My continuing quest to see everything in New York City

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Monday, March 16, 2009

Alligators in the Sewers?

Here's my episode of Monster Quest on the History Channel. I edited it down to just the parts I'm in (about 4 minutes), with the exception of the first frame of the cute zookeeper straddling an alligator. Had to leave that one in.


This is mostly me and my friend Shane explaining how storm drains work. Shane is the one filming the sewer expedition, and is the disembodied voice you sometimes hear.

Just to clarify, there are no alligators in the sewers - at least, not more than the fluke handful of discarded pets that have been in the hundreds of miles of the system over the last several decades. Despite what I say on TV to try and sound somewhat responsible, you don't really need an air meter in a 12-foot-deep trunk drain. I haven't been exploring storm drains for 10 years - that was probably only my 3rd or 4th trip draining - and wouldn't really call myself an underground expert (or "urban explorer," which they kept calling me, but there's not a lot you can do about that particular label anymore).   And I'm wearing a shirt and tie because I had just come from work.

The whole thing was a lot of fun. And of course, I got in another couple census tracts while doing this, but I can't tell you which ones.

3 comments:

  1. So, in New York, the sewers and the storm drains are the same?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, for the most part we have a combined system. It's bad for a lot of reasons.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Mose- Could you please forward your address for Tourist Hell and also this blog to Debby. Odessa is my favorite city in the Soviet Union and Leningrad is #2. I can't get wrap my head around this business with Ukraine and Leningrad.

    ReplyDelete