Philadelphia - Underground tunnels and sights from City Hall

From a WHYY special. The cast-iron Victorian style basement of Philadelphia's City Hall. That tunnel probably leads to the Masonic Temple..... really cool stuff! Also includes some footage from the City Hall basement records room, with documents dating from the 1860's!

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  Travel & Events

[nathanwilefrazier]

4:02 The guy in charge of the physical structure of city hall has no idea where the tunnel under it goes (?!) This really captures the spirit and culture of building code and zoning ordinance types - they are probably still passing laws and applying for permits to take a walk down there.

[WhollyGhost]

 Haha, yup!

[WhollyGhost]

Yeah, that always bothered me, too! They need to make a sequel..... "Part 2: WHAT'S IN THERE - REVEALED!"

[HOGGUS MEDEUM]

Does anyone know when this was filmed?

[WhollyGhost]

Probably filmed in 2001, maybe 2000. The original broadcast date was to be Sept. 11, 2001, but it was postponed. I'm not sure exactly when it did air (my copy is from a VHS tape), but I guess it was a few months later.

[MEEKMEEK19139]

Living in Philadelphiam those old tunnels are not that great. Our homeless people made it smell like urine. THATS WHY NO FOR ME TAKING THE SUBWAY. YUCKY PEE SMELL.

[WhollyGhost]

I don't think many homeless people have access to the types of tunnels they're talking about in this video. These aren't tunnels currently in use that you would use to take the subway..... seems to me like you just showed up to say I DONT LIKE HOMELESS PEOPLE CAUSE THEY SMELL BAD, which..... well, not only is it obnoxious, this isn't really the right place to say it.

[Mike May]

Holy dawgshit..Wow, a dated video but so interesting..the stench of urine..nice..

[habanerat .]

I would give you a '10' for your comment but sadly urinate.

[habanerat .]

Ah the smell of urine in the morning makes me happy, oh so happy. ;)

[supersuperwendydvc]

I hope those old paper records have seen been saved somehow digitally. They would just decay over time and be lost. Who knows if any of our ancestors have paperwork in there!!!

[Adrian Sills]

"WOA George would ya' like to close one of these doors and play hide the pickle with me?" That dudes voice was irritating as hell.

[Jason Donnelly]

Great post, thank you very much. I work at the Courtyard Marriott (former city hall annex) and was wondering what the depths of city hall held. There is rumor of a tunnel that leads from under the front desk of the hotel to city hall.

[Reddsmorris1]

Wonder if the records are known by others who search for family in their history. Microfilming the records would save them for the future.

[Alex Wolf]

yeah and in agreement with you not all of us can afford to be snobby enough to write off public trans because of a "pee smell" that you really only smell in stairwells.

[Willie Leonard]

2:48 lol