There is an even lower level. Mostly rail that was used to move coal and other materials to the buildings. I have not been down to the rail section in 50 years or so. You used to be able to see one of the rail entrances from one of the trains that entered the city. I can't remember if it was the El or one of the commuter trains. Driving lower wacker in rush hour is a real experience......
Well there is the old Navy Pier line that runs on the first lower level, which is actually natural ground level and the original first floor of most old buildings. The Tunnels are the Tunnels, completely separate and about 40 feet below the lower level streets. They are inaccessible and largely flooded.
I drove it once, Lower Wacker. Only one day, mid-day, straight-up in the middle of weekday business hours, watching out for delivery trucks- scary! I'm adept. I Love driving. 'Learned on the Kennedy😁
I'm absolutely fascinated by the freight tunnels. They were connected to many of the older buildings downtown and like you said were used to move coal to the buildings. Unfortunately, a good chunk of downtown was flooded in the 90s after an underwater drilling job on the river accidentally punctured the roof of the tunnels, so most of the entrances were closed off. I heard it was a cool spot for urban exploration in the 70s. I think they're still used for data cables though.
As someone who used to drive a large truck and deliver to many of the buildings downtown. Lower Wacker was very convenient for getting in and out of the docks. It really is a great concept I wish more cities would utilize. Imagine how many trucks would be clogging up the streets above if not for Lower Wacker. Looking at you NYC.
yeah, it's a great way to keep all the downtown dumpsters easily accessible to garbage trucks so there aren't just a billion rats eating directly out of plastic bags
@@MattPiekarsky kinda that happened after Chicago streets was raised 1855 (raised to a level of four to fourteen feet above the lake) 20 years en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago Chicago fire was in 1871 in 1850s "old wooden buildings were considered not worth raising, so instead the owners of these wooden buildings had them either demolished or else placed on rollers and moved to the outskirts of Chicago" during this time they where lifting literally four story & 5 story brick building as well steel buildings besides sidewalks. this was just before the fire and possibly during it?
Lower Wacker used to be far more treacherous of a drive with pylons cutting whole lanes and the left-hand entrances with very little visibility or time to speed up to traffic. This was before the rebuilds of the whole thoroughfare, upper and lower. (Also "Emerald City" was also Lower Wacker as well as Lower-Lower.) I drove it quite a bit in my teens and twenties so I knew every bend and pylon, and it was a quick drive -- all the taxis took it when possible -- and very few "civilians." So I often brought out of towners down there to give them a good taste of the hidden part of Chicago.... My proudest moment was scaring a friend in from New York City that was very white knuckled as me and the cabs were speeding at 45-50 mph.
There is also an extensive underground pedestrian walkway system. If you know what you're doing you can live downtown and never go outside from building to building.
That exists in many cities but in many of them those tunnels are small and are only for utilities such as power lines, optic fibre cables and water mains.
Some 20+ years ago I use to live in Chicago. I had a buddy rent a rental car when he came to visit me. While driving downtown we got turned around and somehow ended up in Lower Wacker. I remember it being called the Thunder Dome back then. It was kind of scary because everyone knew what they were doing except us. Horns blowing, cars speeding by while we missed our turns and had no idea where we were going. And then, as mysteriously as we got in, we got out to the surface. After it was over, we laughed about our experience. However, I'll never forget that feeling of craziness we experienced. It's truly another world than the upper streets.
One of the uses of the lower streets is to enter (hotel) parking garages. Bethany, please wear your shoulder harness correctly. I wouldn't want you to get injured in an accident.
The lowest level of Wacker Dr. is just called "Wacker Dr." Upper Wacker is the top, Lower Wacker is the middle, and Wacker is the bottom. The lowest level is accessible via East South Water Street (head west off of N Columbus just South of Lower Wacker Dr). You can also access it via N. Field Blvd. Head South from upper Randolph, around the plaza, and keep heading down The lowest level is actually a terrific place to park if you want to go to the riverwalk or the lakefront parks south of the river. There are metered spaces along the side and cutouts in the fence where you can access the park area. An exploration of lowest Randolph St. is also fun. It's a real shame that Columbus and LSD are at surface level between Monroe and Roosevelt.
Lower Wacker used to be called "The Emerald City" because WAAAY back when, the streetlights were green. You did the S curve (the old S curve) on LSD into the Emerald City.
Wow, I've visited Chicago several times and my hotels were literally blocks from there. I had no idea there about this subterranean Wacker World (so to speak). Thanks for showing me what I missed. Until next time, happy trails!
While I lived and worked in Chicago, I often used Lower Wacker to avoid the much slower traffic above. That and the Pedway (which you featured a little while back) helped tremendously in getting around downtown. One note, had you turned left at Michigan Ave, you would have driven past the entrance to the Billy Goat Bar (think "Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger" from old Saturday Night Live shows). Once again, thank you for bringing back wonderful memories of my life in Chicago.
theres an entrance to the secret highway in lower lower wacker, you go right at the intersection of the impound yard and take it all the way down. on the left will be a fenced/gated tunnel that goes under millennium park all the way to McCormick place.
Hey Drew and Bethany. Lower Wacker use to be so scary. I wonder what they did with all the homeless who use to live there. And GPS get so confused but they do have plans to fix that. Never knew there is a 3rd level. Lower Lower Wacker - No way!!!. Love all the filming location references. So stressfull driving there.
