Gothamist’s John Del Signore got an invite to a solstice party in the “Echo Vault, a temporary memory chamber dedicated to sonic experimentation and uncontrolled dance.” It was a two-hour event (with no bathrooms) where everyone was told to bring a candle, a flashlight, and 20 bucks, and kept in the dark about everything else.
N.D. Austin., whose group Wanderlust Projects puts together urban trespassing events like Night Heron speakeasy, and Stark have asked me to keep certain details about the location secret, so I’ll just say that after about a half hour of walking, I noticed that the long line of people ahead of me had disappeared. About twenty people remained, and then I understood that they were dropping down into a hole in the sidewalk. The Agents stood quietly around a hatch, urging participants to quickly scramble down a ladder into the darkness.
To be clear, this was not a desolate area, and as I reached the hatch, a man and a woman approached from the opposite direction, holding hands and gazing with disbelief as the last of us were willingly swallowed up by the city. I tried to smile normally at them as I went down the ladder, followed by the rest of the Echo Vault staff. The hatch creaked shut behind us, and there was silence…
It turned out that they were in an abandoned, underground subway vault. Del Signore describes the whole night in detail, so go to Gothamist to read about it; we’ll just share that “it was like the Zion dance party in Matrix Reloaded, but with fewer douchebags.”
All we have to say is: Hey, all you urban adventurers out there — Grist List likes parties in reclaimed spaces, too! And two of us live in Brooklyn right now! Call us.
