Hidden Cities: Travels to the Secret Corners of the World's Great Metropolises: a Memoir of Urban Exploration

by Moses Gates

In this fascinating glimpse into the world of urban exploration, Moses Gates describes his trespasses in some of the most illustrious cities in the world from Paris to Cairo to Moscow. Gates is a new breed of adventurer for the 21st century. He thrives on the thrill of seeing what others do not see, let alone even know exists. It all began quite innocuously. After moving to New York City to pursue graduate studies in Urban Planning, he began unearthing hidden facets of the city—abandoned structures, disused subway stops, incredible rooftop views that belonged to cordoned-off buildings. At first it was about satiating a niggling curiosity; yet the more he experienced and saw, the more his thirst for adventure grew, eventually leading him across five continents. In this memoir of his experiences, Gates details his trespasses through underground canals, sewers, subways, crypts, through cities spanning four continents.

In this finely-written book, Gates describes his immersion in the worldwide subculture of Urban Exploring; how he joined a world of people who create secret art galleries in subway tunnels, break into national monuments for fun, and travel the globe sleeping in centuries-old catacombs and abandoned Soviet relics rather than hotels or bed-and-breakfasts. They push each other further and further—visiting the hidden side of a dozen countries, discovering ancient underground Roman ruins, scaling the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg bridges, partying with mole people, sneaking into Stonehenge, and even finding themselves under arrest on top of Notre Dame Cathedral.   

Ultimately, Gates contemplates why he and other urban explorers are so instinctively drawn to these unknown and sometimes forbidden places—even (and for some, especially) when the stakes are high. Hidden Cities will inspire readers to contemplate the potential for urban exploration available for anyone, anywhere—if they have only the curiosity (and nerve!) to dig below the surface to discover the hidden corners of this world.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Memoir, Adventure, History, Biography, Travelogue

368 pages, Paperback

First published March 21, 2013

Reviews

[Oriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are two semi-related parts to this review. My thoughts on the book itself are first, and then about halfway down you'll find a screed about the whimsical nature of discoverability that I wrote shortly after Great God Amazon announced their purchase of GR. So.

Part the 1st: My review of Hidden Cities
If you read the second part below, you'll find that I know Moses Gates, at least glancingly. He seems like a really smart & interesting guy—he's an urban planner, NYC tour guide, and devotee of the underground (literally). So this book is his "urbex" memoir (that's what the kids call it; it means "urban exploration"), i.e., his account of prowling around subway tunnels, climbing bridges, busting into abandoned power stations, and doing all manner of other fascinating illegal shit in a dozen cities on several continents.

Cool, right? But look: writing a book like this is tough. You have to find a way to do more than brag and swing your dick around and talk about how fucking cool you are for breaking all the rules and doing so much death- and law-defying shit.

This is the second urbex memoir I've read recently, and the two authors handled this very differently. The other one ( Explore Everything ), which, I will admit here (I was paid to read it so didn't mention anything bad when I reviewed it), was not that great; he interspersed a serious amount of self-aggrandizement with very esoteric, abstruse philosophical musings about urban exploration vis-á-vis the modern and postmodern condition. Moses Gates does a better job: he augments his braggery with urban history and a lot of fascinating minutia about many of the places he's gone—Parisian catacombs, Russian sewers, Ukrainian drainage tunnels, NYC bridges, Tunisian rooftops, etc.

And look, of course it's super fucking impressive to hear about this kind of daring exploration—the secret graffiti murals, the different ways to pop a manhole cover open, how easy it is to sneak into Stonehenge at night, what happens when you get stopped by the cops in Paris on top of the Notre Dame cathedral, what it's like to have sex on top of the Williamsburg Bridge, what to do when you find a swastika carved into the wall of a buried bunker in the Ukraine, and on and on. He has interesting things to say about the artificiality of boundaries, the loss of public and uncontrolled space, how once you've taken your first step past the DO NOT ENTER sign, it's pretty tough to ever go back to blindly obeying the rules.