Lower Lower Wacker drive was no joke! But we felt like we needed to film there to get the full experience, haha. The top level is definitely a great way to breeze through some of the traffic. Hope you guys have a great weekend!
As an uber driver in Chicago I had to learn this road, it was really confusing at first. I used to practice it with no one in the car. Your GPS will not work down there so you'd better know ahead of time where your exit will be. Lower Wacker also has it's own special smell. Learning lower Lower Wacker was definitely an adventure. If you're passing through town and have a little time you should check it out. And I did feel safe driving all three levels. Also, lower Lower Wacker is at the Chicago River's level.
That 'special smell' is from all the commercial kitchens preparing all types of food for the hotels, restaurants and office buildings on the upper levels. All those different food aromas mixed together makes the air smell like a high-school cafeteria.
@@paralegalstar9970 Makes sense. I didn't mean it as a bad smell, just special. Thanks for the extra info. As many times as I've driven it I never knew that.
@@paralegalstar9970smells more industrial than that to me. I don’t get the smell of foods. But I agree it does have an office building smell mixed in there too but I find it very pleasant.
I once ended up down there (on foot no less) while looking for a cheeseburger (if you know you know) and I thought I had slipped into another reality. People didn't believe me for years that Lower Lower Wacker even existed, so it's nice to see it get some press.
Yah I used to walk by that place all the time when Iwas working that area, remember watching them pull out most of a steam engine and a couple old rail cars when they where working the foundation for a new building in that area too.
I remember going to the market there. My friend's husband was working on one of the buildings, and they granted us permission to park in the delivery section of the building. We went to lower-lower Wacker drive and we were able to pull into the garage there. It was so cool, and I had no idea it was even there.
Very cool! I love huge underground spaces. And the extra level was a nice bonus. Here in stockholm we got lots of tunnels and covered roads/railroads with buildings on top and tunnels/subway stations deep underground inside the bedrock.We call stockholm the hollow city sometimes because there are layers of tunnels basically everywhere (car/train/subway/pedestrian/hidden or secret tunnels, even bunkers). There are long sections of freeways outside the city also deep down in the bedrock and they're expanding the network a lot! you can drive down there for 10 minutes at freeway speed, with multiple exit tunnels to every direction
From Lower Lower Wacker, you can access Millennium Station, the Millennium Parking Garage, the Harris Theater for the Performing Arts, and the Bus way to McCormick Place.
That is the best place to park and walk along the riverfront, or to access the architectural tour boats. And as a coach bus driver, it was also a good place to hide out with the bus while your group was off doing something like shopping or a boat trip. It also has the north access to the not-so-famous McCormick Busway, which it a direct bus route from downtown to McCormick Place. And is also a weather protected link between the Millennium Metra station, and the underground Chicago Pedestrian Walk. You will see a lot of pedestrians in that area where you initially went down the ramp when trains arrive.
Wow, I'm so glad you explored this. Thank you! I've never been a Chicagoan but I knew about Lower Wacker Drive from Daniel Pinkwater's books (he has a fictional version called Lower North Aufzoo St) and a while ago I did some research and learned about Lower Lower Wacker. I spent a few hours trying to use Google Maps street view to explore Lower Lower Wacker but it kept popping me from Lower to Upper Wacker, and apparently Lower Lower just isn't in Street View at all. So seeing your video was amazing and awesome and all kinds of other good words. Thanks again!
Another fun and amazing adventure. Always learning something watching you two, thanks. I am so glad Chi doesnt have earthquakes, thats a lot of steel and concrete above your head and must be below the water level. Have a great Weekend.
Technically the streets aren’t underground the lowest level is ground level with streets on top. So the buildings connected to the lower street levels lobbies are really on the 3rd or 4th floor.
So cool! Never knew there was a lower lower Wacker Drive. I guess since Chicago was always the destination , rarely used Lower Wacker so never happened upon the lower lower 😊. So glad you have branched out and are exploring all of these locations.
I was hoping you'd highlight the connection of lower lower wacker to the train line that has a side road which takes you all the way to McCormick place. Now that ride, is wild... and illegal... yet fun!
@noble6882 is been used by city workers, metra employees, and shuttle busses to get people from hotels downtown over to McCormick place for conferences expeditiously to prevent long travel times during peak congestion. After getting out of the lower lower Wacker area, it opens up to a side road that runs along a Metra line heading southbound.
It's not ILLEGAL illegal, you're just technically trespassing. There's a gate in the subdivision at about 16th and Wabash where Mayor Daley used to live that's always left open. But the busway entrance at Illinois Central Station requires an electronic fob that they give to the bus drivers and a special key that certain city workers have. It's a straight shot from Michigan and Randolph all the way down to 25th and King Drive.
Hello there…..Oddity Odyssey family. Drew and Bethany knocked it out the park again with this one. Great job. (Side note: I still need a tangerine bar.)
Used to work downtown; drove Lower Wacker frequently as part of the job. One thing you two didn't discuss were all those wrought-iron railings. Those were installed during the early 2000s, I believe. Prior to that, the area was a haven for Chicago's homeless population--all those nooks and crannies made it possible for someone sleeping rough to have a fairly secure cardboard box with a bunch of accumulated possessions--blankets and spare clothing, mostly--inside; there was a general code that had those folks keep to themselves, not create trouble, and in exchange they were left alone. Then along came Richard M. Daley, who really, really wanted Chicago to be neat and clean and pristine, so he ordered all those Lower Wacker condos to be taken down and tossed out by the cops, and then they built the rail fences to keep them from coming back. This was very successful, which is why in the brave new world of 2024 Chicago, you constantly run into the homeless in parks, parking lots, and other spots where they can make a pitch for some spare change.
