Beneath the bustling streets of New York City lies a hidden world of tunnels, trapdoors, and secret passageways — once filled with jazz, gin, and the ghosts of rebellion. In this episode of The Strange History Podcast, host Amy unearths the forgotten speakeasy tunnels that fueled the city’s underground nightlife during Prohibition. From the shadowy corridors beneath McSorley’s Old Ale House to the legendary escape routes of the 21 Club and the mob-run catacombs under Harlem’s Cotton Club, we’ll uncover true stories of bootleggers, mobsters, and musicians who defied the law — and sometimes physics — to keep the party going. You’ll hear about real modern-day discoveries of sealed tunnels beneath Manhattan and Brooklyn, ghostly jazz music echoing through forgotten cellars, and bars that still stand on top of the same secret networks that once hid the city’s most daring drinkers. With humor, history, and a few fake sponsor ads you definitely shouldn’t try at home, Amy guides you through New York’s secret nightlife — from the roaring 1920s to the haunted present day. So grab your fedora, pour yourself something (strictly legal), and step into the world beneath the world — where the booze never really stopped flowing.
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This episode of The Strange History Podcast was lovingly crafted with the help of ElevenLabs.io — the magical technology that gives Amy her time to sleep, eat, work and spend time with her dog Jack. While some might say she sounds too good to be true, we assure you, Amy is absolutely a real person… who just happens to have access to studio-grade AI vocal cords and an unnatural ability to pronounce “necromancy” without flinching. Any resemblance to an AI is purely coincidental — and mildly flattering. Dan the announcers name is really Bill and Patrick, the fake ad guy who thinks he is funny? well he is questionable at best. So yes, AI was used but the people are real and the shinanigans are.... well.... shinanigans.
Like and Subscribe:
Apple
Spotify
IHeart
Audible
This episode of The Strange History Podcast was lovingly crafted with the help of ElevenLabs.io — the magical technology that gives Amy her time to sleep, eat, work and spend time with her dog Jack. While some might say she sounds too good to be true, we assure you, Amy is absolutely a real person… who just happens to have access to studio-grade AI vocal cords and an unnatural ability to pronounce “necromancy” without flinching. Any resemblance to an AI is purely coincidental — and mildly flattering. Dan the announcers name is really Bill and Patrick, the fake ad guy who thinks he is funny? well he is questionable at best. So yes, AI was used but the people are real and the shinanigans are.... well.... shinanigans.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ah, New York, where dreams are made, traffic is eternal,
and apparently there's a whole secret drinking world hidden beneath
your feet. Welcome to the Strange History Podcast. Dear listeners,
I'm your host, Amy, here to guide you through the
boozy labyrinth under Manhattan, Brooklyn and Harlem. Because while Prohibition
may have tried to make America sober, New Yorker simply said,
(00:24):
challenge accepted and went underground.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Literally, the tunnels are real, and some still exist.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Let's start with a sobering or let's be honest, not
so sobering fact, there are still sealed tunnels under New
York that once ferried illegal booze, mobsters and occasionally an
unlucky jazz musician who took a wrong turn. When Prohibition
began in nineteen twenty, federal agents rated bars faster than
(00:53):
you can say bathtub gin. But New Yorkers had an answer.
