Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Welcome Back Bob: Hundreds Take Sunday's Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Tour

Tunnel archaeologist Bob Diamond was quite happy during Sunday's Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Tour. Just last Thursday, DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez announced the start of a major study to determine the feasibility of a streetcar line linking Red Hook with Downtown Brooklyn and surrounding neighborhoods. (more here)

There's probably no bigger champion of Brooklyn streetcars than Diamond, who has been working tirelessly  for years through his Brooklyn Historic Railway Association to bring trolleys back to our borough.

Diamond is, famously, the discoverer of the long-lost Atlantic Avenue Tunnel. Thousands have ventured down into that mysterious place deep under Atlantic Avenue between Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill to hear his incredible tale of how it came to be built in 1844, then forgotten, and then found again in 1981.

It's a story of greed, politics, and even murder (with some archaeology and quantum physics thrown in.)

More people than usual signed up for the tours Sunday because they heard that Bob was considering leaving Brooklyn. Thankfully, he changed his mind and the tours will continue. (More about that here.)

Many Brooklynites live here their entire lives and never know that something so awesome lies 40 feet below Atlantic Avenue, a stone's throw from Trader Joe's.

To sign up for a tour, visit www.brooklynrail.net.

- Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Tours Saved! BP Markowitz Prevails Upon Bob Diamond
- Atlantic Tunnel's Bob Diamond Leaving Brooklyn? Say It Ain't So!
- Quite a Crowd for Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Tour 
- Brooklyn's Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Is Probably Haunted
- What's Behind the Wall? Atlantic Ave. Tunnel Mystery
- Brooklyn's Atlantic Avenue Tunnel: What's Behind the Wall?
- Let Them Laugh: Bob Diamond's Brooklyn Trolley Idea Gains Traction
- Mole People Back in Brooklyn?
- Lineup For Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Tour
- Brooklyn Spelunking: Atlantic Avenue Tunnel Tours Return


Photos copyright MK Metz

Go to McBrooklyn's HOME PAGE.

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