I was driving through lower Wacker late at night on my way to a club recently. I always am amazed at the feat of engineering it took to create and think dang, this is like a slice of cyberpunk in the modern era
I used to work at 100 S. Wacker on the top (20th) floor and was there when they were rebuilding the north/south section in the late 2000’s. Was really cool to able to look down into lower Wacker from above.
The GPS does not work because, on the third level, you are too deep with too much concrete and steel above you for the weak GPS signals to reach. Sort of like the same reason your cell phone shows "service not available". The cell phone problem is easy to fix with repeaters on the lower level(s). I'm not sure about the GPS fix for that problem, though.
I remember spending a month in Chicago in Feb-Mar 2009 and accidentally walking across Michigan Ave. from below. I remember just thinking “oh, it’s an underpass of some sort” then crossing what I had just realised to be another whole damn avenue under the one I was familiar with. I chilling feeling came down my spine and I just knew I didn’t want to be a lost tourist down there.
Only been on that road one day and Chicago fire was driving us around to go down to Navy pier to get a ride on their helo for a view of downtown from the air during the taste of Chicago. Was a blast for sure
I worked on the river last year and spent lots of time in or near lower lower wacker!! It's not that bad haha. There was a stray calico we'd see sometimes, one time she ended up behind the bar of the boat and we had to get her out with a net...that was a chaotic morning. I miss seeing her! Not so much the rest of lower lower wacker though haha.
Back in the early 90s there was a car racing video game and the final level was lower wacker. That was before they rebuilt it because it used to be insane with the supports right in the middle of the lanes.
I watched this video a few weeks ago. Then, when visiting some friends in Chicago, I half-jokingly told them about lower lower wacker and that we might want to visit it xD of course, it turns out that the parking garage we bought tickets for had its only entrance deep in the abyss, and we all got helplessly lost trying to figure out how to down there. Took me 5 attempts and over half an hour of looping around the block to get in. My friends failed to find it. Absolutely wild place.
If you want to scare yourself it goes even lower than sub-lower. You'll have to go on foot for that. Chicago has many tunnels and hidden pathways. A good majority of them have been cemented off now. My dad would hide things in them and park his bike in them. Chicago itself is more elevated than the rest of the suburbs not by a crazy amount but it still is. When you are in Chicago you are quite literally on a thick man-made layer of concrete high in sea level. Going to Wacker you might not be able to visually see it, but if you go to a town like Pilsen or Little Italy and walk around if you get by some of the houses you will be able to see that thick layer of concrete. The house on the lowest level is the true sea level and the one you would be standing on is the elevated man-made one.
I went to Chicago last Summer. We booked a parking spot at a garage on Lower Wacker. We were going to the Willis Tower. Had a really hard time finding how to get there. It was raining so hard and my GPS didn't work. It sure was different down there. I would like to go back to Chicago when the weather is nice to take the Architecture boat tour.
Hi Drew and Bethany, my wife and I love your show. We both came to the conclusion, that Drew reminds us of Shaggy, and Bethany reminds us of Velma on the Scooby Doo cartoon show. 😀😀. Keep up the good work!
Great stuff !!! I got lost down there once in a rental car hitting those bumps … knucklehead … California guy after visiting (?) Last Resort … poor rental car … Anyway … RUclips has gotten very vanilla … your stuff is always fun !!!
Oh skys, I used to live in chicago. Heck, worked downtown even partly. Used to park in the lower lower level most times, was a good parking garage not far from the building I was working in, for like 7 bucks a day, so was pretty dang cheep. Would walk past this driving range on the way to work, as it was on lower lower randolf street I think. Would walk past the metra electic end of line station, then along michigan to the building I was working in. Well, mostly I would end up entering a building about 2 blocks over and go through the accsess area that was on the lower level. A lot of buildings where connected underground, and there used to be a lot of small shops down there. I looked at a newer map, and the golf place is gone, looks like they turned it into a park.
I remember driving for Uber and I would always miss the entrance to lower Wacker and the GPS would get confused and once a passenger reported me because he was late getting to the airport. Oh well.
It's blows my mind that something this complex was engineered a century ago. It's so clever that they had the foresight to put garbage collection below street level.
Somehow or the other, after leaving the famed Billy Goat for a delicious cheeseburger, I discovered a close by staircase going down to lower wacker drive. There were some homeless down there and it was kinda scary to be walking around at in the evening. All bathrooms are kept locked up in the area and it seemed my BF and myself thought we were going to truly die bc we were lost and could not find a way out to an open place with rest rooms.
(1) "Chicago's Basement." 😂😂😂 (2) Now I gotta go rewatch "Dark Knight".... (3) I'm wondering if there's an even lower level beneath the lower level, like a sewer system or maintenance tunnels where some underground community of people live with their own rules and laws, like Slab City near Bombay Beach in Southern California. (4) Very fun video, stay safe out there!
Oooooooo...Now we have to go back cause you're probably right about the underground city beneath Chicago's basement, haha! Hope you're well, our friend!
There is a upper and lower street in Downtown LA. I think it's 6th street. I haven't driven there since about 1989. It also has been used in a lot of movies. That might be a future episode?
