The L.A. Underground (KTLA-TV) |
LOS ANGELES ( KTLA) -- Downtown Los Angeles is postcard perfect with its high rises, trendy bars and signature sports venue.
But buried beneath all of this is what many Angelenos are unaware of says LA Historian, Richard Schave, "there are 11 miles of tunnels at one point connected throughout downtown Los Angeles."
Mysterious murals, rusted machinery, and broken down brick line the basement of the King Eddy Saloon on 5th and Main - an establishment that's been around since the 1900's.
Reporter Dave Malkoff informs us, "During prohibition this became a piano store.. Nobody was buying pianos during the depression? No but they were going downstairs to the cellar."
The year was 1920, when prohibition banned the selling and drinking of alcohol in LA.
But that didn't stop the party - because locals simply went below the streets to enjoy their liquor, into secret Speakeasys - like the one concealed within the King Eddy Saloon.
Schave says, "Before prohibition, these were just service tunnels that people just used for the day to day of getting linens, getting olive oil, then prohibition comes and this cellar reinvented itself as a speakeasy."
That's right, these illegal drinking dens were run by corrupt city officials."The Mayor's office was essentially the top of the pyramid during prohibition.. Run things, there were men bootleggers who would bring liquor in."
But prohibition was lifted in 1933, and most of the tunnels were sealed off... Yet we learned LA's network of private passageways doesn't stop thereÂ… a mile northeast of 5th and Main - run hollowed halls connecting the county buildings from Temple to Broadway.
Built in the 1950's, they have their own skeletons from years past. "Back in the early days this also use to serve as the Coroner's Office.
Perform autopsies, keep the bodies of the who were found in LA County."
Now guarded by a rusted iron door, the basement of the Hall of Justice was closed off after the building sustained significant damage from the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
Today, the tunnels are becoming famous for another reason. "The tunnels have been quite popular with the motion picture industry, Legally Blond 2, JFK, Ali to name a few."
But buried beneath all of this is what many Angelenos are unaware of says LA Historian, Richard Schave, "there are 11 miles of tunnels at one point connected throughout downtown Los Angeles."
Mysterious murals, rusted machinery, and broken down brick line the basement of the King Eddy Saloon on 5th and Main - an establishment that's been around since the 1900's.
Reporter Dave Malkoff informs us, "During prohibition this became a piano store.. Nobody was buying pianos during the depression? No but they were going downstairs to the cellar."
The year was 1920, when prohibition banned the selling and drinking of alcohol in LA.
But that didn't stop the party - because locals simply went below the streets to enjoy their liquor, into secret Speakeasys - like the one concealed within the King Eddy Saloon.
Schave says, "Before prohibition, these were just service tunnels that people just used for the day to day of getting linens, getting olive oil, then prohibition comes and this cellar reinvented itself as a speakeasy."
That's right, these illegal drinking dens were run by corrupt city officials."The Mayor's office was essentially the top of the pyramid during prohibition.. Run things, there were men bootleggers who would bring liquor in."
But prohibition was lifted in 1933, and most of the tunnels were sealed off... Yet we learned LA's network of private passageways doesn't stop thereÂ… a mile northeast of 5th and Main - run hollowed halls connecting the county buildings from Temple to Broadway.
Built in the 1950's, they have their own skeletons from years past. "Back in the early days this also use to serve as the Coroner's Office.
Perform autopsies, keep the bodies of the who were found in LA County."
Now guarded by a rusted iron door, the basement of the Hall of Justice was closed off after the building sustained significant damage from the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
Today, the tunnels are becoming famous for another reason. "The tunnels have been quite popular with the motion picture industry, Legally Blond 2, JFK, Ali to name a few."
