Etymology. The verb “shanghai” joined the lexicon with “crimping” and “sailor thieves” in the 1850s, possibly because Shanghai was a common destination of the ships with abducted crews. The term has since expanded to mean “kidnapped” or “induced to do something by means of fraud.”

During the height of its operation, an estimated 2,000 people a year were shanghaied through Portland’s underground tunnels.

The Old Portland Underground, better known locally as the Shanghai tunnels, is a group of passages in Portland, Oregon, United States, mainly underneath the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood and connecting to the main business section.

Shanghai Tunnels/Portland Underground Directions are on the tickets/ticketing site. This site is just around the corner from Hobo’s Restaurant, so travel and parking directions are the same. PARKING:Street parking of a variety of hours is available at meters.

Some 1,500 or more men are said to have been abducted annually, and some people have claimed that the tunnels were used to facilitate kidnapping women for prostitution. The existence of the tunnels is alleged to have been purposefully suppressed, in order to protect Portland’s genteel reputation.

A Complex World You Don’t See. “I crawl through a lot of sewer pipes. When we talk of the “tunnels under San Francisco,” we’re usually talking in fact about sewer mains. San Francisco is 49 square miles, but contains over 1,000 miles of sewer mains, running under every block.

Yes, Portland remains a safe city for visitors. Like many cities nationwide, Portland has experienced an increase in crime during the past year. In February 2021, the Major Cities Chiefs Association issued a report noting that 63 of 66 major cities saw at least one violent crime category grow in 2020..

The Shanghai Tunnels were used from the mid-19th century through to the early 1940s. The tunnels allowed for easy transportation of goods (and according to local legends, people) to and from the river to businesses in downtown Portland, allowing the avoidance of streetcars, traffic and mud.

The traditional way to shanghai someone is to drug him and put him on a ship. When the person wakes up, he better get to work. This term popped up in the 19th century. If you trick your best friend into coming home with you so she can do your chores, you shanghai her.

First, once an American sailor signed on board a vessel for a voyage, it was illegal for him to leave the ship before the voyage’s end. The penalty was imprisonment, the result of federal legislation enacted in 1790.

The term may also refer to a network of tunnels that connects buildings beneath street level that may house office blocks, shopping malls, metro stations, theatres, and other attractions. Some cities also have tunnels that have been abandoned.

The Shanghai Tunnels or Portland Underground consist of tunnel passages linking Portland’s Old Town (Chinatown) to the central downtown area of Portland.

Since the mid-19th century, stories have been told about shanghai practices in Portland. Not only men but women, too were warned to take care against being drugged or kidnapped and hauled off for sale. Women were allegedly shanghaied for use as prostitutes rather than ship’s laborers.

Some researchers estimate that as many as 1,500 people a year were shanghaied through Portland’s Underground. Entire scenarios about the practices and experiences of the shanghaied in the tunnels have been created and elaborated on over the years.

In 1933, journalist Stewart Holbrook broadcast stories of shanghaiing and bawdy times on the Portland waterfront in a series of romanticized articles in the Sunday Oregonian.