‘Why does SSF downtown have undergrown tunnels’ Neighbors respond in ESC GAME ON!

South San Francisco, CA  August 22, 2019

Our lucky winner receives a $75 gift cert to Andiamo In Banca – Enjoy great food!

As part of our community engagement, we offer fun contests through out the year, and last week we asked our readers (CLICK HERE}:

‘What were the under ground tunnels used for, beneath many of our downtown buildings, leading from one business to another?’

The resulting responses were great, thank you to everyone who participated! Our winner will receive the $75 gift certificate to Andiamo In Banca

As is our practice, the **winner is randomly chosen – so…..

Congratulations to Heidi Sarrail, #34 on our list!

Please contact us at [email protected] with your mail address so we can send you your prize!

You have 24 hrs to respond or we’ll need to go to the 2nd randomly chosen winner

**And while we instructed the answers could be factual or imaginary, we greatly appreciate some of the creative responses, and we’d like to do a 2nd GAME ON – which is the most creative/interesting response from these listed  FIVE entries below? Winner will receive $25 from ESC:

*Eman Poon: I’d say the underground tunnels were built by government officials who wanted easy access to bars nearby. From the outside, it gives the illusion that they’re hard at work. In reality, they’re downing a few shots throughout the day!

*Charles B Waffles For ships crew members arriving into SSF and other cities nearby, they establishments would often use trap doors & tunnels to kidnap crew members for forced labor… or so I heard. =)

*Jason Isberg: If a patron had passed out in the basement saloon/opium den at 415 Grand Ave, you were dropped through a trapdoor leading to those tunnels, from where your inert body was hustled to the docks and onto a sailing vessel. Shanghaied as it were.

*Veronika Marie Espinoza I asked my 6 year old son and he said “to keep other people from seeing what they are doing”

*Angela Camp An Easter Egg Hunt well before SSF Parks and Recreation decided a safer and more fun way to look for eggs was to have it at Orange Park.

And our full list of responses:

1. Todd Rael Used during prohibition to facilitate movement of Alcohol and people to and from Speakeasies

2. Lowell Jimmy I would say probably used for livestock to the slaughter house.

3. Helen Fong Built as bomb shelter; or hold merchant supplies & to keep things cool. (Cheese, wine; non perishables)

4. Lily Chew-Quintanilla smuggling goods. Moving people from one place to another without being seen.

5. Kristina Anderson: I actually know the answer to this because underneath my moms house by Orange Park there was an underground still and tunnel ….for bootlegging during the prohibition!!!

5. Sharon Sumner Albera My husband I thought maybe because of prohibition.

7. Heidi Beck: Bootlegging during Prohibition, no doubt! But I think they were also service tunnels for utilities and coal. Also used for storage, keeping things cool underground, and a way to move cash to the bank (or to “associates,” heh heh) without having to worry about security above ground.

8. Ava Marie Romero My dad always said to me and many of our citizens when he was a planning commissioner many years ago, the tunnels from our downtown buildings were part of an architectural structures and you learn from the best #Gameon

9. Charles B Waffles For ships crew members arriving into SSF and other cities nearby, they establishments would often use trap doors & tunnels to kidnap crew members for forced labor… or so I heard. =)

10. Terri OR’rourke: Storage of goods  Bootleg alcohol  Ice Storage  Also for mobility of goods from business to business

11. Brendan Turner Bootlegging and gambling!!!

12. Laura Servetti-Lewis Bootlegging

13. Jason Isberg If a patron had passed out in the basement saloon/opium den at 415 Grand Ave, you were dropped through a trapdoor leading to those tunnels, from where your inert body was hustled to the docks and onto a sailing vessel. Shanghaied as it were.

14. Pierre Laik To recreate the tunnel from The Great Escape, 50 years ahead of its time!

15. Kris Peradotto Jr. It’s to get money from one store to another from the bank

16. Angie Rosales So people to could shop without trudging through the snow!!

17. Eman Poon I’d say the underground tunnels were built by government officials who wanted easy access to bars nearby. From the outside, it gives the illusion that they’re hard at work. In reality, they’re downing a few shots throughout the day!

18. Lisa Mares McCarley Bootlegging and also keeping the low down on such staples as sugar, flour, meat during the depression.

19. your neighbor : So City has a checkered past, in line with the era.I also think it was for storage and underground bootlegging.

20. Mary Ward Bootlegging, making sure liquor got to everyone!

21. Alijah: Moving alcohol during prohibition!  This restaurant looks amazing.

22. Janice Reudy I would say bootlegging

23. Ed Bortoli Running liquor between buildings through out the town, and out of the eyes of the local police.

24. Pauline Rodriguez Transporting hooch and other various things during prohibition.

25. Veronika Marie Espinoza I asked my 6 year old son and he said “to keep other people from seeing what they are doing”

26. Kris Peradotto Jr. Escape route for when the cops used to raid illegal card games in the back of bars

27. Ronand Krissy Nunez Bootlegging AND gambling!

28. Morena Bonaguidi Gallagher Bootlegging

29. Angelique Presidente For soldiers to go from place to place without being detected

30. Wendy Sinclair-Smith.. to be delivered safely to the bank ? I’ve seen the beautiful door of the underground vault. It’s so big down there they could have the coolest club with games room, dance room, fine dining room, etc.·

31. Yelena Kravtsova Cappello Underground fallout shelters! ?

32. Angela Camp An Easter Egg Hunt well before SSF Parks and Recreation decided a safer and more fun way to look for eggs was to have it at Orange Park.

33. Karen Erickson Bootlegging

34. Heidi Sarrail Bootlegging

35. Jorge J Marquez: Prostitution and probation

36. Debra Davallou Crimes and escapes

37. Gay Oliveros : The tunnels were used for bootlegging alcohol during the prohibition times

38. Marjorie MurphyO.G.: Fraternal Order of Gophers, a secret society undertaking in good deeds done covertly, via subterranean transit systems.

39. Laura Flynn Peradotto Illegal liquor during prohibition

40. Robert Gunter Smuggle alcohol and cigarettes

41. Laura Walsh Smuggling alcohol

42. Jennifer E. Quevedo Gambling

43. Debbie Hamilton Wydler Taking cattle to the foundry.

44. Lucinda Denning it sounds so amazing. is there any buildings in ssf that still have these tunnels?? now this is reminding me of the movie with Alicia Silverstone and Brendon Fraser and something to do with the war.

45. Mike Delucci water

{** How our winner is randomly chosen: One ESC member gathers all the contestant names and hands them off to another ESC member, who then assigns a number to each name, and then a 3rd member randomly chooses a number. Time consuming yet the only way we can ensure our winners are completely random and fair for all. Thanks to those who brought this question up!}