Steve Duncan is an “urban explorer”, traveling the world and exploring hidden infrastructures few know about. In 2009, he took a tour of NY’s underground tunnels, subways, and sewers with DP Andrew Wonder, capturing everything on a Canon 5D, Canon 24mm f/1.4, a Zoom audio recorder, and a wireless lav. Andrew just completed work on Undercity, a film based on their little trip, and the result is a fascinating, if not idiotic, adventure under New York City.
Personally, the most incredible site they caught on camera happens in the first 10 minutes. It’s the “secret” City Hall subway station. This is a beautiful, but abandoned stop you can’t get to unless you know to take the #6 train to the last stop at the Brooklyn Bridge, and you stay on the train as it makes its eventual turnaround by rolling through the City Hall stop, giving you a quick glimpse of the station. I’ve always wanted to make the trip, but haven’t yet. If it looks familiar to some of you, there was a scene in Ghostbusters II based on this station.
Check out Andrew and Steve’s video, and you’ll also see NY’s first covered sewer underneath Canal St., some of the tunnels near Lincoln Tunnel, and an amazing view of the island from the very top of the Williamsburg Bridge. If you want to hear more, Andrew and Steve recently completed another NY expedition which was part of a larger story featured on NPR.
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UNDERCITY from Andrew Wonder on Vimeo.