The city's pre existing in structure, old coal shoots, sewer lines,
and forgotten service tunnels became the veins of a new
kind of nightlife. Mcsorley's Old Ale House, East Village. Mcsorley's,
founded in eighteen fifty four, was one of the few
(01:15):
bars to survive Prohibition by pretending to be a near
beer joint. But when renovations were done in the nineteen nineties,
construction workers discovered a sealed off tunnel beneath the bar,
leading toward the bowery, likely used to ferry real ale
during raids. The tunnel walls were lined with old kegs,
a few beer mugs, and some skeletal remains of rats
(01:36):
that clearly died doing what they loved. Those rats, my friends,
were the true unsung heroes of Prohibition, small fuzzy martyrs
of the cause.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
The Underground Gentlemen's Club. This episode is brought to you
by the Underground Gentleman's Club, not the kind you're thinking of,
unless your idea of a good time is sitting in
a damp brick tunnel, sipping bootleg gin and listening to
a guy named Tony play the trumpet off key. The
Underground Gentlemen's Club because it's not a secret if the
cops already know about it.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
The hidden doors and passwords of Manhattan twenty one Club,
West fifty second Street.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Ah the legendary twenty one Club, one of the most
famous surviving speakeasies When the feds came knocking, they'd open
the front door to a perfectly respectable restaurant, but below
hidden wine cellars, trapdoors, and a revolving wall that concealed
two thousand bottles of liquor behind solid concrete. The real
(02:36):
star was the secret tunnel that connected Twenty one Club's
basement to nearby buildings. If the cops came in one door,
the bartenders simply rolled the wall shut, darted down the tunnel,
and vanished like tipsy magicians. And when prohibition ended in
nineteen thirty three, the owners just reopened and said, oh
good now we can stop pretending. These are root beer, cocktails.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Mobsters, mysteries, and the Bowery beneath.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
If you think these tunnels were all champagne and jazz,
think again. The Bowery District's tunnels were also a mobster freeway.
Onnie the Killer Madden's Cotton Club Tunnels Harlem Onny Madden,
charming gangster, boxing promoter and part time sociopath, ran the
famous Cotton Club where Duke Ellington's orchestra made history. Underneath
(03:28):
the club a network of narrow tunnels leading from the
stage to nearby tenement basements and an old coal delivery route.
Federal agents once raided the place, only to find the
staff and liquor had vanished. Locals swore they could still
hear laughter echoing underground for hours, possibly from the band,
(03:48):
possibly from the ghost of a very smug Onie Madden.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Ghost Gin Tonight's episode is also sponsored by Ghost Gin,
distilled using authentic haunted spring water from the tunnels of Manhattan.
Every sip comes with a faint jazz solo and a
twelve percent chance of possession. Ghost Gin for when your
spirits need well spirits.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
As modern construction reshapes New York, old tunnels keep reappearing
like hangovers from another century.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Delmonico's Tunnel Financial District.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Delmonico's, one of New York's oldest fine dining establishments, had
a tunnel that allegedly connected to the docks, the purpose
delivering barrels of wine and whiskey discreetly during Prohibition. In
twenty seventeen, workers found a bricked archway beneath the restaurant,
leading toward the East River, inside fragments of old glass
(04:43):
wooden crates and the faint smell of bootleg bourbon soaked
into the earth. They say ghosts haunt battlefields, but honestly,
I'd rather haunt a wine tunnel, better lighting, better company.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Chumley's eighty six Bedford Street, Greenwich Village.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Chumley's was so secret that even cab drivers couldn't find it,
hence the phrase eight six it. The number wasn't random,
It came from the bar's address and its escape plan.
When police raided, bartenders shouted eighty six, everyone and patrons
vanished through a back door leading to a hidden alleyway.
(05:21):
The tunnels beneath Chumleys connected to neighboring Brownstones, ensuring the
gin and the gossip kept flowing.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Tunnel Tinder need someone to share a flask with under
the city. Try Tunnel Tender, the only dating app that
connects you with singles hiding from federal agents. Swipe right
if you like jazz, rebellion and questionable ventilation.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Tunnel Tender Love is blind, but the lighting's worse.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
The boozy infrastructure of Brooklyn, Now, Brooklyn wasn't going to
let Manhattan have all the fun.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Beneath the Burroughs Breweries and Brownstones lay an equally intoxicating network.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
The Brooklyn Navy Yard whiskey route.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
During Prohibition, smugglers used old military supply tunnels near the
navy Yard to transport whiskey barrels off ships, all under
the noses of federal agents station just blocks away. In
the nineteen nineties, utility workers rediscovered portions of the tunnels
filled with rusted carts and fragments of glass jugs. One
worker claimed he saw the faded chalkwords on a wall
(06:27):
no dry laws down here.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
The King's County Distillery discovery.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
When King's County Distillery set up shop in the old
Brooklyn Navy Yard in twenty ten, they found remnants of
those same hidden roots, concrete walls with drainage grooves, the
smell of old oak barrels, and even some nineteen twenties graffiti.
