access denied IV.

we attempt to revisit the now newly-reopened renovation-free haines hall and look for a way to south campus.

we head down to campus set on revisiting haines. the main doors were unlocked and we enter, passing the old antique wooden doors that used to slide out from pockets to secure the building at night. these doors now stand on the inside of the modern doors for decorative purposes. no longer the unfinished, ceiling-less, and dusty hall, haines is now almost completely finished and already opened up for classes. many offices have already settled in, in particular, chicano and african american studies. we walk through the halls and look for the doors we used before to enter the tunnels. we also look for the "abyss" room - the open elevator shaft that dropped down into darkness. finding many people around due to a fellowship group that just finished as well as a few janitors, we walk around to the outside of the building to find the small ground/basement level concrete room which fed us directly into the tunnels. fortunately for us, we find it with its window unlocked and unguarded. another christian fellowship group appears to have just ended over in rolfe and if caught loitering or wandering around outside, it would offer us a good alibi, at least about an hour's worth. we had originally planned to find an easier way in from haines, but without any other options, we hop in the window and jump about six feet down to the floor. we were in, without much difficulty and a little dusty.

discovering that we entered the tunnels at an endpoint, we had two options to get to our south campus goal destination. we had two options - either exit the tunnels through haines and enter through our old friend royce hall, or walk around the entire north campus tunnel system to loop back onto the main system which would take us to south campus. we choose the second plan, since there was an event going on in royce, and snake our way through the entire north campus system, taking us to the storage area underneath yrl. this was the only point on the route where it could have been problematic, as we didn't have a very good encounter here the first time, having run away from ucla personnel our first time. we knew how open the place was and how noticeable we could become. there was another problem – we were unsure if the doors to the blue hub room would be unlocked from the outside. there was only one way to find out, and we cautiously make our way around the basement of the yrl, reaching the doors to the blue hub room, we give the handles a pull and amazingly, it opens with ease. again, we were in.

we walk the familiar tunnel route between royce and the url, discovering a metal ladder we've never noticed in the past. finding an iron plate covering the opening a the top, we proceed to slide the iron plate away. pushing it open a crack, we discover it opened into a basement somewhere, but before we could find out more, the cover knocks into another metal plate, causing it to fall down with a tremendous crash. we quickly slide the iron plate back and head on.

we reach royce and entering into a machine room, we quietly move over to the side door which would connect us to the south campus tunnels. struck with the idea to head over to haines instead to see where the other entrance into the underground would be, we return to the main connecting room to head over to haines hall. after the first person moved into the room, we check the coast again and notice a maintenance person walking by. we cautiously enter the tunnel to haines, an checking to see that we weren't being followed, enter haines 41, locked to outsiders, and full of electrical panels and what appears to be various pumps. we also discover a window which would be extremely useful as a new entrance since it opened into a small desolate vending machine area behind royce. we go back into the tunnels and head for the south campus route again. reaching royce, we see another maintenance personnel in royce, forcing us to stayed low for a short while before making our way into the side door. we head south, passing moore, and following the slight slope taking us to the ls building. the tunnels, while extremely hot, emptied out into a hallway in the ls building to a cool relief. we exit the ls building, and seeing a scant scattering of lab students about, we agree this would offer a fairly decent alibi, should we need it later.

ucla, underground.

access denied III.

we attempt to find the elusive way to ackerman.

we start off in macgown, entering the building after watching a janitor exit one of the theater doors. we go backstage to find a spiral iron staircase winding down into some basement level. accidentally kicking a rolling platform which catches the attention of the janitor who yells "hey," two of us make a break for it down the steps and into the basement level of the theater filled with random props. pushing open an exit door which led to a staircase leading up, we wait for our third person, who doesn’t follow. we return to the basement, and ascend the other iron spiral staircase onto the backstage area again. our third person had disappeared. the two of us make our way outside to wait and plan but seeing our friend safe and uncaught, we get together and head for moore.

moore is unfortunately locked. we walk around the hall, looking at windows and testing doors. moore is completely closed off to us, leaving us no choice but to head to old royce. heading over, we find an enormous amount of janitors all around campus. a walk around north campus leads to us being followed by two, possibly janitorial, men who sit at a table in the shadows and watch our moves. we quickly leave to scope out other areas on campus.

we find an open door by the side of royce and enter cautiously. seeing a janitor come down a flight of stairs, we bail. going back to the front of royce, we find the main doors open and enter. the lobby is empty, although we can hear janitorial personnel upstairs. we leave. entering through another set of doors takes us to a hallway, but the jingling of keys not far away forces two of us to hide in the alcoves of doors as footsteps approach. the sounds suddenly stop and finding the coast clear, two of us dash out. our third person had already checked out. walking around and out of convenient options, we consider jumping the fence around haines, as there did not seem to be as many people around this area of campus. seeing a campus security vehicle surveying the area however quickly forces us to abandon the evening.

