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# Vegas Underground: A Destitute Community With Art
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/vegas-underground/
- Published: 2010-11-04T17:42:01.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:03:07.000Z
- Description: Underneath Las Vegas are 200 miles of flood tunnels that are also home to 1,000 people and an art gallery. According to the Daily Mail, “… the destitute and hopeless have constructed a community beneath the city and have even dedicated one section of tunnels to an art gallery filled with intricate g
- Author: Hrag Vartanian
- Tags: Opinion, #image-position-hidden, Graffiti, Las Vegas, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-11-17 09:23 (2009-2011)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/11/las-vegas-and-tunnels.jpg)

Graffiti under Vegas (image via dailymail.co.uk)

Underneath the city we know as Las Vegas are 200 miles of flood tunnels that are also home to 1,000 people who live in the shadows of the city of neon, casinos, and strip joints.

According to the [*Daily Mail*](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1326187/Las-Vegas-tunnel-people-How-1-000-people-live-shimmering-strip.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), there is an incredible artistic side to this community comprised mostly of people who have fallen into destitution after struggling with drink, drugs or mental health problems

> They show how the destitute and hopeless have constructed a community beneath the city and have even dedicated one section of tunnels to an art gallery filled with intricate graffiti.

Tell that to anyone who thinks art isn’t an essential part of the human experience and community. Sounds vastly more interesting than the [Underbelly Project](https://hyperallergic.com/underbelly-project-nyc/) we wrote about earlier this week since people who normally don’t have access to art are benefiting from it.

*Hat Tip* [*Soupsoup*](http://soupsoup.tumblr.com/post/1480219489/b5media-okay-wow-so-apparently-1-000-people?ref=hyperallergic.com)