Posted by KublaKhan It's gone now.

well, there's still the red door.

Posted by KublaKhan Any why not? There was an open cavity under a massive parking lot here in Vic. Someone burned out that place as well. It's gone now. Filled/fucked/closed.

I've just seen it so many times, granted, on this side of the water. If they go to the expense of re-doing the utilities and roadworks, it makes no sense to leave an old void that may or may not be stable. A non-City owned parking lot may not be held to the same standard.

Likewise for sidewalk "beautification" with new concrete, street furniture and such, the old glass tile areaways are filled prior to new concrete being poured, unless it is a feature the property owner wants to save, in which case they re-inforce and install lights under the glass similar to what they've done on the east side of the 500 block Beattie Street here in Vancouver.

Of note, if you read old City Council records when the Engineering Department is presenting a report to council or a committee on proposed roadworks, renovations, or property developments, tunnels or areaways are often mentioned. The Woodwards tunnel across Cordova Street was referred to several times when council debated the Woodwards development. This is similar for under sidewalk areaways throughout the City at or near development sites. This may be the same for Victoria Council, I don't know.

Interesting discussion on this thread...finally.

Posted by KublaKhan John Adams told me of a summer of his youth (one might consider him Victoria's first modern era urban explorer) where he and a friend actually made their way INSIDE this place.

Was this via the hole shown in the photos circa 1970?

Posted by KublaKhan Anyway...stand directly over the spot where this hole-in-the-wall thing exists, and follow the line of the road, and note that it corresponds with a tunnel directly under the sidewalk that extends from the old Customs House to what would have been the Johnson Creek Ravine. Carry on.

Under sidewalk tunnels = Areaways. There may well be spaces under the sidewalk and extensions of basements here and there, but I highly doubt it is connected present day in the form of a tunnel as such. There have just been so many changes over the years for this to remain. All it takes is a broken water main here or there, or the installation of new services to uncover these spaces. When the City uncovers them they are compelled to deal with them if they cannot guarantee that they are stable and safe. 100+ year old infrastructure in a marine environment simply wears out.

Edit: grammar

Granted. Then is not now.

Posted by KublaKhan Once again, there was no need to smuggle opium into the city, as it was perfectly legal to produce it. Opium was made in Victoria. There were legal opium dens. It was not a crime to manufacture/possess/sell/use opium. That came later, and after much of the tunnels system was already in place. Given the volume of cash currency/bonds/certificates for exchange, etc. that came into and out of the city, and given that it was not exactly safe to move said items above ground from point A to point B, the tunnels were most certainly used to move this stuff underground. There was also a pretty decent trade in indentured labour...human smuggling was reasonably common (as it is to this day...here, in Victoria. Yes...human trafficking in Victoria in this present day and age). However, given that as a port city people were coming and going at all hours...ships were sailing into harbour on every hour of the day going for months...thousands of people passed through Victoria with no intention of staying...it's doubtful that the tunnels would have been used solely for this purpose. There's the story of men getting drunk in the saloon, and then waking up hours later way out at sea. Imagine that...you're at the bar sucking back pints, getting tapped on the bean, being shuttled underground from the saloon to a waiting ship. And then off you go to some other port. And you wake up with a hangover, and the floor is rolling around under your feet, and you look out the window and there's nothing but water as far as the eye can see. You're in the Navy now, sailor. The location of this entrance (wall pic) is interesting in that it generally offers point A in a straight line all the way up to what was then the Fort Victoria enclosure, the old courthouse, etc. Also, the hole in the wall is a right-angle entrance from a 'rumoured' tunnel that begins 'somewhere' on Store Street and carries on down Warf Street. You can see evidence of this tunnel plainly enough, and with little effort, and that this tunnel eventually makes it's way to the old Customs house. And so on and so on.

Not necessarily. Licenses for said sale was required. I completely agree that it was widely used, but still smuggled in some cases nonetheless. The tunnels could also have been used to smuggle not into Victoria, but out to sea. It was cheaper for cities on the coast to import Opium from Victoria rather than China. Theres a possibility that customs was checking the ships going to various ports. As well, it was banned in Victoria in the early 1900s I believe, and the dens/gambling houses remained open well into the middle of the century (longer in some cases) and the tunnels weren't closed until around that time either.

In regards to the business located behind the wall, I've been into the basement of the same building, different suite. Theres a bricked up doorway in the back of the space, simular to another one in the area A. Lien was kind enough to show me.

John Adams is my hero.


Edit - Iz a gud spellr.

so i dont know who has been down around that area lately on store street by the boom boom room, but someone has been picking away at the bricks to one of the entrance ways. you can actually see through inbetween some of the bricks. im sure a slightly bigger opening could be made with some persuasion? the bricks and mortar have become pretty ravaged over the years, heh.

also.... was just talking to me grandfather... he used to spend alot of time downtown as a kid and said the entrances werent bricked over then ,but alot of them have been filled in with dirt and debris ETC, before they were bricked over

another thing i saw the other day, city workers were doing some work infront of one of the 7/11s downtown and had one of the larger manholes off, there was some kinda of maintanance passage way, maybe for bc hydro but it ran parallel with the stores just under the side walk. (not to be confused with the extended shop space in basements of some business' downtown) would be rather tricky gaining access to it considering the location.

new info aquired from a good source...

the tunnel entrances shown in recent photos arent only blocked on the front but also blocked again on the inside about 20 feet back. would still be curious to see whats in that space though...

Posted by KublaKhan You kids and your nutty High Risk Adventures.

At least they Aren't having unprotected sex in said drains!!

Post by SteamPunk At least they Aren't having unprotected sex in said drains!!

of course we aren't
or are we¿

Posted by SteamPunk At least they Aren't having unprotected ANALsex in said drains!!

fixed.

Posted by SteamPunk fixed.

There are some deeply disturbed people around here.

Speaking of deep...does anyone know anything about THIS?

Posted by KublaKhan deeply disturbed people around here.

Insert "kettle black" statement here!!!

So good to have us ALL around!!!

Some of us ARE very fucked up...but that just gets our group street cred!!!!

Post by SteamPunk Posted by SteamPunk At least they Aren't having unprotected ANALsex in said drains!! fixed.

Now that makes more sense
were not that fucked up _sometimes

and KK i believe that is the same course that NK mentioned previously but this one being up island

im going up island on saturday does anyone know some good locations to hit up between vic and mt washington

Posted by SourDiesel im going up island on saturday does anyone know some good locations to hit up between vic and mt washington

I'll be relocated to Nanoose Bay on MONDAY!!! I have a fairly reliable exploring car!!

hey SD, theres a really cool abandon pig farm in the whiskey creek/parksville area, my cousin used to make his cheesy low budget zombie movies for his school projects there when he was a kid... ill see if i can find any of his videos on youtube. hes the one who actually introduced me to URb-Ex

sweet ill check that out on my way back from the mountain
or on my way to the mountain depending on if i get outta the house by 5am

Our beautiful city:


http://www.youtube...atch?v=wo95I5uKbyY

Posted by A. Lien Our beautiful city: http://www.youtube...atch?v=wo95I5uKbyY

Hahah Awesome!! Thanks for posting.

One of these days I'm going to get back down to archives and watch reel upon reel of old footage... <3

Mid-Island Mayhem is here!!! I think I'll take a drive to Vic tomorrow to visit an old friend, and start my island explorations there. Looking for work can wait till next week!