ucla, underground.

access denied II.

we proceed to return to the sub-yrl area and reevaluate royce hall's sub-basement level.

the sky was beginning to darken as we returned to royce, passing the many tents set up for the book festival the next day. security and personnel was heavy and a performance was also going on in royce hall which attracted many people. we casually walk down the lighted hallway and take in the scene by the water fountain as people pass by. when the coast was clear we take the elevator to the basement level, then the stairs to the sub-basement level. again, we had to prop the door to keep it from locking. exiting the stairs door on the sub-basement level, we turn right and open the white door directly in front of us. luckily for us it wasn’t locked. the small little hallway parallel to us turns left, leading to a small metal rung ladder into the steam tunnel. this tunnel is a bit wider than the first one we took, allowing us to walk through them with fair ease. it is also well-lighted.

we reach our first junction where two tunnels cross perpendicular to each other. with the aid of a map, we take the tunnel on the left, ducking under a big bundle of wires hanging across the opening. taking this tunnel, we reach the infamous "bridge." compared with rest of the areas we had come in contact with before, this subterranean room is enormous. entering the large room, we immediately run into broken slabs of concrete and dirt. the tunnel path leading straight ahead is flanked on one side by the brick work of the north inner face of the old arroyo bridge, and on the other side by large drop into the old ravine. the sound of a small creek emanates from the darkness beneath. concrete structural supports and framework of the bridge are visible, and covered with graffiti.

at the end of the large room, on the opposite corner, a door leads outside up onto dickson plaza. we instead take the wood staircase up to a higher level and into the tunnel entrance which led to murphey. we realized this route was the same one used by the head of the american nazi party when he gave a speech in royce in the 1960's and had to be led out to murphey for safety's sake, since protesters had gathered in the plaza outside. underneath murphey, we enter into a small electrical control room with a door at the top of a small flight of stairs on the immediate right of us. this door, which we didn't open, seemed to lead into a hallway. hearing a janitor just out of view, we instead enter the other tunnel entrance opposite the first tunnel entrance, moving in complete darkness. opening into a very flat room crossed with pipes, we crawl on our hands and knees, we discover that this tunnel comes to a t-end, leaving us to turn left because the route to the right leads to a dead end. we reach a small recess with a shanty wooden ladder leaned up against the wall up to a metal rung ladder in the wall leading up to a grate on the north side of murphey hall. using combined effort, we lift up the heavy grate and push it aside just enough to let us out, pulling it back in place afterwards. we emerge out of the bushes, luckily without anyone nearby.

we return to royce, with the intent to explore the sub-yrl area once more. entering the same way we used last time, we move quickly through the tunnel to the "blue hub" room underneath yrl. we exit the room back into the large storage area, prop the door a bit, and this time, quickly move to the lower level, making our way to the other side of the boxes and books by squeezing between a pipe and the wall. this area opens up in a lighted hall area and in front of us, a metal rung ladder leads up to a tunnel opening high up in the wall. we climb up the ladder, into the tunnel, and head towards dickson hall. we reach another t-junction and head straight to dickson. underneath dickson, we enter into a dark control room with running machinery and the sort. walking about cautiously, hearing stray noises here and there we explore a stairway leading up to a door. opening the door, we discover that it led outside, and noticing a man and a truck nearby, we return to the tunnel and make our way south, back to the t-junction, this time turning left towards macgown. we come upon another t-junction and turned right, deciding to skip checking out macgown. these tunnels were very hot, and crouching a bit to minimize the heat, we reach a perpendicular cross of our tunnel with another and keep straight, with the intent to ultimately reach haines hall. turning right and left, the tunnel reaches a very small junction area. we take the route on the right and squeeze past some pipes in a very tight tunnel. there was also water in the tunnel so we had to walk on the sides to avoid stepping in foot high water. we end up in a tiny room with two windows and a door that opened up into a small crossing hallway of the under-construction haines hall.

we walk about, exploring the large unfinished, unfurnished, terraced lecture halls, and wander into a very large hall which was having its ceiling light fixtures put in. peering into a small glass-less window in a door marked "15" showed it was a shaft that went down three floors or so into darkness. this probably explained why the door was screwed shut we exit haines through an open door and walked about outside, keeping in the shadows to avoid getting caught by people walking about on the other side of the covered fence. with too many people around, and not finding a way out, we go back into the building and out the main doors on the east side, hoping there might be an opening in the fence on that side. there wasn't, and we were completely surrounded by a fence. trying to go around the building instead, we come upon the bruin walk area with lots of security and people setting up for the book festival. after a thorough consideration of climbing into a window because the main doors locked when we exited, we luckily find another door nearby that was unlocked. using our map, we locate another tunnel entrance in another part of haines and use that tunnel, heading towards royce. taking this tunnel, which ended at a shaft that dropped rather far, with a metal rung ladder that led down, we cautiously climb down the ladder, discovering that it brought us back into the small room where we originally entered the other tunnel entrance. the double doors to the room were open, so we took cover behind some crates. exiting the room, we take a left and reenter the white door on the right to go back into the tunnel we started the evening with.

