An entrance to the tunnels in one of the buildings off MONUMENT SQUARE.
The LEN'S MARKET TUNNEL. "The story went that there was a tunnel that connected Len's Market to the Eastland" hotel, Matzke says. Souliere has also heard tell of this tunnel, from a descendant of the original Len; a parking lot is now on the site, leading her to expect that the tunnel has been filled or collapsed.
Which leads us to the most-rumored tale: the TUNNELS STARTING AT THE EASTLAND PARK HOTEL that "used to run out into different points in the city," says Souliere. After initially being very responsive to an inquiry and inviting me to an in-person meeting a few days away, Jeff Cappellieri of the Westin Portland Harborview called to cancel just three hours before the interview was to happen, and was not able to reschedule before deadline. We'll have to leave that in the "rumors" column — for now.
Peering deeper
• Want to wallow in the nostalgic, decaying beauty of that which lies below the surface or behind crumbling walls? My research led me to this maze of UE websites, run by urban explorers with a wide range of specific interests and areas of expertise:
• uemag.com
• gervs.com (Gerv's personal website, with UE pics and narratives)
• caveclan.org (representing Australia's active UE community)
• placehacking.co.uk (an academic perspective on urban exploration)
• sleepycity.net ("The haphazard and incremental growth of our cities merged with eco- nomic rise and fall has left a scarred urban landscape packed with explorable pock marks
and craters.")
• silentuk.com (check out the amazing "Atlantic Ghost Fleet" post on abandoned war- ships)
• shaneperez.com (featuring naked women in UrbEx environments!)
• sub-urban.com (on London's sewage and drainage systems)
• Lastly, be sure to check out the short Crack the Surface documentaries available for free
on several websites. (Made in collaboration with several of the sites listed above.)