But ultimately, even when he tries to be self-deprecating, it all just kept coming back to dick swinging. There's just so much macho posturing, so much white male privilege. I know that not everything has to be political or replete with extensive social commentary, and I guess it wasn't within the scope of this book to discuss what would have happened if he'd been caught trespassing and was black, or a woman in a burqa. But it would have been nice to see a bit of acknowledgment that urban exploration is a fun game that only some people are really allowed to play.


Part the 2nd: Why Amazon is a goddamn moron
I recently joked in another review about how I was going to go ahead and solve the whole "discoverability" question—who buys which books when and why—for Great God Amazon, so that they could then un-buy Goodreads and leave us all alone with what innocence we still retain. And with that book, the problem did seem solvable: I read a great review by a great writer on a great site, and so clearly I wanted the book. Easy-peasy.

But let me tell you about this one, my dear bookfriends (and also Amazon Overlords). This will maybe disprove my point (that discoverability is mappable) so thoroughly that it winds up reinforcing my other, implied point: Amazon should un-buy Goodreads. In this case it's because discoverability is so insanely convoluted that even if Amazon buys the whole goddamn English language, this shit will never be predictable with even an iota of accuracy.

So here's the story: I used to be a freelance editor, and then I got a job where my boss likes me to work roughly 93 1/2 hours a week, so I mostly stopped. But a handful of my old editing clients still check in sometimes, and I do want to keep that door open, so sometimes I say yes.

The last one I did was for Verso, and it was this book, which is about a group of urban explorers in the UK sneaking into and photographing abandoned buildings and disused subway stations and giant under-construction skyscrapers, written first as Bradley's PhD thesis relating urban exploration to the modern and postmodern condition, and our relationships to space and time, and our ownership or lack thereof of our public places and our private place in the world. It was pretty great.

Then I turned in the project and forgot all about it.

A few months later I got an email from this incredibly cool NY art person I know through my website about crazy underground Brooklyn. He's always doing wacky things like curating exhibits of GIFs from Geocities or microwaving light bulbs or traveling to places like Myanmar to take bonkers photos. And in the email he mentioned a project he'd done where he gave away a framed drawing of the word "concision" to the first person to write a 5,000-word essay on the subject of concision, and the person who won is a friend of his named Moses Gates, whom I remembered having been mentioned in the book about urban exploration in the UK.

And so I looked him up. And it turns out that he wrote this book. And now I want to read it.

And Big Brother Amazon? You would never ever ever ever have been able to guess that.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moses Gates the author of Hidden Cities does things I would like to do if heights didn't make my stomach go whoa! He and his various friends climb to the tops of bridges, walk subway tracks, and plumb sewers ancient and modern.

The book begins with Moses and two of his friends on top of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. They have managed to climb up there unobserved and hope to depart the same way at least until Moses accidentally strikes the bell.

Moses is a New York City Tour guide who loves to explore the off limits areas of cities. He travels around the world to take on these adventures. He is also a graduate student getting his Master's Degree in Urban Planning. He meets a number of like minded adventurers from around the world and his exploits land him in the hands of the police both in Moscow and Paris.

He also shares some of his personal life with readers. For example, making love on top of a bridge to his girlfriend Sara, a visit to his cousin in Poland who survived the Holocaust, and the stress of being a New York Tour guide.

A very interesting read for an armchair adventurer like me.

[xDEAD ENDx · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shoddy and repetitive writing. Urban exploration can't be put down on paper without the writer coming off as a braggart. And I really don't care to read about the deviations from the exploration, which seem to center around disrespectful romantic trysts and how bad he has to shit while riding in a 4x4 next to a woman (oh the horror!).

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a particular type of human, the kind that, as a child, would lift up big rocks and get a sense of wonder at all the critters that inhabit their own ecosystem hidden from our sight. These types of people get to adolescence and do things like skip school so they can climb through a broken window or a hole in a wall so they can hang out all day with their friends in an abandoned building, smoking cigarettes and telling dirty jokes. Maybe they go on to exploring abandoned tunnels or climbing up scaffolding on construction sites. Motivated by an undying sense of curiosity,
foolhardiness, thrill seeking, and a desire for hidden or forbidden knowledge, these explorers may carry these practices into adulthood, making their urban exploration into an eccentric hobby. Now think about how the introduction of the internet changed the way people socialize. These urban explorers used the worldwide web to reach out to each other, find partners for exploratory travels, exchange tips on safety and locations, and anything else that might be relevant to their lifestyle. This is where Moses Gates comes in; his book Hidden Cities documents the urban excavations he goes on, the cultural scene of urban exploration, and other odds and ends in his world travels.

