Take A Virtual Tour Of Barclay Hotel's Basement And Secret Tunnels

Though you usually can't do it in real life, you can explore the subterranean labyrinth of downtown Los Angeles' Barclay Hotel through a new 3-D tour.This interesting tour was passed along to LAist by Esotouric's Kim Cooper, who stops at the Barclay during her company's Raymond Chandler and Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice tours.

She wrote in a blog post that their groups pop by the lobby during the Raymond Chandler tour because in The Little Sister, Det. Phillip Marlowe discovers the body of a man who has been murdered with an ice pick in Room 332. The other tour swings by to tell tales of "a deranged 19th century millionaire who turned mean drunk in the hotel bar, and of two serial killers who worked their evil in rooms above."

The Barclay Hotel was built in 1896. Typically, the basement and tunnel areas are inaccessible to visitors, including Estouric's tour groups, but building owner Victor Vasquez allowed Estouric and photographer Craig Sauer to take a look around.

As you navigate, hotspots will help you move throughout the space, and while other markers indicate notes to read. For instance, the cobwebs in the basement sure seem spooky, but they're fake. Film crews put them up for a shoot. When you enter the tunnel, which runs beneath 4th and Main streets, you learn that glass plugs in the concrete above allow for natural light to fill the tunnel. These tunnels, of which there are several throughout downtown L.A., are rumored to have been used during Prohibition by those who would seek a clandestine way to transport liquor, or as hidden speakeasies.

Previously, Estouric and Sauer collaborated to create virtual tours of Dutch Chocolate Shop and JK's Tunnels.