06/21/09

Tour of a basement

by Flores

It is obvious that all of the people not close friends or part of this tour operation have a clear unified unbiased opinion of this tour. You cannot have a shanghai tunnel tour without tunnels. Was it really necessary to take us into a stuffy basement to tell us the history of Portland. I would have been just as content reading a book or watching a documentary.

I am not saying this as a personal attack on the people who run this tour. i know they are passionate about what they do and have the best intentions. They claim this is not a business, but they were willing to take our money and should feel obligated to provide some value for it. Create a museum of artifacts, and or a documentary. This tour really does nothing to help there cause and the sooner they realize it and change it the better off they wil be.

• Pros: I only feel cheated 12 dollars
• Cons: That there were no tunnels

02/22/08

If you go, don't say you weren't warned and enjoy!

by dominojones

I was introduced to the Shanghai Tunnel Tour by my mother. A group of her coworkers were going on a tour and she invited me along. All I knew going into it was that it was supposed to be a walking tour of Portland's underground.

We started off the evening at Hobo's. The courtyard was awesome and we got a laugh when one of the girls game out of the restroom with toilet paper on BOTH feet. The wait for the tour to begin took a little longer than expected. But with a drink in hand it was alright.

The tour itself was lacking. As many reviews have said the walking tour takes place in the basement of two adjoining restaurants. There isn't much walking to be done, more of a shuffling tour for 40 people. The place was miserably hot and with all the shuffling it was hard to breath because of the dirt circulating around. The stories were long winded for being so hot and uncomfortable. It was hard to pay attention to the story teller because of people losing interest and talking amongst themselves. The one cool part that I remember was sticking my hand through the...optical illusion bars.

All in all I would not recommend the tour for somebody who is just looking for something different to do. This tour is more for the history buff. I feel my money would have been better spent buying a book from Powell's on the subject.

The operators of the Tour might get better reviews if they spend their time making a mini-documentary or slide show and presenting it in the comfort of Hobo's where participants can eat drink and be merry. Then follow it up with a much shorter tour of the tunnels to see the sites in person.

The Tour is not something that I am going to be shouting about from the rooftops but it is something that is going to be interesting to some people. If you go, don't say your weren't warned and enjoy!

• Pros: Pre-Tour drinks at Hobo's
• Cons: Lack of walking, too hot and stuffy, too long

11/25/07

Average

by nikki1305

I went on the tunnel tour before Halloween this year. I was expecting a longer walk, but we ended up only shuffling around under Boiler Room and Hobos. It would've been more fun if we had climbed into a short bus and drove around the city to other tunnels and Haunted places. The Shanghai tour was very interesting and entailed a lot of information. Mike and the other volunteer did a GREAT job, but it was just too boring to only walk around in 1 block.

• Pros: Mucho information and great tour guides
• Cons: Only walk one block walk...too short

11/01/07

Shanghai Surprise? Not!

by popey

We booked this tour with a group of 12 people. We waited for the group to assemble at Hobo's where we had a fabulous time with a cocktail in the company of Darcelle and some of her beauties. As directed, we dressed warmly in comfortable shoes expecting to explore hallways and rooms of Portland's underground and to gain knowledge of the history of the Shanghai tunnels and crimes that occurred therein. I would guess that we went in with a total of 40 people with at least 8 children under the age of 10 in attendance (always a bad sign in my opinion.) It was boiling hot and we walked a total of 50 feet. Basically we got a great tour of a basement. The host of the tour was a very good speaker and knowledgeable, however, for a person who admittedly "doesn?t believe in ghosts", he spoke endlessly about the ghosts he and others had seen in the tunnel. So much so that, in addition to the lack of ground covered, the disappointment among the entire group was palpable. In fact, 1/3 of the group left after the first 15 minutes. There was absolutely no sign of the paranormal and very little substance to the information presented. We could have walked through the basement, then gone back up to Hobo's to listen to stories with a cocktail or two and had a much more satisfactory experience!

07/16/07

Portland Underground "I was Shanghia'd" Tour

by clintv

The Underground Tour was the absolute worst thing I have ever paid money to do. The staff involved are clearly a bunch of ghost hunters using the "Shanghia Tunnels" as a way to fund their pastime. By the way, there are no "Shanghia tunnels". The whole tour takes place under Hobo's restaurant in their basement which is no larger than 1500 sq/ft. The temperature in the basement ranged from 100-140 degrees and that is the honest truth! If you take the time to look behind all the canvas curtains they have hanging off the beams you will see all of the hot water heaters and duct work running everywhere for the restaurant above.

The information given on the tour is actually somewhat interesting, however, it is hard to determine if the information is true or if it is coming from the mind of the tour guide (which could be compromised due to the heat). He has to be the most long winded individual I have ever met and I challenge them to come up with hard proof to back up some of the stories he is telling.

I went on the "Paranormal tour" which was $16.00 for 2 hours. They advertised that ghost hunters would be on the tour with us. When they said ghost hunters I didn't figure it ment some guy standing with his arms out and palms in the air saying "I can't believe it, there are orbs all around me, I can feel the cold." Let me just say, there is no way in the world that he felt anything that resembled cold. After just over an hour our group left do to the extreme hot air produced by the hot water heaters behind the curtains and the tour guides mouth. At one point they tried to tell us we could not leave until the tour was over, which could have been a very big mistake on their part because 40 hot, angry, sweaty people would have trampled them.