Moses Gates is an interesting character. He got his post-graduate degree in urban development, something that sparked his interest as he explored the more obscure and remote parts of his adopted hometown of New York City. He approaches the subject matter with a degree of intellectualism. For him, urban exploration is as much an educational experience as it is one of adventure and aesthetic indulgence. Gates usually has some knowledge about the history and architectural designs of the places he visits. This kind of intellectualism might put off some readers who just want to read about the adventure, but for the rest of us it adds another dimension to these excursions, putting these hidden places into context, and detailing how they are living and breathing parts of a functional city-scape. Probably his greatest insight though is that most of these places are blocked off with signs that warn of danger or penalties for entering them illegally. For Gates, these signs are invitations rather than barriers and he extends this thought to say that many people are hemmed in by barriers that do not actually exist. For him, urban exploration is a liberating activity, one that transgresses established rules and frees his mind so that he can always be open to new possibilities. Having said that, Gates does not explore this theme of transgression to any great length in the rest of the book.

Most of the places Gates explores are in New York. There are hidden sections of skyscrapers, abandoned buildings, and subway tunnels, some of which are abandoned and used as galleries for graffiti artists and living spaces for homeless people. His knowledge of New York’s architecture and urban design are interesting as are his appreciation for street art and his friendships with the so-called Mole People, those who use the subway tunnels as their home. His advocacy for the marginalized is well in line with his attitude toward crossing boundaries. He also climbs some of New York’s bridges. His descriptive writing is adequate, but it isn’t great. He gives just enough information to give a sense of what it feels like to stand, illegally, on top of a city bridge evoking giddiness and butterflies in your stomach. But this descriptiveness is limited to the first few places he visits. After describing a couple bridge climbs, he doesn’t go through the bother of writing so much in later chapters, merely mentioning that he did it. This is a big weakness in this book.

Other interesting places he goes are in Paris, Russia, and Ukraine. Paris is especially exciting as he goes on multi-day explorations of the catacombs, sewers, and aqueducts that run under the whole city. He also has an interesting chapter about getting arrested while climbing the bell tower of Notre Dame and being dumb enough to ring the bell in the middle of the night. Underground travels in Moscow and Kiev are similar and interesting for similar reasons. Again, his mixture of historical knowledge and aesthetic awe make these passages good. The other places he visits in Europe, North Africa, and Latin America are less than spectacular in their descriptions.

Another facet of this book that is interesting, but also underdeveloped, is the culture of urban explorers. Gates’s main travel companion is a photographer named Steve who drinks and smokes heavily and is prone to injury. The others are people he meets online, a cast of characters that includes artists, drop outs, permanent globe trekkers, drifters, wanderers, druggies, secretive tour guides who survive by leading urban exploration tours, and those who like to have sex in unusual places like the top of the Brooklyn Bridge. This isn’t a sociological study of this subculture and Gates doesn’t go into much detail about it Doing so might have made the narrative a bit more complete.

The rest of the book is just “stuff” and by that I mean travel experiences that might have been exciting but aren’t described well and sometimes feel irrelevant to what the book is intended to be about. A good case in point is a passage where Gates describes how much he is suffering because he has to take a dump on a very long drive to La Paz, Bolivia. This part isn’t just irrelevant and uninteresting, but it also sticks out in a sad way because he waxes more poetically about this situation than he does about anything else he writes about.

Hidden Cities is the kind of book you only read once. Moses Gates writes in a way that brings everything to the surface so that there is no question about what he intends to say. There isn’t much room for interpretation. It’s got some interesting ideas and Gates does a good job of making urban exploration look appealing, but the weaker parts drag it down overall and neutralize any merits the book might otherwise have. I can’t say Hidden Cities is bad, but like a magazine article, it’s ephemeral and certainly not destined to be a classic.