Been down there once in 2007 looking for my car. We took a wrong turn and came up on like 20 homeless guys standing around flaming barrels. It was like a scene out of mad max lol. Needless to say we got the hell out of there asap lol
this happened to me as well, trying to get home at 3am, got lost on the western dead end of lower lower wacker to lower harbor dr., the homeless squad fanned out and tried to keep me from doing a 3 point turn around. Was easily 10 years ago
Drew took that last speed bump like a *BOSS*! 🤜🏻🤛🏻 It's remarkable, really: these doofuses who design infrastructure like this--good intentions (solving congestion problems) aside--seem to forget that people would have to WORK down there (as you say: garbage collection and other 'issues', including that auto pound (6:27: for those who enjoy having to retrieve their stolen vehicle. Been there, done that, not remotely fun; and an actual 'street address at 8:00?!). A soul-destroying environment, on a par with the multi-level, subterranean 'golgothic' infrastructure that Middle East new-build 'city' ('The Line', Saudi Arabia) is proposing. Talk about drawing a line in the sand. ⛔⛔🚫🚫
It was designed at the turn of the century when that traffic would have been horse carts and built in the 1920's when that traffic would have been Model T trucks that topped out at about 25mph.
@@michaelmcmeel914 We have a hard time picturing that concrete, Brutalist, subterranean environment with the 'Get a horse!' period. Turn of the century traffic would have been exceedingly minimal, as early automobiles were out of the price range of most citizenry; and horse-drawn carts having to take a subterranean detour would have been tough on that equine 'horsepower's' pulling power. Yeah--hard to believe! 🤔
@@random22026 At the turn of the century the riverside that Wacker Drive replaced was a nearly unbroken wall of warehouses and docks all the way down to Wolf Point. That's what they were seeking to replace with the thoroughfare that became Wacker Drive.
Most major cities have underground infrastructure that is made of tunnels. In my old state capital they had an incinerator that burned garbage and made steam. The steam was used for heat, power, and A/C. Tunnels ran over 300 miles under the city to provide steam to all the city buildings and state complex. It was large enough to drive through. DC has a MASSIVE underground complex made up of at least 4 levels. The first sub level is for the public and the second is transportation. Infrastructure and government passages are 3 and 4. Below that is a COG network and M2. The COG evacuation subway is M2. The lowest level is 160 to 200 feet below ground. Incredibly the tunnels date back to the formation of DC
There is an even lower level. Mostly rail that was used to move coal and other materials to the buildings. I have not been down to the rail section in 50 years or so. You used to be able to see one of the rail entrances from one of the trains that entered the city. I can't remember if it was the El or one of the commuter trains. Driving lower wacker in rush hour is a real experience......
Well there is the old Navy Pier line that runs on the first lower level, which is actually natural ground level and the original first floor of most old buildings.
The Tunnels are the Tunnels, completely separate and about 40 feet below the lower level streets. They are inaccessible and largely flooded.
I drove it once, Lower Wacker. Only one day, mid-day, straight-up in the middle of weekday business hours, watching out for delivery trucks- scary!
I'm adept. I Love driving.
'Learned on the Kennedy😁
I'm absolutely fascinated by the freight tunnels. They were connected to many of the older buildings downtown and like you said were used to move coal to the buildings. Unfortunately, a good chunk of downtown was flooded in the 90s after an underwater drilling job on the river accidentally punctured the roof of the tunnels, so most of the entrances were closed off. I heard it was a cool spot for urban exploration in the 70s. I think they're still used for data cables though.
@@MilwaukeeF40C mostly inaccessible... you can find videos here on youtube of some accessing 8D
As someone who used to drive a large truck and deliver to many of the buildings downtown. Lower Wacker was very convenient for getting in and out of the docks. It really is a great concept I wish more cities would utilize. Imagine how many trucks would be clogging up the streets above if not for Lower Wacker. Looking at you NYC.
Chicago has some very forward thinking infrastructure, guess they learned hard lessons early on with sewers and water supply.
@@techman8817 It also helps when you can hit the reset button/ the city burns to the ground, and you can restart from scratch...
yeah, it's a great way to keep all the downtown dumpsters easily accessible to garbage trucks so there aren't just a billion rats eating directly out of plastic bags
@@MattPiekarskythe good ol “Final Fantasy XIV 1.0” maneuver
@@MattPiekarsky kinda that happened after
Chicago streets was raised 1855
(raised to a level of four to fourteen feet above the lake) 20 years
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago
Chicago fire was in 1871
in 1850s "old wooden buildings were considered not worth raising, so instead the owners of these wooden buildings had them either demolished or else placed on rollers and moved to the outskirts of Chicago"
during this time they where lifting literally four story & 5 story brick building as well steel buildings besides sidewalks.
this was just before the fire and possibly during it?
Lower Wacker used to be far more treacherous of a drive with pylons cutting whole lanes and the left-hand entrances with very little visibility or time to speed up to traffic. This was before the rebuilds of the whole thoroughfare, upper and lower. (Also "Emerald City" was also Lower Wacker as well as Lower-Lower.) I drove it quite a bit in my teens and twenties so I knew every bend and pylon, and it was a quick drive -- all the taxis took it when possible -- and very few "civilians." So I often brought out of towners down there to give them a good taste of the hidden part of Chicago.... My proudest moment was scaring a friend in from New York City that was very white knuckled as me and the cabs were speeding at 45-50 mph.
