Undercity - The New York Underground... literally!

[B_VinylBoy]

This is officially the first cool thing I've seen for 2011...
A videographer by the name of & urban historian & photographer named Steve Duncan put together this short 30 minute film where they explored New York in a way most of us would never fathom...

In December of 2010, I spent a week with a Norwegian polar explorer 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.

Duncan also has a series of amazing photos from other subway, sewer systems and from the tops of bridges in other well known cities around the world. But let's start with the video - UNDERCITY on Vimeo

For more you can also check out the blog. Urban Exploration - Steve Duncan

Enjoy!! :biggrin1:

 

[koval]

It looks like an interesting video, so i'll download it to view it later. But I always heard that NYC has some pretty interesting sights in the underground.

 

[B_VinylBoy]

It looks like an interesting video, so i'll download it to view it later. But I always heard that NYC has some pretty interesting sights in the underground.

There really is a lot that hasn't been seen by most people. Not to spoil the video, but on one part Duncan ventures to an abandoned subway station that still looks amazing compared to the stale, generic look of most current ones. You wind up finding out that instead of taking what was already in existence from previous generations and centuries, most things in New York were just built on top of it.

Kinda makes me yearn to walk through some of the old towns of Central Italy again... they've somehow been able to preserve a lot of their old history, architecture and buildings, yet still make them completely functional in modern society.

 

[nudeyorker]

That was really neat. I would love to do that! Thanks for posting this.

 

[B_stanmarsh14]

Seen this type of exploration before in the UK, mostaly from sites like UK Urban Exploration Forums

Fantastic place to look around, and visiting long abandoned places, and even some places that are still in use today.

Places like the old Nottingham General Hospital, and the cooling towers (Known localy as salt and pepper) at Medowhall, Sheffield have been covered.

This is officially the first cool thing I've seen for 2011...
A videographer by the name of & urban historian & photographer named Steve Duncan put together this short 30 minute film where they explored New York in a way most of us would never fathom...

In December of 2010, I spent a week with a Norwegian polar explorer 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.

Duncan also has a series of amazing photos from other subway, sewer systems and from the tops of bridges in other well known cities around the world. But let's start with the video - UNDERCITY on Vimeo

For more you can also check out the blog. Urban Exploration - Steve Duncan

Enjoy!! :biggrin1:

 

[HellsKitchenmanNYC]

I can't wait to see this! There's so much underground. There are even trains no longer used like the PLaza Hotel subway just for guests. I saw this on Discovery or Learning channel special. Gonna go view! Great find Vinyl!

 

[Bbucko]

Kinda makes me yearn to walk through some of the old towns of Central Italy again... they've somehow been able to preserve a lot of their old history, architecture and buildings, yet still make them completely functional in modern society.

I watched the first several minutes of the video only to suddenly remember a phobia I have of getting trapped in a tunnel with a live third rail and armies of rats. I rode the subways in Boston, NYC and Paris for years despite having such fears, which I'd soothe by reading and a process I call "creative denial"

I will try again later, as the topic fascinates me.

As to the quoted part: more than any place I've ever lived (or even visited), NYC (and Manhattan specifically) is all about the new, the fresh and the latest. Manhattanites are all about "progress". Ada Louise Huxtable wrote endlessly about this when she was the architecture critic for the NYT. It's a miracle there's anything left at all.

 

[leapyear]

I can't wait to see this! There's so much underground. There are even trains no longer used like the PLaza Hotel subway just for guests. I saw this on Discovery or Learning channel special. Gonna go view! Great find Vinyl!

Oh I'll check that out - there was also a private station for the Vanderbilt family under the Vanderbilt Hotel on 33/34 that was later converted into a bar (The Crypt)and then I believe a deli The Vanderbilt Cafe - do you know more about that one too?

Thanks Vinyl.

 

[HellsKitchenmanNYC]

Oh I'll check that out - there was also a private station for the Vanderbilt family under the Vanderbilt Hotel on 33/34 that was later converted into a bar (The Crypt)and then I believe a deli The Vanderbilt Cafe - do you know more about that one too?

Thanks Vinyl.

Leapyear that might be what I was remembering. I knew it was a hotel.

 

[B_stanmarsh14]

There are some fantastic parts on the NYC Subway, that are abandoned, and fantastic to go visit, just much like there is on the London Underground.

Believe some of the abandoned parts on both sites, are often used for film productions, and TV programs.

Though the 28 Days Later site in the Uk is mostly UK based, I do believe there are links to other world places, and I also think they do cover some parts of the US too.

Take the old Derby Hippodrome, which has been in the local news often (BBC East Midlands and Derby, and Derby Telegraph), which has been badly affected by fire..... loads of history about the place to be found.

Derby Hippodrome - A treasurer worth saving...

Also a number of videos up on youtube: YouTube - Derby Hippodrome