Secret room

[+ purplekow]

I had a vivid dream last night about an involved chase that included the late Doris Roberts. In the dream, there was a home with all sorts of secret rooms which connected to unexpected places. One room, the one Ms. Roberts hurriedly exited, was a closet with a movable floor that led to a subway station.

I have never lived in a place that had a secret room and though they are a hallmark of literature, movies and of course the board game Clue, I have never knowingly been in a secret room.

 

Anyone here live in home now, or perhaps in the past, that has a secret room or secret passage?

[+ purplekow]

If it's secret, how would any of us know? Your dream is telling you to try out an escape room since you have been on the fence about it for a while.

Well if it is your home, you would be the one with the knowledge.

[+ poolboy48220]

When I was growing up, our neighbor had sort of a secret room - a room their father used as his office, it was behind a sliding door in the basement bathroom. If you didn't know it was there, you'd never know the wall was a sliding door.

 

At the local Renaissance Fair, a booth sold leather stuff (innocent stuff, like masks, and bracelets). The friend I was with knew the guy running the booth, and he took us back to a secret area behind the wall where the FUN stuff was.

[+ Charlie]

When I was a kid, my grandmother lived in an old house on the Hudson River that had been a stop on the underground railroad before the Civil War. Escaped slaves were brought up the river from NYC at night and unloaded on the river bank to be hidden during the day, before being moved farther north the next night. There was a secret entrance from the basement into a large brick room that had been built under the side yard, where the slaves stayed during the day. The house was built at the foot of a hill that sloped down to the river, and an ice house was built into the base of the hill. There was also a tunnel from a secret entrance in the ice house to the big brick room, so there was a second means to escape if the entrance in the basement were discovered.

 

The house had no electricity and no indoor plumbing, other than a hand pump in the kitchen sink, so there was an outhouse in the yard. I used to stay with my grandmother during summer vacations. In the later 19th century, the West Branch of the New York Central RR had been laid between the house and the river, and my parents used to put me on the train near our home in NJ; all the men who worked on the railroad knew my grandmother, and they would stop the train in front of the house and let me off, where she was waiting for me. I loved those summer days, often spent fishing on the river bank for catfish and perch, which my grandmother would clean and cook for dinner, but without electric light, there was nothing to do at night but read by a kerosene lamp, and I hated to have to go to the outhouse in the dark.

 

Unfortunately, the house was torn down in the early 1960s when Con Edison was planning to build a storage plant there, for a project that was stopped by environmentalists.

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

The house my grandmother lived in had secret rooms and hallways. I was in the house for years and only learned recently these rooms were hidden in plain sight.

[Chuckball]

I knew a fellow once who constructed a false wall in his basement. Behind the false wall he had a marijuana grow up. Not sure if police raided the premises. He was so proud of the structure he bragged openly about his secret room. I suspect so many people were told of it that it no longer was a secret room.

[LoveNDino]

I've got a hard-on for the secret gun drawer, seen at about 0:47 seconds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JkfKLzE_-A

[+ Avalon]

Reminds me of priest holes in Elizabethan England

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priest_hole

[bostonman]

I used to live in an apartment in a 3-family home - my two roommates and I shared the whole left side of the property (3 floors), other tenants lived on the first floor right side, and the landlord and his family had the top 2 floors on that side.

 

My bedroom was on the top floor, and there was a small half-door in one of my walls that led, "tunnel-like," to the landlord's apartment. Out of privacy I never used it - but also, early on, we discovered that the landlord was a raving asshole. So even with my sense of propriety, I really DARED NOT use that door lol.

 

But I have to say I did wonder, from time to time, if one of them might have come to their side of that door to try to "spy." I would not have put that past them. We lived there a year and a half before we all decided to get out. It was a decent place in a very nice neighborhood, but that family were spawns of satan.

 

Meanwhile, there is a story that a colleague of mine tells about Irving Berlin, whose Music Box Theatre (still on Broadway now) was built for him and his shows. My friend says he got to go on a tour of the theatre once, and he got to go up to an abandoned room in the back of the house that used to be Berlin's private office. He said that the guide pushed one of the walls, and it turned, just like in a suspense movie, to reveal a small hidden room. Small, but big enough to hold a bed, etc. The guide told him, "...and this is where Mr. Berlin would bed the chorus girls."

 

One of the shows Berlin wrote for this theatre is a revue called As Thousands Cheer, which features a song called "Through A Keyhole," about a snoop who likes to spy that way. (Berlin could indeed write filthy songs when he wanted to lol). The last lyric of the song is, "If you really want to know / How she got into the show / Take a look."

 

One never knows, do one...

[+ Reisr30]

Who is Doris Roberts? Never mind I’ll google her...

 

I have always wanted to build a secret room or passage in my house. I was thinking of it like a panic room but maybe a sexy dungeon might be more fun .

[+ Avalon]

Who is Doris Roberts? Never mind I’ll google her....

 

No need to. That's why you have me!

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Roberts

[bnm73]

Meanwhile, there is a story that a colleague of mine tells about Irving Berlin, whose Music Box Theatre (still on Broadway now) was built for him and his shows. My friend says he got to go on a tour of the theatre once, and he got to go up to an abandoned room in the back of the house that used to be Berlin's private office. He said that the guide pushed one of the walls, and it turned, just like in a suspense movie, to reveal a small hidden room. Small, but big enough to hold a bed, etc. The guide told him, "...and this is where Mr. Berlin would bed the chorus girls."

