Customer Reviews

Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas (Travel Holiday Guides)

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I just finished reading Matthew O'Brien's book Beneath The Neon, which is a story as the subtitle clearly suggests about "Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas." It got me thinking about stories, particularly about their beginning and endings; for more reason than that of their natural structure. But because I feel that beginnings and endings can be devastatingly sincere. His stories began with intrigue, mystery, possibility as most good stories should. His endings were honest, painful and in most cases profound. His endings were the kind of endings that make you pause before you turn the page, that make you take a deep sigh of introspection as you search your own thoughts for personal understanding, because what you just read you know, you understand and have found that intellectual conection that only good authors and sincere human beings can provide.

When I first got this book, I planned on spending a few weeks reading it--that didn't happen--I found it hard to find a place to stop, as I kept wanting to know what character I would meet next or what sticky situation the author would run into. The author does an excellent job of painting a picture of what life is like in the storm drains of Las Vegas, yet does so in a way that allows the reader's imagination to run wild. As others have mentioned, it is very interested seeing a "different" side of Las Vegas, a side that most do not know exists. The irony of what lies just below the streets of The Entertainment Capital of the World it all is almost overwhelming. Certainly a great read.

This book provided me with tons of insight to the Las Vegas Underworld (or lack there of). It also captivated me on the account of the homeless residents of Las Vegas and the amount of time they spent/living in the underworld. Another surprise was the ways that the underground community made money, casino credit hunting.

PROS: Great insight for Vegas locals, sincere writer, fair warning to stay out of the drains

Cons: (SPOILER)Does not satisfy the fantasy/curiosity aspect (no underground society, no jaw dropping secrets) all discoveries made were fairly predictable.

Las Vegas, the city of lights, glamour and excess, carries with it skeletons in its closet, the existence of an acknowledged world of homelessness; the dark drainage tunnels is the abode of solace for these forgotten souls. As we look away each time we see a homeless person, this book makes you think twice...are we actually looking away from our own reflection or are we disappointed at ourselves for not having the courage to be rid of society's conventionalities?

The author's approach was refreshing. His fascination stemmed from his interest to trace the steps of a wanted criminal who hid in the drain tunnels to escape from authorities. The author, a reporter when he started this investigative work, was successful in his attempt to objectively tell the tale of each character whom he had interviewed.

As the book progresses, one can sense the author's naïveté as he describes his personal feelings, perceptions, and expectations of what/whom he might come across, a ghost, some drug addict or mentally ill person who will mug him ... he was scared. In fact he thoughtfully acknowledged that he had led a sheltered life. I think this honesty was one of the strengths of this book. As his words transports you deeper into the darkness of the drains, you sense his fear, smell the stagnant water and fell the cold and damp algae filled wall. The author unintentionally marvels at his own awakening he brings his readers to a recognition and acceptance that these, people although these people are bohemian and eccentric, they are not all violent ... but misunderstood humans. Each person had a story, some speak of their art and talent, families, struggles, success, failures and just like us, and they too have dreams. It cannot be denied that their state is a reflection of the ills of today's society. The pictures in the book also provided an excellent insight to the eerie cryptic art, new age graffiti that so beautifully adorn the tunnel walls. The personal photographs of the people he interviewed added a certain reality and humanness to the characters. As each character is revealed, the readers realize that the only difference between us and them, is that they either chose to leave the norms and harshness of today's world and live freely according to their own terms and without judgment; or some hide under the shelter of darkness, hoping to find solace from consequences of choices that they have made (crime, addictions, society etc). One has to be reflective and sensitive to human psychology in order to considerately write about each person without bias. The author presented its readers with a new perspective of why this underground world somehow is a necessary evil to maintain that yin and yang, or balance in a society.

The best part of the book I think is how the reader can sense the author's growth as a person and as a writer. He started out fearing the dark tunnels and a little wary of how these seemingly freakish personalities would receive him, being an intruder. After publishing this book, his experience apparently offered him a deeper understanding of why people chose to live beneath the facade of a city known for its neon lights. Perhaps to chose a lesser evil underground, or to succumb to their weaknesses without any judgments or just to hide from the hypnotic blinding casino lights and sounds that renders you weak and willing to give up every bit of what you have and what you are as a human. His life changing experience is manifested on his visits in the tunnel to check up on these dwellers as well as his non profit organization that benefits the homeless. As the book progresses the author also develops and matures from a reporter into an effective storyteller. I believe that the message of this author is for its readers to have a similar transformation in attitude, thought and judgement toward anybody who doesn't fit in society's norms; and that as humans, we need to focus more on our similarities rather than our differences.

The author walks through the storm tunnels beneath Las Vegas and finds homeless people, drug addicts, spiders, cockroaches, mud, etc. The author tells each chapter the same way, with melodramatic repetitious prose about how it was scary in the dark. He seem surprised to find homeless people and drug addicts, and blames it all on Las Vegas, as if there are no homeless or drug addicts in a neon-less, non-gambling town. The chapters are all essentially the same - only the drain direction is different.

In Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas, hardcore alt-journalist Matt O'Brien takes readers into the storm drains under Sin City. The writing is clear, concise, and you really feel like you're down there with him as he spelunks through caverns, meeting people with various problems, deep underground. The amazing thing for most of us who've never--and hopefully will never--venture down there is that he constantly reminds us of what's above him: the insane glamor of the city. Vegas stands in stark contrast to what he's wandering through in the dankness below. His descriptions are intense. You can hear his heart pounding as he rounds the next dark corner, back aching, doubting whether he should keep going or turn back. You get powerful descriptions of what he's seeing and feeling, and also what he's thinking, as he explores the tunnels. He articulates his anxiety a lot, and it makes for a very human story. You get the sense he's obsessed with going down there, that it intrigues him enough to keep returning, over and again. That's the real strength of the book. He's not afraid to say that the tunnels attract him. He's also really respectful of, and shows kindness to, the people he meets, both in person and on the page. He doesn't disparage drug addicts, the homeless. The drains are their home, and he knows it. Danny Mollohan's black-and-white photos are a visual treat and nicely placed throughout this elegantly designed book. You can tell O'Brien exhaustively researched other tunnel systems in the world and thought about how the Vegas tunnels are unique and yet similar to others. He does a great job interweaving the early expeditions he and musician/writer Joshua Ellis survived before crafting their two-part essay for Las Vegas CityLife. Switching between those early adventures and the present is easy and makes the narrative move right along. You'll learn more from reading a single page of this book than you will from studying a stack of Vegas travel guides.

For all those interested in creative nonfiction, particularly about the underground existence of those crippled by poverty, drug abuse and an uncaring world, I would highly recommend "Beneath the Neon."

I recently completed reading the second printing, which has a smoother writing style. Matt O'Brien pulls threads together to create a cohesive, complicated exploration story. The flashbacks to his original CityLife stories (co-authored with tech guru Josh Ellis) fit perfectly into the narrative. A true urban explorer's journal.

Each storm drain he explores is given a title and chapter. Images and themes stand out in each chapter. The Welcome Drain (ch. 1): Lawrence's tale of a unique Las Vegas, a city fed by failure. The Cappadocia Drain: fascinating history and research. A mysterious troll. The Midnight Drain: a great geography metaphor. The skid row beneath the Hard Rock. The Valley View Drain: a mother visits her son. Crack pipes and a crazy crack whore. Couple skating under the Strip. The Street Kids Drain: poignant underground graffiti and a cliff hanger. The Death Drain: a subterranean Emeril Lagasse. Here O'Brien also confronts his own inner turmoil: what should be done for (or with?) all of these people (about 300) who live in the storm drains. He, like all of us, struggles with the solutions. We discover through O'Brien's interviews that some people flourish underground, and do their best when left alone. He writes that the city "eats its children...Everything here is as disposable as a razor blade -- except for the storm drains." He describes the tunnels as time capsules and homeless shelters. The Flood Drain: an underground art gallery, and the realization that it is the most beautiful thing he's ever seen in Las Vegas. How to Make Meth, according to Gary. Demons and ghosts in the tunnels (real and imagined).

You're left with a few dim conclusions: yes, people can make a storm drain home. Sadness lurks beneath Las Vegas. Loneliness is an addict's balm for the pain inflicted by others.

And all of those things are just as true for us living up here in the light.

O'Brien and Ellis discovered an area of Las Vegas few people knew existed. And it's one that all of us should want to understand.

I also recommend listening to the NPR story about O'Brien and the book. "Beneath the Neon" has gotten a lot of national and international attention.

There's a lot more to Vegas than its pretty neon coating. As a local, I'm relieved to read about it.

Writing a book about tunnels under a city can almost always spark interest in readers. There are so many tunnels, and so many cities that have them - an astonishing number, in nearly every country of the world. However, most anything written about underground spaces of the cities that have them range from ultra-dry Corps of Engineer type-documents to historical works of varying merit, some of which slide more into myth instead of fact. In other words, there is little written about under city tunnels that is both interesting and factual.

Las Vegas and its tunnels, and Matthew O'Brian's telling of them, is quite different, and of a much higher caliber. His book is "Beneath The Neon." Matthew brings a human touch of reality and immediacy to the people who live below Las Vegas, who are in continual danger of their lives. "Beneath The Neon" therefore, is a very interesting, entertaining and factual book.

Take the tunnels of Orange County, in Southern California, for instance, which has miles of tunnels and spaces, many as wide as the four lanes above them, all of which are bone dry and empty of life. Most of these tunnels channel into massive floodways, snaking through the Los Angeles basin, and eventually empty into the Pacific. Of the few times a decade that they are full of water, people are amazed at both the volume and speed of the water. Whoever gets caught in one of these channels has little hope of survival. Go here for a look at the scope of the tunnels under Los Angeles.