There is also an extensive underground pedestrian walkway system. If you know what you're doing you can live downtown and never go outside from building to building.
Wild
That exists in many cities but in many of them those tunnels are small and are only for utilities such as power lines, optic fibre cables and water mains.
They already did a video on it ruclips.net/video/K6C9dbducAw/видео.html
You should see Toronto's Path underground.
They actually did a video a few months ago on the Pedway. ruclips.net/video/K6C9dbducAw/видео.html
Some 20+ years ago I use to live in Chicago. I had a buddy rent a rental car when he came to visit me. While driving downtown we got turned around and somehow ended up in Lower Wacker. I remember it being called the Thunder Dome back then. It was kind of scary because everyone knew what they were doing except us. Horns blowing, cars speeding by while we missed our turns and had no idea where we were going. And then, as mysteriously as we got in, we got out to the surface. After it was over, we laughed about our experience. However, I'll never forget that feeling of craziness we experienced. It's truly another world than the upper streets.
One of the uses of the lower streets is to enter (hotel) parking garages. Bethany, please wear your shoulder harness correctly. I wouldn't want you to get injured in an accident.
Perfect position for broken ribs
Mind your own joan.
The lowest level of Wacker Dr. is just called "Wacker Dr." Upper Wacker is the top, Lower Wacker is the middle, and Wacker is the bottom. The lowest level is accessible via East South Water Street (head west off of N Columbus just South of Lower Wacker Dr). You can also access it via N. Field Blvd. Head South from upper Randolph, around the plaza, and keep heading down
The lowest level is actually a terrific place to park if you want to go to the riverwalk or the lakefront parks south of the river. There are metered spaces along the side and cutouts in the fence where you can access the park area.
An exploration of lowest Randolph St. is also fun.
It's a real shame that Columbus and LSD are at surface level between Monroe and Roosevelt.
Driving right under St Regis hotel will give you access to the lowest level as well. Which could be field st that you are talking about.
From my college days in the 1970s, I recall that Lower Wacker Drive was also lit green.
next video will be about lower upper-lower mid Wacker drive...
Lower Wacker used to be called "The Emerald City" because WAAAY back when, the streetlights were green.
You did the S curve (the old S curve) on LSD into the Emerald City.
Chicago's Basement was hilarious! BRD529 was the license plate of the blues mobile. You two rule!
Wow, I've visited Chicago several times and my hotels were literally blocks from there. I had no idea there about this subterranean Wacker World (so to speak). Thanks for showing me what I missed. Until next time, happy trails!
While I lived and worked in Chicago, I often used Lower Wacker to avoid the much slower traffic above. That and the Pedway (which you featured a little while back) helped tremendously in getting around downtown. One note, had you turned left at Michigan Ave, you would have driven past the entrance to the Billy Goat Bar (think "Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger" from old Saturday Night Live shows). Once again, thank you for bringing back wonderful memories of my life in Chicago.
theres an entrance to the secret highway in lower lower wacker, you go right at the intersection of the impound yard and take it all the way down. on the left will be a fenced/gated tunnel that goes under millennium park all the way to McCormick place.
The McCormick Busway. It's part of the Chicago Triathlon bike course, along with an out an back on Lower Wacker.
Hey Drew and Bethany. Lower Wacker use to be so scary. I wonder what they did with all the homeless who use to live there. And GPS get so confused but they do have plans to fix that. Never knew there is a 3rd level. Lower Lower Wacker - No way!!!. Love all the filming location references. So stressfull driving there.
Lower Lower Wacker drive was no joke! But we felt like we needed to film there to get the full experience, haha. The top level is definitely a great way to breeze through some of the traffic. Hope you guys have a great weekend!
The homeless are still down there
@@LeeryMuscratI hope they find solace, as we all should
As an uber driver in Chicago I had to learn this road, it was really confusing at first. I used to practice it with no one in the car. Your GPS will not work down there so you'd better know ahead of time where your exit will be. Lower Wacker also has it's own special smell. Learning lower Lower Wacker was definitely an adventure. If you're passing through town and have a little time you should check it out. And I did feel safe driving all three levels. Also, lower Lower Wacker is at the Chicago River's level.
That 'special smell' is from all the commercial kitchens preparing all types of food for the hotels, restaurants and office buildings on the upper levels. All those different food aromas mixed together makes the air smell like a high-school cafeteria.
@@paralegalstar9970 Makes sense. I didn't mean it as a bad smell, just special. Thanks for the extra info. As many times as I've driven it I never knew that.
I love the smell of lower wacker
@@paralegalstar9970smells more industrial than that to me. I don’t get the smell of foods. But I agree it does have an office building smell mixed in there too but I find it very pleasant.
You guys have impeccable presentation timing in your intros and outros. Well done! I’m binging on your whole channel. 😁
Henry- Portrait of a Serial killer has a major scene on Lower Wacker drive
I once ended up down there (on foot no less) while looking for a cheeseburger (if you know you know) and I thought I had slipped into another reality. People didn't believe me for years that Lower Lower Wacker even existed, so it's nice to see it get some press.
Missing you both you are the best and my favorite oddity fam Happy Saturday 🫶💜
Happy Saturday, Andy-Fam! 💕
On lower lower where you were driving was the entrance to the 9 hole golf course/driving range that was there back in the day. Early 2000
Yah I used to walk by that place all the time when Iwas working that area, remember watching them pull out most of a steam engine and a couple old rail cars when they where working the foundation for a new building in that area too.
