CLASS NOTES
“ Tunnels ? Yeah , I ’ ve been in the tunnels . This was back in the ’ 98- ’ 99 school year . We entered through the manhole cover by the Main Gym . Once inside we walked around and managed to squeeze through ‘ Tunnel door # 8 ’ which was partially closed . Also , it was apparently alarmed . As we made our way underneath Library Walk and toward Physical Plant Services we saw someone else at the far end of the corridor ...”
— JOSH SCHOENWALD ’ 00 Read more at tritonmag . com / tunnels
“ From Mandeville , we could walk all the way to the Hump at Muir , over to Revelle and other places . Hanging out there was great , especially leading chanting sessions down there for the acoustics ! There ’ s no
place like Aum .”
– NEVILLE BILLIMORIA ’ 82
TUNNEL VISION
They ’ re nothing but utility pipes and dank , dark hallways of cement , but the underground tunnels beneath campus have been luring generations of intrepid Triton trespassers . If you ’ ve ever been down under , share your stories with us at : tritonmag @ ucsd . edu
In late 1965 , the Revelle Quad was still under construction and was mainly a big mud bath — not something you wanted to go through when heading to your car parked along Highway 101 , which ran between Revelle and Matthews quads in the days before I-5 . The solution ? Take the tunnels !
Oh , and the basement of the then-library building had many new , empty offices near the tunnel doors , so a friend and I ‘ appropriated ’ one of them for our first quarter — a good place to study ! People had moved into them after the holidays , but we were convinced that if we had put our names on the doors , nobody would have questioned it : - ).”
– CLAIRE STAFFORD ’ 70
“ I was in the tunnels once when they were doing construction on Central Library , sometime between ’ 90 and ’ 92 . Late at night , snuck in with some friends . Wow ! Unforgettable experience .”
– KATHRYN KNIPE ’ 94
Go down to the basement laundry room in Meteor Hall . Unscrew the louvre on the door at the side of the room . Crawl through . Enter the wild array of stand-up-height utility tunnels that will let you walk underground to anywhere on campus ( at least as of 1972 ). Wonder why you ever left San Diego for the East Coast . Say hi to Bill .”
– JOHN LISHMAN ’ 72
“ I was an entrepreneur back then , running a small , word-of-mouth tour group called Molehole Tours , where students could pay for a midnight underground tour . We had the tunnels all mapped out — it was like playing Dungeons and Dragons for real ! I had other tour guides involved , but I ’ ll protect the innocent .”
– LORI RAI ’ 78
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