Their tour today includes a nod to the bootleggers who
paved the way literally for Brooklyn's craft Whisky revival.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Ghosts of the Underground.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
You didn't think we'd end this without a haunting, did you?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
The Jazz Tunnel Spirits.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Renovation crews near one hundred twenty fifth Street unearthed a
tunnel lined with cracked tile remnants of a speakeasy beneath
what was once the Lafayette Theater. Locals reported hearing faint
piano notes at night, even though the tunnel was sealed
and electrics long dead. Paranormal investigators, yes, the brave souls
who bring EMF readers to sewage adjacent tunnels, recorded snippets
(07:30):
of jazz like hums and clinking glasses. You know it's
a classy haunting when even the ghosts are tipsy.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Chinatown's dual tunnels.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Some of Chinatown's old tunnels were originally built for utilities,
but got repurposed by both opium dens and speakeasies. Police
raids in the late nineteen twenties found trap doors leading
to candlelit bars filled with expats, gamblers, and jazz musicians.
In one raid, officers reportedly found a live orchestra still
(07:59):
playing as the cops burst in mid song, midswig, mid chaos.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Modern speakeasys history repeats itself today.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Modern hidden bars mimic their prohibition ancestors. You can still
find speakeasys behind phone booths like PDT on Saint Mark's Place, laundromats,
Sunshine Laundromat in Greenpoint, or ice cream shops. Urban spaces.
Patent pending in nomad access through a fake cafe. But
here's the twist. Some of them occupy the actual footprints
(08:33):
of nineteen twenties speakeasies. Patent Pending, for example, is built
in the basement of Nikola Tesla's former workspace, using the
same walls that once hid illegal liquor, electricity, and liquor.
What could possibly go wrong?
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Drunk Historian Audio Tours. This episode is also brought to
you by Drunk Historian Audio Tours. Just strap on your headphones,
follow a suspiciously confident voice into an alleyway, and learn
about New York's history or get mildly lost. Either way
you'll learn something drunk Historian, because history is better when
(09:11):
slightly slurred.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
So there you have it. The secret tunnels that kept
New York's heart and liver alive during America's driest years.
Beneath the jazz, the chaos and the cocktails was something timeless,
the refusal to let anyone tell New Yorkers when to
stop having fun. And maybe, just maybe that's the city's
(09:34):
real spirit. So next time you're walking the streets of
Manhattan and feel the ground echo just a bit, it
might not be the subway. It might just be the
faint sound of a trumpet echoing from the tunnels of
rebellion below. Until next time, my thirsty historians, I'm amy
reminding you history isn't always above ground. Sometimes it's six
(09:55):
feet deep and still serving Gin
Ah, New York, where dreams are made, traffic is eternal,
and apparently there's a whole secret drinking world hidden beneath
your feet. Welcome to the Strange History Podcast. Dear listeners,
I'm your host, Amy, here to guide you through the
boozy labyrinth under Manhattan, Brooklyn and Harlem. Because while Prohibition
may have tried to make America sober, New Yorker simply said,
(00:24):
challenge accepted and went underground.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Literally, the tunnels are real, and some still exist.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Let's start with a sobering or let's be honest, not
so sobering fact, there are still sealed tunnels under New
York that once ferried illegal booze, mobsters and occasionally an
unlucky jazz musician who took a wrong turn. When Prohibition
began in nineteen twenty, federal agents rated bars faster than
(00:53):
you can say bathtub gin. But New Yorkers had an answer.
