.
pho3n1xDangerous to be sure. Nowadays if you're caught underground in NYC, I'd imagine they'd strip search you looking for explosives.
ForgedRealitysays...Wow. This is fantastic! Contender for the best video I've seen on Videosift.
I want him to do this kind of thing with Underground Seattle...
maatcVery nice!
Only thing I don´t get:
Did they say this was shot in Dec of 2010 and it was freezing cold?
Then how come they walk around at 1am with their sleeves rolled up?
Also there is leaves on all the trees outside.
Did I miss something?
Great footage nonetheless.
ridesallyridencsays...>> ^spoco2:
Just a word on how he handles getting into places like when he removes the drain cover... just wear a yellow/orange vest and look like you're supposed to be there and you'll have no problem. Wearing 'civilian' clothes and looking around suspiciously is the things that makes people think you're up to no good. It's hiding in plain view, and can work a lot better than trying to not be seen.
Came in here to post That. But it strikes me as if his favorite thing about it is the fear of getting caught. Since he basically talks about getting caught the whole time. So much so that he seems to even be exaggerating said possibility to artificially add excitement.
siftbot4 more comments have been lost in the ether at this killed duplicate.
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