I remember going to the market there. My friend's husband was working on one of the buildings, and they granted us permission to park in the delivery section of the building. We went to lower-lower Wacker drive and we were able to pull into the garage there. It was so cool, and I had no idea it was even there.
Very cool! I love huge underground spaces. And the extra level was a nice bonus. Here in stockholm we got lots of tunnels and covered roads/railroads with buildings on top and tunnels/subway stations deep underground inside the bedrock.We call stockholm the hollow city sometimes because there are layers of tunnels basically everywhere (car/train/subway/pedestrian/hidden or secret tunnels, even bunkers). There are long sections of freeways outside the city also deep down in the bedrock and they're expanding the network a lot! you can drive down there for 10 minutes at freeway speed, with multiple exit tunnels to every direction
Ooooo...The Hallow City is a GREAT name. That sounds awesome!
From Lower Lower Wacker, you can access Millennium Station, the Millennium Parking Garage, the Harris Theater for the Performing Arts, and the Bus way to McCormick Place.
That is the best place to park and walk along the riverfront, or to access the architectural tour boats. And as a coach bus driver, it was also a good place to hide out with the bus while your group was off doing something like shopping or a boat trip. It also has the north access to the not-so-famous McCormick Busway, which it a direct bus route from downtown to McCormick Place. And is also a weather protected link between the Millennium Metra station, and the underground Chicago Pedestrian Walk. You will see a lot of pedestrians in that area where you initially went down the ramp when trains arrive.
Lower Wacker and Lower Michigan Ave were lifesavers as a bike courier for efficiency and stay dry during rainy days.🚲
Respect bro🫡 I can barely drive down there while delivering
"Let's go....!"
[Hop in and drive off.]
"Oh crap, we left the camera...!"
Yep! 🤣
Wow, I'm so glad you explored this. Thank you! I've never been a Chicagoan but I knew about Lower Wacker Drive from Daniel Pinkwater's books (he has a fictional version called Lower North Aufzoo St) and a while ago I did some research and learned about Lower Lower Wacker. I spent a few hours trying to use Google Maps street view to explore Lower Lower Wacker but it kept popping me from Lower to Upper Wacker, and apparently Lower Lower just isn't in Street View at all. So seeing your video was amazing and awesome and all kinds of other good words. Thanks again!
Another fun and amazing adventure. Always learning something watching you two, thanks. I am so glad Chi doesnt have earthquakes, thats a lot of steel and concrete above your head and must be below the water level. Have a great Weekend.
Technically the streets aren’t underground the lowest level is ground level with streets on top. So the buildings connected to the lower street levels lobbies are really on the 3rd or 4th floor.
Chicago is near a major but infrequent fault.
So cool! Never knew there was a lower lower Wacker Drive. I guess since Chicago was always the destination , rarely used Lower Wacker so never happened upon the lower lower 😊. So glad you have branched out and are exploring all of these locations.
I was hoping you'd highlight the connection of lower lower wacker to the train line that has a side road which takes you all the way to McCormick place. Now that ride, is wild... and illegal... yet fun!
A side road that you're not supposed to drive on? Who uses it?
@noble6882 is been used by city workers, metra employees, and shuttle busses to get people from hotels downtown over to McCormick place for conferences expeditiously to prevent long travel times during peak congestion. After getting out of the lower lower Wacker area, it opens up to a side road that runs along a Metra line heading southbound.
@@briancampbell119you can’t do that anymore security gate near the Aon Center is there now. Unless you know a way to get past the gate.
It's not ILLEGAL illegal, you're just technically trespassing. There's a gate in the subdivision at about 16th and Wabash where Mayor Daley used to live that's always left open. But the busway entrance at Illinois Central Station requires an electronic fob that they give to the bus drivers and a special key that certain city workers have. It's a straight shot from Michigan and Randolph all the way down to 25th and King Drive.
I used to go to Chicago from time to time when I lived in St Louis. I wish I had known about this then!
I used to service the doors on a loading dock down there. Wild place to be
I've had to pick up a vehicle at that auto pound in the 90s.
Great video... I have been on a Chicago video jag recently, and this was a really cool find.
Hello there…..Oddity Odyssey family. Drew and Bethany knocked it out the park again with this one. Great job. (Side note: I still need a tangerine bar.)
We thought YOU had all the tangerine bars?! An episode needs to be made about the hunt for a box of them.
@@OddityOdysseys I ran out.
Thanks and underground video are my favorite!!! 👍🏿😷👍🏻🇨🇦🇵🇭🇺🇸
What fun!! Thanks for taking me along!
Heyyy love your new adventures across America!! Interesting and fascinating are words I would describe! ✌🏻🫶🏻🩵🩵 Thank you
Used to work downtown; drove Lower Wacker frequently as part of the job. One thing you two didn't discuss were all those wrought-iron railings. Those were installed during the early 2000s, I believe. Prior to that, the area was a haven for Chicago's homeless population--all those nooks and crannies made it possible for someone sleeping rough to have a fairly secure cardboard box with a bunch of accumulated possessions--blankets and spare clothing, mostly--inside; there was a general code that had those folks keep to themselves, not create trouble, and in exchange they were left alone.
Then along came Richard M. Daley, who really, really wanted Chicago to be neat and clean and pristine, so he ordered all those Lower Wacker condos to be taken down and tossed out by the cops, and then they built the rail fences to keep them from coming back. This was very successful, which is why in the brave new world of 2024 Chicago, you constantly run into the homeless in parks, parking lots, and other spots where they can make a pitch for some spare change.