The city's pre existing in structure, old coal shoots, sewer lines,
and forgotten service tunnels became the veins of a new
kind of nightlife. Mcsorley's Old Ale House, East Village. Mcsorley's,
founded in eighteen fifty four, was one of the few
(01:15):
bars to survive Prohibition by pretending to be a near
beer joint. But when renovations were done in the nineteen nineties,
construction workers discovered a sealed off tunnel beneath the bar,
leading toward the bowery, likely used to ferry real ale
during raids. The tunnel walls were lined with old kegs,
a few beer mugs, and some skeletal remains of rats
(01:36):
that clearly died doing what they loved. Those rats, my friends,
were the true unsung heroes of Prohibition, small fuzzy martyrs
of the cause.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
The Underground Gentlemen's Club. This episode is brought to you
by the Underground Gentleman's Club, not the kind you're thinking of,
unless your idea of a good time is sitting in
a damp brick tunnel, sipping bootleg gin and listening to
a guy named Tony play the trumpet off key. The
Underground Gentlemen's Club because it's not a secret if the
cops already know about it.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
The hidden doors and passwords of Manhattan twenty one Club,
West fifty second Street.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Ah the legendary twenty one Club, one of the most
famous surviving speakeasies When the feds came knocking, they'd open
the front door to a perfectly respectable restaurant, but below
hidden wine cellars, trapdoors, and a revolving wall that concealed
two thousand bottles of liquor behind solid concrete. The real
(02:36):
star was the secret tunnel that connected Twenty one Club's
basement to nearby buildings. If the cops came in one door,
the bartenders simply rolled the wall shut, darted down the tunnel,
and vanished like tipsy magicians. And when prohibition ended in
nineteen thirty three, the owners just reopened and said, oh
good now we can stop pretending. These are root beer, cocktails.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Mobsters, mysteries, and the Bowery beneath.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
If you think these tunnels were all champagne and jazz,
think again. The Bowery District's tunnels were also a mobster freeway.
Onnie the Killer Madden's Cotton Club Tunnels Harlem Onny Madden,
charming gangster, boxing promoter and part time sociopath, ran the
famous Cotton Club where Duke Ellington's orchestra made history. Underneath
(03:28):
the club a network of narrow tunnels leading from the
stage to nearby tenement basements and an old coal delivery route.
Federal agents once raided the place, only to find the
staff and liquor had vanished. Locals swore they could still
hear laughter echoing underground for hours, possibly from the band,
(03:48):
possibly from the ghost of a very smug Onie Madden.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Ghost Gin Tonight's episode is also sponsored by Ghost Gin,
distilled using authentic haunted spring water from the tunnels of Manhattan.
Every sip comes with a faint jazz solo and a
twelve percent chance of possession. Ghost Gin for when your
spirits need well spirits.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
As modern construction reshapes New York, old tunnels keep reappearing
like hangovers from another century.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Delmonico's Tunnel Financial District.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Delmonico's, one of New York's oldest fine dining establishments, had
a tunnel that allegedly connected to the docks, the purpose
delivering barrels of wine and whiskey discreetly during Prohibition. In
twenty seventeen, workers found a bricked archway beneath the restaurant,
leading toward the East River, inside fragments of old glass
(04:43):
wooden crates and the faint smell of bootleg bourbon soaked
into the earth. They say ghosts haunt battlefields, but honestly,
I'd rather haunt a wine tunnel, better lighting, better company.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Chumley's eighty six Bedford Street, Greenwich Village.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Chumley's was so secret that even cab drivers couldn't find it,
hence the phrase eight six it. The number wasn't random,
It came from the bar's address and its escape plan.
When police raided, bartenders shouted eighty six, everyone and patrons
vanished through a back door leading to a hidden alleyway.
