Portland Underground

The Portland Underground, is a group of passages and caverns running underneath Old Town/Chinatown down to the central downtown section of Portland. The tunnels connected the basements of many downtown hotels and bars, to the waterfront of the Willamette River. They were built to move goods from the ships docked on the Willamette to the basement storage areas, which allowed businesses to avoid streetcar and train traffic on the streets when delivering their goods.
As Portland expanded, particularly during the early 20th century, older buildings were torn down or paved over completely in order to build the tall skyscrapers typical of Downtown Portland and parts of the Lloyd District. It is not uncommon, when exploring the Portland Underground, to come across submerged buildings, old parking lots, or even old graveyards that have been entomed due to the weak bedrock under the city allowing them to sink further below the surface.
Because of the semi-habitable space in the Portland Underground, many people make their homes in there. Not required to pay (other than maybe protection money), the truly destitute make their livelihood below the city. These people have a culture similar to, but distinct from the surface culture of Portland. Street gangs take refuge there when hiding from the Police, as well as several other gangs make their home and claim turf in the portland Underground. Other than the prior mentioned groups, illicit organizations use them for illegal purposes such as smuggling, human trafficking and drug warehouses.
In modern nights, the Underground is also home to the Nosferatu, as well as a few other paranoid Kindred. The Nosferatu make their warrens somewhere between the Underground and the Sewers (with the Sewers being above the Underground), but no one outside of their clan knows exactly where the Warrens are located.
Because of the lawless nature of the Portland Underground, no official census has been taken on the residents, nor do the Police patrol or investigate down there. This has led to the Underground as being a no-man's-land, with a small town's worth of residents all it's own.
The Portland Underground is connected to the Alley of Broken Dreams via a disused subway entrance. There is heavy foot traffic between the two.
Category:Places