this time, we head down the tunnel until we reach the junction. instead of turning left, we go straight, where the tunnel began to get hot, leading us to a cramped little room with lots of debris. the door ahead of us was locked and had a ladies room sign duct-taped onto it. attempting to find the way to ackerman, we take a right. despite the fact that "high voltage" was the preferred phrase throughout the tunnels, we crawl over a mess of dangerous-looking electrical wires and squeeze by several pipes. luckily, the tunnel opened up as we headed towards moore hall, and reaching moore, the area widened into a subterranean room with pipes and a dirt floor that sloped down to the right of us beyond the pipes. straight ahead, the tunnel continued on and further down, branched off into many directions. still attempting to find the tunnel to ackerman, we leave this route alone and open the door in the opposite corner of the room. discovering that this door opens to the outside of moore, we instead take a small path in the middle of the subterranean room and open a door exiting us directly into the basement of moore hall. looking at our map which illustrated a route to ackerman nearby, we go to a door marked “vocational education services” and give it a pull. amazingly, it opened, and entering, found the most of the room closed off to us by large locked fences. one door labeled “gs12” was unfortunately locked and out of options, exit moore.

ucla, underground.

access denied I.

we proceed to discover whether or not the underground tunnel rumors are true.

entering royce from the north side door across from rolfe, we take the elevator to the front and right, down to the basement level. exiting the elevator, we walk straight and open the door ahead, leading to the stairs. propping the door very slightly because it locks from the other side, we set this as an escape route for later, should we need it. going down the metal stairs one level to the sub-basement level, we exit the stairs, across from an elevator straight ahead. turning right, we walk down the hall. this area has a lot of maintenance people around, so we keep a lookout for personnel. getting to the end of the hall, which should be a very short walk, there is a metal door on the right, with the hall extending down to the left. luckily, the metal door on the right is unlocked, and we enter the room. the room is very dingy and dirty. turning left and walking to the end of the room, we reach a door on our immediate left that reads "service tunnel." opening the door, we face a metal stairwell leading up. at the top of the stairwell, the tunnel in sight extends into the distance on our right. walking down the tunnel we are careful not to bump our heads on the overhead lights or get shocked by the wire bundles labeled "high voltage."

at the end of the tunnel there is a fairly large recess filled with dirt and junk. to our right the tunnel extends even farther into the distance, and we continue down. at the end ew come to a recessed corner with yellow machinery and lots of fraternity graffiti. a blue chair caked in dust alludes to a possible checkpoint for fraternity initiation procedures of days gone by. to our left the tunnel continues to extend, leading to light at the end. as we continue down the tunnel and near the end, it opens into a large room with huge blue pipes and loud fans. being extremely careful when entering the room from the tunnel, since the room is well kept and may have personnel about, we enter we have come to call "the blue hub."

the medium-sized room extends into another room on the right. on the left a small green chalkboard sits above a sink area. a rudimentary line drawing in chalk depicts various campus buildings as boxes and lines connecting one to another. a wall with large switches line a corner of the room to the right and farther up, controlling the cold water flowing to royce, rolfe, melnitz, macgown, and campbell halls. on the opposite wall not far from the chalkboard, a blue double door opens into a large, almost warehouse-like storage area. propping the door slightly because it will lock, we enter. ahead, a guard rail separates us on a higher level, from the lower level with many shelves and old books. to the left the concrete floor extends far on down, flanking the warehouse. guessing this area is beneath the young research library, we continue down the path, passing the books and reaching a hall with a visible elevator to our left. hearing personnel people headed down the elevator hall, we quickly make a break for it.

passing the books again, through the blue double door, and back into the blue hub, we kick away the doorstop to buy us a little time from our pursuers. we enter the tunnel and dash down it coming to a stop at the first bend. silently listening for signs of life, we hear noises coming back from the blue hub and dash farther down the tunnel, back the way we came, coming to a stop at the second bend. we proceed to exit the tunnel, down the metal stairwell, and out of the dingy room, closing all doors that were closed before. checking to see if the coast is clear, we plan going straight, down to the end of the hall, and out the door on the right, exiting us into the parking lot area behind fowler and royce, used by delivery services. after noticing a woman pass by at the opposite end of the hall however, we quickly change our plans and veer left instead, climbing the stairs opposite the elevator, back up to the basement level, and through the door we propped open earlier. we get rid of the stopper and take the elevator back up to the first floor, exiting royce the same door we entered, across from rolfe.

ucla, underground.