[Kyle Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anybody who’s ever wondered what lies beyond the ‘do not go past this point’ sign at the end of the subway station or imagined climbing up monuments ranging from the bell towers of Notre Dame to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge, Moses Gates and his band of “urban explorers” do the dirty work on your behalf in the new book ‘Hidden Cities’.

‘Hidden Cities’ is a first-person memoir/travelogue exploring the culture of the loosely-connected network of urban adventurers. Urban exploration has gained steam in recent years as a number of self-described “modern day Indiana Joneses’” attempt to travel past the no trespassing signs in the world’s cities to explore the heights and depths invisible to everyday travelers (and occasionally post pictures of said locations on the internet). Gates is at his best when he’s steering clear of the ‘memoir’ elements of the book and focusing on what is clearly a passion of his: investigating the secret locations within cities hiding right under our nose. Additionally, it’s clear that his interest in these locations is correlated at least in part to his keen interest in the history of the city and in his ideas about how cities grow and evolve. A highlight of the book is that each location visited is accompanied by a number of interesting asides as to how it came to be, and oftentimes, what led to its abandonment. Gates’ experience as an NYC tour bus tour guide and an urban planner for the city seem to prepare him well to share his knowledge with us readers.

Gates portrays himself as the reluctant follower during his group trips to these urban locations, which allows him to highlight the talents of his co-adventurers. One explorer in particular who spent time traveling with Gates that fascinated me was Miru Kim, who used the urban environments of NYC, Detroit, Turkey, and France for an artwork series entitled “Naked City Spleen.” As the title implies, when you find the series online, the pictures are not quite SFW, but they’re stunning. Another of Gates’ co-adventurers is Steve Duncan, who’s youtube video, “Undercity” is must-see TV. I’ll note, however, especially in the portions of the book involving Duncan, that there’s a fine line between writing a story that will appeal to guys and writing one that makes you come off as the annoying male subspecies known as the ‘bro.’ For the most part, Gates is able to exist in the former camp, but occasionally, there’s a whiskey-fueled misadventure or high-fiving random hookup that makes you raise one eyebrow and sarcastically mutter to yourself, ‘cool story, bro.’

I would recommend this book more highly for folks that live in either New York City or Paris given that so much of the book revolves around current and former landmarks around these cities. As a current NYC resident, the book led me to do some research on the Old Croton Aqueduct and the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower and I came up with some good facts for next time we have visitors to town. There are also lots of great little tidbits from the history of NYC’s urban exploration, including something called The Underbelly Project, where a number of urban artists secretly added what amounted to a high-end graffiti art gallery in an abandoned section of the NYC subway system.

In terms of criticisms, I didn’t feel a particularly strong narrative tether between the stories. Each chapter reads a bit like a self-contained blog post, which led to a bit of redundancy and/or choppiness in the topics from chapter to chapter and also deprived me of much of a narrative climax. Additionally, the book raises a broader question about the ethical grounds for trespassing into areas where you aren’t formally invited, and through writing this book, tacitly encouraging people to engage in similar adventures. What is the appropriate level of oversight when it comes to these areas? In some respects, I agree with Gates that if an area isn’t being actively protected that there’s no harm in allowing people to explore it, however, I don’t feel like the city’s policy should be carte blanche permission to hop onto subway tracks and climb around abandoned skyscraper observation decks and I’m pretty sure it’s not a good idea to just let anybody climb up a bridge and have sex on it (…this comment in relation to a ‘memoir’ portion of the book I could have done without).

Overall, though, this book is a solid introduction to the world of urban exploration and also an interesting read for the history buff looking for a new lesson via a mildly illegal tour of the city.

[Kathleen Fowler · Rating 2 out of 5]

My passion for armchair urban exploration was kindled years ago by images I found online of abandoned subway stations, crumbling mental hospitals, disused power stations, and parts of the Parisian catacombs closed to the public. Then I read the wonderful Access All Areas by the late, great Ninjalicious, which further fanned the flames. Despite the fact that Access All Areas is basically a handbook on how to gain illegal access to sites off limits to the public, it was written with a healthy respect for the dangers inherent in accessing these sites, and with the understanding that a spirit of community and restraint would inform the behavior of those who chose to do so. I got the idea from this book that most urban explorers were a noble lot, sort of like archeologists, who would do their utmost to avoid damaging any site they visited so as to preserve it for other urban explorers. You know, a sort of “Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints” credo.

