The Story Under Portland
Start with what happened, then work your way into the legend.
How Much of Portland’s Shanghai Tunnel Story Is Actually True?
Real Shanghaiing. Real crimps. Real underground spaces. The giant kidnapping network is where the evidence gets murky.
Read the story →
How Men Were Shanghaied in Portland
Crimps, blood money, forced maritime labor, and the nightmare of waking up after the city was already gone.
Go darker →
Anthony Bourdain Went Underground in Portland
He came for the food and found the older city underneath it: sailors, saloons, vice, tunnels and one very Portland story.
Follow Bourdain downstairs →What Stayed Behind
Ghost stories, surviving nightlife, and one dropped domain brought back from the dead.
The Ghost Stories of Old Town Portland
The bartender, Nina, unexplained touches, strange sickness and the reported encounters people carried back up from beneath Old Town.
Enter after dark →
Where to go for Drinks near the Shanghai Tunnels
The bars, historic locations, tunnel lore and strongest Old Town nightlife connections around Portland’s underground story.
Go out after dark →
Portland Nightlife: Bars, Music, Clubs & Late Nights
Live music, cocktail bars, dive bars, arcades, late-night food and the neighborhoods that keep Portland awake after dark.
Explore Portland nightlife →