(05:21):
The tunnels beneath Chumleys connected to neighboring Brownstones, ensuring the
gin and the gossip kept flowing.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Tunnel Tinder need someone to share a flask with under
the city. Try Tunnel Tender, the only dating app that
connects you with singles hiding from federal agents. Swipe right
if you like jazz, rebellion and questionable ventilation.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Tunnel Tender Love is blind, but the lighting's worse.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
The boozy infrastructure of Brooklyn, Now, Brooklyn wasn't going to
let Manhattan have all the fun.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Beneath the Burroughs Breweries and Brownstones lay an equally intoxicating network.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
The Brooklyn Navy Yard whiskey route.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
During Prohibition, smugglers used old military supply tunnels near the
navy Yard to transport whiskey barrels off ships, all under
the noses of federal agents station just blocks away. In
the nineteen nineties, utility workers rediscovered portions of the tunnels
filled with rusted carts and fragments of glass jugs. One
worker claimed he saw the faded chalkwords on a wall
(06:27):
no dry laws down here.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
The King's County Distillery discovery.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
When King's County Distillery set up shop in the old
Brooklyn Navy Yard in twenty ten, they found remnants of
those same hidden roots, concrete walls with drainage grooves, the
smell of old oak barrels, and even some nineteen twenties graffiti.
Their tour today includes a nod to the bootleggers who
paved the way literally for Brooklyn's craft Whisky revival.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Ghosts of the Underground.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
You didn't think we'd end this without a haunting, did you?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
The Jazz Tunnel Spirits.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Renovation crews near one hundred twenty fifth Street unearthed a
tunnel lined with cracked tile remnants of a speakeasy beneath
what was once the Lafayette Theater. Locals reported hearing faint
piano notes at night, even though the tunnel was sealed
and electrics long dead. Paranormal investigators, yes, the brave souls
who bring EMF readers to sewage adjacent tunnels, recorded snippets
(07:30):
of jazz like hums and clinking glasses. You know it's
a classy haunting when even the ghosts are tipsy.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Chinatown's dual tunnels.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Some of Chinatown's old tunnels were originally built for utilities,
but got repurposed by both opium dens and speakeasies. Police
raids in the late nineteen twenties found trap doors leading
to candlelit bars filled with expats, gamblers, and jazz musicians.
In one raid, officers reportedly found a live orchestra still
(07:59):
playing as the cops burst in mid song, midswig, mid chaos.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Modern speakeasys history repeats itself today.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Modern hidden bars mimic their prohibition ancestors. You can still
find speakeasys behind phone booths like PDT on Saint Mark's Place, laundromats,
Sunshine Laundromat in Greenpoint, or ice cream shops. Urban spaces.
Patent pending in nomad access through a fake cafe. But
here's the twist. Some of them occupy the actual footprints
(08:33):
of nineteen twenties speakeasies. Patent Pending, for example, is built
in the basement of Nikola Tesla's former workspace, using the
same walls that once hid illegal liquor, electricity, and liquor.
What could possibly go wrong?
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Drunk Historian Audio Tours. This episode is also brought to
you by Drunk Historian Audio Tours. Just strap on your headphones,
follow a suspiciously confident voice into an alleyway, and learn
about New York's history or get mildly lost. Either way
you'll learn something drunk Historian, because history is better when
(09:11):
slightly slurred.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
So there you have it. The secret tunnels that kept
New York's heart and liver alive during America's driest years.
Beneath the jazz, the chaos and the cocktails was something timeless,
the refusal to let anyone tell New Yorkers when to
stop having fun. And maybe, just maybe that's the city's
(09:34):
real spirit. So next time you're walking the streets of
Manhattan and feel the ground echo just a bit, it
might not be the subway. It might just be the
faint sound of a trumpet echoing from the tunnels of
rebellion below. Until next time, my thirsty historians, I'm amy
reminding you history isn't always above ground. Sometimes it's six
(09:55):
feet deep and still serving Gin
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