Shanghai Tunneled
A couple of weekends ago we had the bright idea to checkout the Shanghai Tunnel tour in Portland.
This idea popped into our heads after a trip to Seattle, where we took the Seattle Underground tour (which was reasonably priced, had beer available, and was entertaining).
We naturally assumed that the PDX version would be slightly funkier, but fun. You might assume the same thing, but you’d be wrong. But don’t take my word for it.
The tour should be renamed “Hobo’s Basement Tour” because that’s about all you get to see. (Hobo’s was quite nice though. Staff was great, drinks were reasonably priced, and you get a nice selection of good old Portland-style weird. I look forward to imbibing there again)
The tour was poorly organized and overbooked. One of my friends did the hard work of making registrations. This required multiple phone calls, emails, voicemails, and payment in advance. We were told that if we could organize a group of 25 we could have a private tour. Unfortunately another group of 25 must have been told the same thing (or something) — so 50-odd of us were crammed into a basement with no ventilation while an “intrepid volunteer” took our money and did a poor job at presenting.
It was so crowded and hot we actually had one of our group faint.
At any rate, here some pics so you know what you’re (not) missing when you (don’t) sign up.
These shoes were taken from a group of lumberjacks who were locked up in cells beneath the street, before being sold into servitude.
Here are the remains of an opium den, you can see the bunks the customers would rent to ride out their trip:
The tour was terrible. Not even touristy-bad terrible, just flat-out terrible. Which is a shame because the history is quite fascinating. The best thing that can happen to this organization is to have it bought out by the Oregon Historical Society and run by professionals.
Before the terrible tour though, we had a party at my place. I made Sushi:
And the BluePlate Betrothed made her famous lemon bars and cookies:
I remember during the pre-game thinking “we should just stay here, drink cocktails, and eat all this sushi.”
I was so right.
June 12th, 2007 at 9:49 am
dude, ns.
June 15th, 2007 at 9:16 am
Yeah, I could havde told you all that but somehow no one believes me when I say, “Oh you mean you’re going to see Hobo’s basement?” I also thought I noticed the Hobo bartender snickering at our group but I couldn’t be sure.
June 17th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Yes, yes, you were right.
If I had a quarter for every time I thought “I should have listened to Kathleen” I’d have enough money for a latté. A Venti latté.
July 4th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Hey now, I made the same mistake. I think it’s because the Seattle one is so fun that you think, “how different could it be?”