I was driving through lower Wacker late at night on my way to a club recently. I always am amazed at the feat of engineering it took to create and think dang, this is like a slice of cyberpunk in the modern era
Wow you had some beautiful weather when filming this!😊
Indeed! We couldn't believe it. Such a gorgeous city!
I used to work at 100 S. Wacker on the top (20th) floor and was there when they were rebuilding the north/south section in the late 2000’s. Was really cool to able to look down into lower Wacker from above.
You guys are great. Love it!
Thank you so much!
So another great episode thanks guys........So did you move out of Cali
Nope, we're just exploring some new areas! :)
Thanks!
You're too good to us, Jesse!! Thank you so much. 🙏😊💕
@@OddityOdysseys 😊😊Thxs
The Emerald City stretch was actually the north-south leg of Lower Wacker. My dad used to take thru it in the late 1960's.
The GPS does not work because, on the third level, you are too deep with too much concrete and steel above you for the weak GPS signals to reach. Sort of like the same reason your cell phone shows "service not available". The cell phone problem is easy to fix with repeaters on the lower level(s). I'm not sure about the GPS fix for that problem, though.
I drive this all the time. I never thought about what out of towners thought of it.
Loved the episode. Keep them coming guys. come to Georgia we have all kinds of strange things. Rock Eagle, Little Grand Canyon, to mention a few.
How did I miss that when I was there 15 years ago. Great video, thank you
It’s really easy to miss but just check the stairs on Michigan ave leading down and you can get to it.
Great place to ride a Harley,they sound great down there!
Yall find the bestest place to explore, another great video, thank you for making my week🤪👍
I remember spending a month in Chicago in Feb-Mar 2009 and accidentally walking across Michigan Ave. from below. I remember just thinking “oh, it’s an underpass of some sort” then crossing what I had just realised to be another whole damn avenue under the one I was familiar with.
I chilling feeling came down my spine and I just knew I didn’t want to be a lost tourist down there.
Ah memories. I lived nearby for 6 years and would often walk lower Wacker drive to avoid elements and tourists.
Only been on that road one day and Chicago fire was driving us around to go down to Navy pier to get a ride on their helo for a view of downtown from the air during the taste of Chicago. Was a blast for sure
Cool. Definitely lower Wacker Dr
Every time I speed through lower Wacker Drive at some point I say out loud “I am Batman!”
Dawsons Garage was on lower in Adventures in Babysitting 😉
I worked on the river last year and spent lots of time in or near lower lower wacker!! It's not that bad haha. There was a stray calico we'd see sometimes, one time she ended up behind the bar of the boat and we had to get her out with a net...that was a chaotic morning. I miss seeing her! Not so much the rest of lower lower wacker though haha.
This is a beautiful city!!!
Justo so wildly dangerous though 😢
The gal isn't worrying her shoulder belt correctly
Chicago's basement for sure! Spooky, too. Glad you didn't get locked in the gated part that was not gated.....yikes!!! Brave souls!!!
Back in the early 90s there was a car racing video game and the final level was lower wacker. That was before they rebuilt it because it used to be insane with the supports right in the middle of the lanes.
I’ve been to Chicago once and found my way down here.
Lol "yellow lights, warning you of something" now that needs to be on a t-shirt.
I watched this video a few weeks ago. Then, when visiting some friends in Chicago, I half-jokingly told them about lower lower wacker and that we might want to visit it xD
of course, it turns out that the parking garage we bought tickets for had its only entrance deep in the abyss, and we all got helplessly lost trying to figure out how to down there. Took me 5 attempts and over half an hour of looping around the block to get in. My friends failed to find it. Absolutely wild place.
I’ve lived in Chicago for 6 years and I had no idea that the lower lower section even existed!
If you want to scare yourself it goes even lower than sub-lower. You'll have to go on foot for that. Chicago has many tunnels and hidden pathways. A good majority of them have been cemented off now. My dad would hide things in them and park his bike in them. Chicago itself is more elevated than the rest of the suburbs not by a crazy amount but it still is. When you are in Chicago you are quite literally on a thick man-made layer of concrete high in sea level. Going to Wacker you might not be able to visually see it, but if you go to a town like Pilsen or Little Italy and walk around if you get by some of the houses you will be able to see that thick layer of concrete. The house on the lowest level is the true sea level and the one you would be standing on is the elevated man-made one.
One of my teenage playgrounds from a half a century ago....
It’s been extensively rebuilt and reconfigured since The Blues Brothers was filmed.
I went to Chicago last Summer. We booked a parking spot at a garage on Lower Wacker. We were going to the Willis Tower. Had a really hard time finding how to get there. It was raining so hard and my GPS didn't work. It sure was different down there. I would like to go back to Chicago when the weather is nice to take the Architecture boat tour.
Hi Drew and Bethany, my wife and I love your show. We both came to the conclusion, that Drew reminds us of Shaggy, and Bethany reminds us of Velma on the Scooby Doo cartoon show. 😀😀.
Keep up the good work!
🤣 Love it! Thank you both for watching.
Looks like some old the old emerald lights are still there at 7:47 to give us an idea of what that would've looked like
Great stuff !!! I got lost down there once in a rental car hitting those bumps … knucklehead … California guy after visiting (?) Last Resort … poor rental car …
Anyway … RUclips has gotten very vanilla … your stuff is always fun !!!
been there!
