Off the 'Cuff

Hidden Places (Photo: Aki Mimoto)

Frequently, at the end of the Sins of the City tour, I’ll ask participants about their favourite part of the tour. The top answers are usually pretty predictable:

• opium dens
• the old brothel district
• Blood Alley
• the ping pong ball
• the tunnels under Chinatown

Bricks (Photo: Aki Mimoto)

Each one has a special place in my heart (especially the ping pong ball!) but it’s the tunnels under Chinatown that seem to engage the most people. Everyone’s heard the stories about the extensive secret network of tunnels that run from the water all the way to the heart of Chinatown. Used for smuggling people, booze, drugs and other contraband between the opium dends, gambling houses and mysterious warehouses, these sound like amazing places that any urban explorer would be thrilled to poke around. (Maybe someone should start a guided tour and sell tickets! Hmmm….)

Secret Spaces (Photo: Aki Mimoto)

Hundred-year-old newspaper headlines like “Getaway is Under the Ground” or “Police Explore Chinese Tunnels” (both of which are discussed on the tour) reinforce the excitement, as do stories of the police taking a pick-axe to the sidewalk at #10 E. Pender to gain access to the opium den underground. And then there are those purple glass tiles in the sidewalks…

So what IS underground in Chinatown? Telling too much would ruin the tour, of course, but we photo-documented one of our recent adventures and you’ll see the pictures to the right. My good friend Aki Mimoto (http://www.disconti.nu/) took these pictures. There are other photos, as well, but I’m saving those for next year’s tour.

Underneath (Photo: Aki Mimoto)

(For those who came on the tour this year, remember to take a look at the satellite view in Google Maps to see that hidden treasure in Chinatown I told you about…)

Through the winter, we’re going to take many more pictures of some of the cool places hidden in Chinatown and Gastown and we might post some of them on this blog, or on his website.

Tags:   Chinatown · Sins of the City · tunnelsNo Comments