 

One of the shows Berlin wrote for this theatre is a revue called As Thousands Cheer, which features a song called "Through A Keyhole," about a snoop who likes to spy that way. (Berlin could indeed write filthy songs when he wanted to lol). The last lyric of the song is, "If you really want to know / How she got into the show / Take a look."

 

One never knows, do one...

 

Given how much a "workaholic" reputation Berlin had, I would be less surprised if he used a bed in that side/secret door as a place to sleep after writing in his office until the wee hours of the morning. He was also famously devoted to his wife Ellin Mackay, if I remember correctly.

[+ Reisr30]

No need to. That's why you have me!

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Roberts

Thank you! I knew everybody loves Raymond’s mom just not the actress name I also get her confused with Seinfeld’s mom. I’ve never been a big theatre guy so don’t know a lot of the older actresses

[bostonman]

Given how much a "workaholic" reputation Berlin had, I would be less surprised if he used a bed in that side/secret door as a place to sleep after writing in his office until the wee hours of the morning. He was also famously devoted to his wife Ellin Mackay, if I remember correctly.

 

To be honest, I'm inclined to believe all that too. But, the rumor is interesting...

[+ Avalon]

Thank you! I knew everybody loves Raymond’s mom just not the actress name I also get her confused with Seinfeld’s mom. I’ve never been a big theatre guy so don’t know a lot of the older actresses

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_Sheridan

 

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.gstatic.com/tv/thumb/persons/67851/67851_v9_ba.jpg&imgrefurl=http://google.com/search?tbm%3Disch%26q%3DLizzie%2520Sheridan&h=1440&w=1080&tbnid=rXzN1Ms_eIfSEM:&q=liz+sheridan&tbnh=186&tbnw=139&usg=AFrqEzfPcSGE2XCfJM9l6Mle-9uVW41R3w&vet=12ahUKEwjFqLnfno7dAhXBN48KHSP0C5YQ_B0wFHoECAoQCQ..i&docid=GkFreu6-bqPwJM&itg=1&hl=en&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwjFqLnfno7dAhXBN48KHSP0C5YQ_B0wFHoECAoQCQ

[+ tassojunior]

I knew a fellow once who constructed a false wall in his basement. Behind the false wall he had a marijuana grow up. Not sure if police raided the premises. He was so proud of the structure he bragged openly about his secret room. I suspect so many people were told of it that it no longer was a secret room.

I did the same thing in a friend's house. I was a sharecropper.

 

Old houses from the 1800's have a basement under the original house and usually a back addition when kitchens were brought upstairs from the cellar in the 1880's. Those additions have their own basements. Usually there's a small door from the big basement to the addition basement in back.

 

The problem hiding a grow setup is the smell. My friend cooked a lot so he always told company he had just cooked something spicy. And he shared pot with company so they thought all the smell came from that. Now it's legal to grow in DC !

[+ Avalon]

I did the same thing in a friend's house. I was a sharecropper.

 

Old houses from the 1800's have a basement under the original house and usually a back addition when kitchens were brought upstairs from the cellar in the 1880's. Those additions have their own basements. Usually there's a small door from the big basement to the addition basement in back.

 

The problem hiding a grow setup is the smell. My friend cooked a lot so he always told company he had just cooked something spicy. And he shared pot with company so they thought all the smell came from that. Now it's legal to grow in DC !

 

Another problem with growing marijuana indoors is the increase in the utility usage. That can be a sign causing the authorities to investigate.

[Nvr2Thick]

I had a vivid dream last night about an involved chase that included the late Doris Roberts. In the dream, there was a home with all sorts of secret rooms which connected to unexpected places. One room, the one Ms. Roberts hurriedly exited, was a closet with a movable floor that led to a subway station.

 

[Stephan]

How come there are so many bad reviews online about gay bars/dark rooms in Berlin? From rude/disrespectful doorman and bartenders to bar staff members turning away older gay men at the door, and letting in younger guys.

 

 

Some of the reviews on https://www.travelgay.com/berlin-gay-cruise-clubs/

 

“I echo the comments of many above. I was turned away by a rude doorman saying it was a private party and not for "every man." I suspect it was because of my age ( I'm 72) but he really wouldn't give me a reason. I talked to others standing outside. A bar that treats potential customers this way deserves to be boycotted.“

 

"The doorman told us we couldn't come in, saying that it is a private bar. At first I was confused so I asked him again what he meant by "private" so he explained to me that it is a "private men's bar" not for all men. At this point, my boyfriend was a little ticked of."

 

This review on travelgay.com is my favorite.

rude and fascism

“Went there on a Thursday night. No one was at the door. Saw a ring bell without any clear instruction so pressed it for the first time, but there was no response, I tried to open the door and found it was closed. Then pressed the bell for the second time. After that, the doorman come out and pushed me on my shoulder and said stop touching the door it’s not your backyard. "

 

"Then he started his stupid selective interview with the question “what r u looking for here” I said “some fun”. He pointed the other way and told me there was a lot of fun and go away. Yes I am a Asian tourist and I am totally okay with being rejected for not being a fit for the vibe of the venue, but this fascism and disgrace is far beyond my imagination.“

 

Asain on 21-Jun-2018 | Reply

 

 

Are there any non-fetish regular gay bars/clubs in Berlin? I'm looking for regular gay bars/clubs and not sex clubs.

Edited October 21, 2018 by Stephan