Then there is the Burro Schmidt Tunnel in the upper Mojave desert, a couple of hours north of L.A., built over a number of years by a single individual, through solid granite. Here is a link.

Secret tunnels of historical significance and mystery can be found under San Francisco. And under Seattle.

Cities don't have a monopoly on tunnels either. Colleges and universities sometimes have their own. Here is a similar link. But by far the biggest and most astonishing underground of all, is under Tokyo.

Many tunnels have small collections of people; homeless, addicts, and iconoclasts. The only apparent exception is Los Angeles, where there are no homeless living in the wide, dry, and accommodating tunnels. It is not that these tunnels are policed, it is just that the homeless there are likely smart enough to know better.

But what really interests O'Brien are the homeless people who live in the tunnels under the bright oven that is Las Vegas. He estimates that there are 300 people at any time, who are living in small encampments throughout the tunnel system, and in the course of his research, he got to know many of them.

There is evidence of these people everywhere: an old set of pans; heaps of garbage, including many old mattresses; and graffiti. If you were to wander through the tunnels, you would never know it was 110 degrees or more just above your head. Down there it's quiet, dark, cool--and wet.

You would think the tunnels are dangerous, but O'Brien said they don't feel that way. But he had a guide who knowingly led him around through those spaces, so who is to say? He was most impressed by being underneath Caesar's Palace, for the tunnels are not relegated just to being beside and under the expressways through the city.

The tunnels under Vegas are storm drainage tunnels, built around 1977 to control runoff from the local wash. Prior to that, there were stories of cars washing up in culverts around the town after a sudden downpour. When Vegas started to expand, it was decided that the city needed a subtler way to deal with the results of storms, thus the tunnels were born. Today there are 450 miles of flood channels in Las Vegas, including 300 miles of them underground. O'Brien says that the Las Vegas master plan created in the 1990s calls for 1,000 miles of flood channels and tunnels within 25 years.

Most of the time the tunnels are dry, largely because it doesn't rain much in Vegas. But when it does, O'Brien says, the water level in the tunnels can rise rapidly, quickly turning into a flash flood. Down there is not where you'd want to be if such a thing were to happen. Which is why on a pillar deep underground, someone has helpfully spray painted, "In case of flood swim for your f---ing life."

In fact, spray painting--the graffiti kind--is a major element to the tunnels. Everywhere there is some kind of graffiti, much of it meaningless and uninteresting. But in some places, it turns into art, as the photos in the book, taken by Danny Mollohan, testify.

Because of its unique and dynamic presence in the world, Las Vegas is the subject of more books than any typical community of its size. The Las Vegas metro population is roughly the same as that of Columbus, Ohio, but you don't see many authors flocking to the Buckeye State capital in search of best-selling material.

Nonfiction books about Las Vegas commonly come in four flavors:

-- Gambling: Tomes of wisdom and mathematics to beat the odds (or at least not lose all your money during your first hour in the casino).

-- History: Documenting the city's past, from John C. Fremont's brief stop to the Rat Pack era to the rise of the mega resorts.

-- Organized crime: All the dirty details -- some of them actually true -- about Bugsy Siegel, Tony Spilotro and other lovable crooks.

-- Photo essays: Artful pix of leggy showgirls, crowded craps tables and neon signs.

But Matt O'Brien's "Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas" doesn't fall into any of these categories. It's a refreshing departure from the usual fare.

O'Brien, is the news editor of CityLife, a weekly newspaper owned by the same company as the Review-Journal. "Beneath The Neon" is not a boring engineering-type textbook. It is a glowing, personal journey of discovery. Get this book. You will enjoy the read, written by a mostly likely future Pulitzer prize winning journalist.

HERE is a link to some photos of the tunnels under Las Vegas.

Matthew O'Brien's "Beneath the Neon: Life and Death in the Tunnels of Las Vegas" is a fascinating read. The author's experiences became mine as I fearfully explored the storm drains with him. He masterfully conveyed his feelings of fear, awe, amazement, and compassion for those who inhabit the bleak tunnels beneath the posh hotel/casino complexes that are the public face of Las Vegas.

Beneath the Neon takes the reader on a dark, damp, and often frightful adventure. I'd been going to Vegas for 25 years and never heard of these tunnels. So, to that extent, the book was a revelation.

When you descend with the author into those drains, you really feel what it's like living, and exploring, down there. Author Matthew O'Brien has cleverly and insightfully captured the touch, sights, smells, and sounds of the Vegas tunnels. The book is at its best when the author talks to the tunnel dwellers about the dread, fear, and desperation they face -- every day.

Great writing. There are passages that are poetic and inspirational. Very good photography. But what really makes the book a worthwhile read is the painstaking research. The author plumbed the flood tunnel depths for years. The result of all his work is an eye-opening and raw assessment of humans driven underground to survive. The next time you check into a Vegas hotel, remember this book and you might think twice before complaining about the meals, entertainment, or room service.