What Lurks Beneath Our City

It sounds like one of those urban legends -- secret tunnels, connecting some of downtown's buildings deep underground. But in this case, it's true, as the L.A. Times' Cecilia Rasmussen writes:

Beneath the busy streets of the City of the Angels is a complex network of pedestrian tunnels that stretch several blocks from Spring and Temple streets to 1st Street and Grand Avenue.

One of the tunnels existed in the early 20th century, connecting a long-gone county jail to a demolished red-sandstone county courthouse.

The surviving passageways run under a clutch of government buildings -- the Hall of Justice, the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, the Hall of Records and the Stanley Mosk Courthouse.

In their time, the tunnels have been used for the secret transportation of mobsters, murderers and more than a billion dollars in cash.

They have been designated as fallout shelters and homeless shelters -- for bombing that never happened and for the homeless who were invited in for a few nights during the rains of 1987.

Have any of you been down there? Sounds like it's ripe for some urban exploring!