Been Down There Dozens of Times 😎
"Time to blend in with the locals"
*puts on "I love [INSERT REGION HERE] T-shirt*
We used to have free parking near Michigan Ave on lower lower!
Oh skys, I used to live in chicago. Heck, worked downtown even partly. Used to park in the lower lower level most times, was a good parking garage not far from the building I was working in, for like 7 bucks a day, so was pretty dang cheep. Would walk past this driving range on the way to work, as it was on lower lower randolf street I think. Would walk past the metra electic end of line station, then along michigan to the building I was working in. Well, mostly I would end up entering a building about 2 blocks over and go through the accsess area that was on the lower level. A lot of buildings where connected underground, and there used to be a lot of small shops down there. I looked at a newer map, and the golf place is gone, looks like they turned it into a park.
Great video!
But you’re in the car, you can take your bag off and set it in the back seat😂
I remember driving for Uber and I would always miss the entrance to lower Wacker and the GPS would get confused and once a passenger reported me because he was late getting to the airport. Oh well.
I live in Chicago. I love my hometown.❤❤
What are some of your favorite spots?
@@OddityOdysseys Navy Pier is my favorite place because it is like a theme park on the lake. I also like Wrigley Field Go Cubs! ⚾️
Great video
It's blows my mind that something this complex was engineered a century ago. It's so clever that they had the foresight to put garbage collection below street level.
Somehow or the other, after leaving the famed Billy Goat for a delicious cheeseburger, I discovered a close by staircase going down to lower wacker drive. There were some homeless down there and it was kinda scary to be walking around at in the evening. All bathrooms are kept locked up in the area and it seemed my BF and myself thought we were going to truly die bc we were lost and could not find a way out to an open place with rest rooms.
(1) "Chicago's Basement." 😂😂😂
(2) Now I gotta go rewatch "Dark Knight"....
(3) I'm wondering if there's an even lower level beneath the lower level, like a sewer system or maintenance tunnels where some underground community of people live with their own rules and laws, like Slab City near Bombay Beach in Southern California.
(4) Very fun video, stay safe out there!
Oooooooo...Now we have to go back cause you're probably right about the underground city beneath Chicago's basement, haha! Hope you're well, our friend!
Where are Jake and Elwood????
There is a upper and lower street in Downtown LA. I think it's 6th street. I haven't driven there since about 1989. It also has been used in a lot of movies. That might be a future episode?
Been down there once in 2007 looking for my car. We took a wrong turn and came up on like 20 homeless guys standing around flaming barrels. It was like a scene out of mad max lol. Needless to say we got the hell out of there asap lol
this happened to me as well, trying to get home at 3am, got lost on the western dead end of lower lower wacker to lower harbor dr., the homeless squad fanned out and tried to keep me from doing a 3 point turn around. Was easily 10 years ago
Walker is hardly primary… that maze of roads is avoided by most people I’ve hung out with
I had never heard of this before, this is why i love the channel.
I can't go down there, ever since that Walking Dude was burned. That's like going to Ground Zero.
Imagine if New York had streets like this. It could help the traffic situation.
Drew took that last speed bump like a *BOSS*! 🤜🏻🤛🏻
It's remarkable, really: these doofuses who design infrastructure like this--good intentions (solving congestion problems) aside--seem to forget that people would have to WORK down there (as you say: garbage collection and other 'issues', including that auto pound (6:27: for those who enjoy having to retrieve their stolen vehicle. Been there, done that, not remotely fun; and an actual 'street address at 8:00?!). A soul-destroying environment, on a par with the multi-level, subterranean 'golgothic' infrastructure that Middle East new-build 'city' ('The Line', Saudi Arabia) is proposing.
Talk about drawing a line in the sand. ⛔⛔🚫🚫
It was designed at the turn of the century when that traffic would have been horse carts and built in the 1920's when that traffic would have been Model T trucks that topped out at about 25mph.
@@michaelmcmeel914 We have a hard time picturing that concrete, Brutalist, subterranean environment with the 'Get a horse!' period. Turn of the century traffic would have been exceedingly minimal, as early automobiles were out of the price range of most citizenry; and horse-drawn carts having to take a subterranean detour would have been tough on that equine 'horsepower's' pulling power. Yeah--hard to believe! 🤔
@@random22026 At the turn of the century the riverside that Wacker Drive replaced was a nearly unbroken wall of warehouses and docks all the way down to Wolf Point. That's what they were seeking to replace with the thoroughfare that became Wacker Drive.
Off the right is the area for things like delivery trucks and garbage collection and the man-eating Morlocks.
Most major cities have underground infrastructure that is made of tunnels.
In my old state capital they had an incinerator that burned garbage and made steam.
The steam was used for heat, power, and A/C.
Tunnels ran over 300 miles under the city to provide steam to all the city buildings and state complex.
It was large enough to drive through.
DC has a MASSIVE underground complex made up of at least 4 levels.
The first sub level is for the public and the second is transportation.
Infrastructure and government passages are 3 and 4.
Below that is a COG network and M2. The COG evacuation subway is M2.
The lowest level is 160 to 200 feet below ground.
Incredibly the tunnels date back to the formation of DC
I've lived in Chicago for more than 30 years and did not know that there is lower, lower level of Wacker dr.
Great video
They need to change to daylight lighting
I don't know if the still dye the river green for St. Paddy's Day, but they used to!
They still do!