Pack Rat needs to hug it out.

Most people would find a pitch black tunnel leading off into God-knows-where terrifying. I know I would. But to some people—people braver, more determined, and better equipped to handle themselves than I—have for many years been disappearing into what has come to be know as the Freedom Tunnel. Located under Riverside Park, in New York City, this old Amtrak train tunnel was featured in the 2000 documentary, Dark Days for the community of homeless people who lived inside, in a shanty town beneath the city streets (which, P.S., is a terrific movie). What the documentary didn’t capture was what an amazing gallery of graffiti art that the tunnel has become. I stumbled across some photos that urban enthusiast and blogger, Peter, posted on City Noise (an interesting website, worth a post in and of itself). Peter plunges into the deep to capture some of the ever changing artwork decorating the dark concrete walls. Especially cool are the mural works by Chris “Freedom” Pape (who wikipedia claims is the tunnel’s namesake), one of the foremost graffiti artists. It’s amazing and awe inspiring that this great artwork is made hidden from most eyes: definitely not for mass consumption, but instead for the love of creation.