Just so my review is clear and there is no way the other good reviews (which were clearly posted by the tour staff) will cloud anyones judgment, DO NOT GO!. It is TERRIBLE and a crime for them to accept money!!!

• Pros: Absolutley none.
• Cons: They are selling a "Pet Rock"

07/05/07

The Shanghai Experience. Lost in time

by thefirefox

This is in response to the "lame lame lame" review. i think it's LAME of you to post a review that so blatantly slanders someone who has worked to restore and share a piece of Oregon's history. my advice to you,sir, is to DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE you take another tour. as for the remark about michael, i have met him several times and found him to be polite and i have never seen the man drunk. i went on my first tour last month and would love to take my mother. all in all it's a $12 experience that is well worth it. the money goes toward other projects of restoration for the history of Oregon. i would like to see more of these projects turn out so well. thank you Michael and team for your hard work and dedication to the forgotten history of Oregon and for bringing it to the public. KUDOS TO YOU!!! And on a personal note: The smell from the pizza place turned my stomach

• Pros: polite and energetic tour guides

06/29/07

Get educated about Portland's true dark history!

by fiercerose

I first took this tour two years ago when I came here to visit. I enjoyed it so much that I signed on as a volunteer as soon as I moved up here. I would like to relate my experiences and thoughts

This is an eye-opening and informative tour led through one of the only remaining intact sections of the once-expansive Portland underground. While not everyone will believe the ghost stories, the history itself is as accurate as it can be under the circumstances, considering that this is a subject passed down almost solely through oral histories. Most objects you'll see on the tour are original and authentic; those that aren't were recreated as accurately as possible. Years of hard work have gone into the process of excavating this area and opening it up to the public.

People complain that the tour only consists of the basements of two businesses; this is true, but what you have to understand is that the tunnels are extremely disconnected from each other at this point. The tour guides make the most of what space they have available, and the 1 1/2 hour tour is packed with shocking facts, fascinating legends, heartbreaking stories, and more raw history than you ever wanted to know. Others complain that the tour groups are often quite large; this is also true. The guides try to include as many people as they reasonably can, because they feel that this is something everyone should have the chance to hear.

My recommendations might mean little considering that I'm an active volunteer, but try to understand that I wouldn't be spending all my free time doing this if I didn't feel it was important to inform people about the interesting (and at times disturbing) history of the city I love. Hope to see you there. :)

06/02/07

Stay away or be shanghai'd...

by coredesign

Warning: the positive reviews on here are probably by staff members of the company.... they're around the same date and about the same length and writing style.

For our tour, we were told we needed at least 15 people as that's about the size of group they like to take. We ended up having 25. We were told a few more people might be added but that it was primarily our group. By the time the tour started, there were 50 people! Later a volunteer told us they are suppose to keep the groups smaller than 30 for safety.

We were led into the tunnels by our tour guide who told the most innane, long-winded stories. She lacked any personality and was a bit short with her volunteers and some of the people on the tour. She made several comments about the difficulty of the job and managing her volunteers which I felt was inappropriate whether true or not.

By the way, "tunnels" is used loosely here as you will not ever step foot in a tunnel... the entire tour comprises 4 basement rooms under Hobo's restaurant.

It is extremely hot in the basements. There is no air circulation whatsoever and with 50 people in a cramped space, it was miserable. One of our group on the tour actually collapsed and had to be escorted out only to be revived on the street in front of the tunnel entrance.

I feel this company is extorting a large fee out of the visitors on the tour. Your $12 is pure profit for the tour company faced with almost no overhead: volunteer staff and little mainenance to the 100 year old basements.

Sadly, this "could" be a great tour. If you were actually led through a series of tunnels and the stories were kept to a minimum and shorter, the experience would be so much better. Perhaps this history has already been buried or was never there to begin with. Regardless, the way this tour company is treating its customers is despicable considering the price of admission.

Do not waste your time or money on this tour! You will regret it.

05/22/07

You've got to be joking. Lame, lame, lame!

by waitingallday

I wish I read the reviews here beforehand. I was able to book reservations with no problem, but this tour guide (Mike) was drunk as a skunk when he showed up. He reeked so bad that no one wanted to be near him.

It's true that all you do is listen to made up ghost stories (over & over) while wandering through a dusty basement. There's no tunnels, just some props that they made up to look old and try to scare us. No Shanghai Tunnels plus no Ghosts plus drunk guide = Bad news.

My wife & I were robbed $25 bucks.

• Pros: Good pizza around corner
• Cons: Overpromise, underdeliver.

08/07/06

Hauntingly good time!

by knitkat

Getting on the reservation list did require a bit of patience, but these folks are VOLUNTEERS! Once there, I thought the tour was fabulous. The tour guide (Mike) is a born story teller, and the history and information that he imparted was fascinating. I would recommend this to anyone that may be interested in Portland history, ghosts, or just neat old stuff. I enjoyed the hell out of it!