So it's definitley the most exciting thing I've done in a while
We are climbing a ladder to an old pill box
Defending the Atlantic
From... the Germans
Members of the Barrio
What's going on..
It's Jon and we are inside of Fort Tilden right now..
An Abandoned Military in Queens..
Right on the Atlantic
For the first time..
On this channel
We're going to be doing a little bit of urban exploring
And my friend Jacob Carlson is going to be showing us around..
A lot of the secret little areas here..
He's made 3 seperate videos
I'm going to show you a different side of New York
A side that I think a lot of tourists probably never would know about..
Let's check this out..
Look at this place
We are in an old warehouse
I'm going to bring in Jacob to tell you what's going on
This is an abandoned warehouse.. i'm not sure what it used to be
But if I had to guess..
I'd guess it was a service depot for vehicles..
Based on all of the garage bay doors
We've got Tal here from the Traveling Clatt
And it's both of our first times.. exploring this abandoned warehouse
I'm a little bit creeped out..
I don't know ..
I don't usually explore this type of thing in New York
How are you feeling right now?
It's pretty tame..
I've been to a few abandoned places
Not a bunch
It's pretty tame
It's just a lot of graffiti but..
I like how cool it is
And that it was just free to come and enter
The graffiti artist left their spray cans here
Since Jacob's been here before
He told us that this old stair case
That we're walking up is safe
We're going to go check it out right now..
Keep your head down a little bit here..
Yeah
See how old everything is up here
Super old radiator
Got heaters..
Even the outlets and stuff like that are really old
It's very cool
You can see the city to..
You can .. see Manhattan
I have a good sense of what's safe
And what's not
And what's.. legal
And what's not
I would definitley recommend coming out to Fort Tilden
Checking it out
We'll show you some other stuff that's a little bit..
More tame
And easier.. and more accessible
For this kind of stuff
I would stay away from this
Again i'm more experienced
I've been in here
And been invited before
If you haven't.. just don't do it
Okay.. for informational purposes only..
We are on our way to the old military installations..
The stuff facing the beach
This is the stuff i've seen pictures of
Online
And i'm a big history buff..
World War 2..World War
All that stuff intrigues me..
We're going to show you a bit of that history right now
Jacob anything you want to tease them with..
We're going to be.. see everything from supply depots
To gun batteries.. like massive massive anti-air gun batteries
To underground bunkers
It's going to be really cool
Amazing, amazing..
There was a whole rail road system that ran through here
That.. took supply trains
Essentially from building to building
This was one of them
You'll see when we get in there..
How it was sort of carved out in the middle
To allow people to work on either side
And put stuff into whatever it was
Alright you guys ready..
Stop number one..
This whole center area is probably rail road tracks
You can see..
They would bring in..
The cars and that kind of stuff
And they could load them from the side
And then move onto the next place
For like ammunition
Things like that
One thing I will say
Will these buildings
That you have to look out for
Obviously you can see the ceiling is sort of falling in
You want to be careful with that..
Also don't lean on any of these polls
You can see that is what's supporting this
Don't touch that.. good idea
Don't lean on the poles
Don't try to go up to the roof
That kind of stuff
But otherwise if you're just walking through here
It's relatively safe
Just be careful
Visiting New York City
You would not expect to find..
This sort of.. structure around
It's part of the history of the city
Alright we are exploring.. yet another building here
Highly recommend you bring good like hiking shoes
Don't come in here.. in heels or flip flops
Or whatever else crazy idea you would have
Because the ground is not stable
You're stepping on glass and other things constantly
We are approaching one of the really cool parts
Of Fort Tilden
That i've researched...
Called Battery Harris
And it first went into service.. in 1924
Jacob is going to show us where they had the guns
Encased here..
This was actually to point at the beach
In case the Germans would attack
And it's just sitting here.. no one else is around
This could be one of the coolest things I've ever seen in New York City
Not even joking
So imagine this big huge circle
Had a massive gun pointing that way..
And you had multiple guys , multiple men that could turn the gun
That direction and that direction
And it just filled up this whole area
And it pointed out that way
But like I said
The reason they had this big cement structure is to prevent any..
If anybody were to capture this.. The Germans were to storm the beach and capture this.
They wouldn't be able to take the gun
And turn it around
And shoot at New York City
Because of this big cement structure
The city actually built this staircase and this little observation area up here..
Totally open to the public
And just an incredible view in this direction
Of the Manhattan Skyline
In this direction of the Atlantic
And that's what the gun down there would have been looking at
I also want to note that..
Not only did this have a big historical signifance during World War 1 and World War 2
But also during the Cold War
Their were nike missle sites here..
Essentialy Fort Tilden's job was to guard.
New York City and luckily..
It never actually had to be used
For those reasons
You can see the American flag down there
Which is exactly where we're going apparently
According to Jacob... our expert tour guide
That is the right direction right
That is the bunker
That is the bunker folks
That is "un bunker"
Un Bunker
We are about to walk into this old bunker
Kids don't try this at home
What do you think..
It's pretty cool huh?
People have definitley lived here
For a little while.. I don't know who?
I kind of don't want to find out..
It's getting pretty creepy right now..
Look at these two rooms right here..
Dude.. is like a..
old bathroom
Is this the bathroom
What is this?
Stairway to Heaven
This last step is a little.. wonky
Be careful
And then you see how there's that gap there..
This is where I think they'd store the munitions and stuff.
If I had to guess
Because they have these cement platforms and stuff..
This is where I would guess..
Oh my goodness
This is so freaking cool..
This is the grim reaper pointing
And then it's just that
I'm agreeing with Tal
I probably wouldn't recommend you come to this particuluar place..
Unless you're with someone that knows what they're doing
Me and Tal aren't those people
Jacob is..
So just be very careful
Well Jacob's now run off and he's going to try and scare us
Uh oh
That's fine.. And he's going to succeed
We've just come out of the bunker
We've got one final stop to show you guys..
Actually inside of a pill box
Facing the Atlantic
And this is the part I was most excited about
After seeing pictures and Jacob's videos
We're going to climb up right now
Guys so we are approaching the pill box
And as you can see
It's kind of like the perfect spot
To be hidden a bit
From I guess enemy airplanes
Or enemy boats coming here
Right amongst the shrubs
Guarding the beach for almost 100 years
Welcome to the pillbox.. it's freezing in here..
Minus all the graffiti
This actually feels to me like..
You're in a war movie
You're facing the Atlantic right here.
Looking for submarines and ships dropping off troops
Even though it never happened
As far as troops landing right here
Specifically There were German spies that did make it to long island however
Very close by
This is where..
You'd put the gun
This is your view out to see
Look at this
Members of the Barrio what an incredible afternoon
Spent exploring Fort Tilden
It's this gem right in New York City
But it feels a world apart
If you're a history buff like I am
You've got to put this on your list
Just use common sense when visiting here.
Please..
Guys make sure to check out my New York City Playlist
For a lot of cool ideas about ideas and things to do
On your next trip here
Thank you so much for watching as always
Until next time..