Moses Gates and his exploring buddies are the polar opposites of such an approach. They generally make an already dangerous undertaking much more so by drinking copious amounts of alcohol beforehand. They set up reckless competitions like challenging others to have sex at the highest points of famous bridges. They use fragile artifacts like gargoyles as climbing aids and props for selfie shots. In other words, rather than engaging in this activity out of an interest in history, architecture or even simple curiosity, it is for them an opportunity to show off and cheat death. It is just another extreme sport, and the pictures they take, rather than being souvenirs, are more like trophies. Frankly, it’s surprising that no one died during any of the reckless escapades described here.

Much as I wanted to enjoy Gates’ account of his urban exploration adventures, I was so put off by his narcissism and party animal persona that I could not. Besides, the majority of the book is devoted to Gates himself, with considerably less time devoted to urban exploration, the alleged subject of the book. If you want to get up close and personal with Moses Gates, by all means buy this book.

[Laura]

Can't finish this one. The historian and former museum employee in me cringes at the thought of possible damage to historic landmarks by trespassers such as the author and his friends. The mom in me wonders about who will clean up the mess the time it doesn't work out so well and you touch the third rail or the manhole cover comes down on your fingers. I hope at some point in the book he addresses the fact that a middle class white man can get away with a lot of escapades that many other folks could not. I hadn't read any detailed reviews and was expecting more of an urban history book.

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started out strong and had some fun bits, but it sort of fell apart with all of the chest beating and burning man type shit. Sooo cool bro you wore some women's clothes, had sex on a bridge, and attended the most secret parties in sewers. The bragging and dick swinging got out of hand. There was even a bit where he called out someone else for too much bragging... then continued it himself. All of this took away from what could have been a neat book.

[Judith Seid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the book in two nights because I just couldn't put it down. It was engaging, poignant and funny. In fact, I laughed so hard I scared the dog.

[Brett Stevens · Rating 1 out of 5]

As usual, any group of people involved in an activity are nearly mute, so they find some poor sod to write a book on it and then champion it as an important signpost of the significance of their activity. "See, we matter! There's even a book on the topic!" But this is not the book to read. It is twenty pages of useful information awash in a sea of personal drama, excretory obsession, sexual angst, political innuendo, and NPR-style social commentary that has been debunked in the intervening years. A good editor would whittle this down to a pamphlet and then ask for more of the really interesting details; in addition, an attempt to "white hat" urbex by not revealing tools of the trade just makes this narrative vague and disconnected. I guess you can never write anything wholly true for pay.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to start by being honest. As a relatively sheltered suburban girl, I had no idea urban exploration was a thing that even happens. It rarely if ever crosses my mind to go find an abandoned building or out-of-the-way storm drain to investigate. Moses Gates makes it sound really appealing, though. This is a memoir about exploring the city around you, whatever city that happens to be. It had way more depth to it than I expected. It turns out that the climbing of huge bridges has a life lesson for everyone. It was also interesting to see some of the contrast of pre- and post-9/11 security measures in New York, where the author lives, and how that compares to the rest of the world. On a side note, I have added Paris to the list of places I have to visit.

[Debra Lowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first heard about this book as an NPR feature. The author is very engaging and Hidden Cities is his personal memoir of urban exploration, mostly done at the expense of the law. Locked gates-not a problem. Deterrent signage-they didn't mean Gates.

I wouldn't use this one as a travel guide, you won't find enough consistent information here to help you out. The book might have been a lot shorter, really. After a bit, I found myself skimming.

He does provide a short bibliography of books in case you would like to read more about the places Gates explored, however.

Hidden Cities is a quick, quirky romp for those that enjoy finding the non-tourist side of their intended destination, but definitely not essential reading.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hidden Cities suffers somewhat from self-indulgent man-child syndrome, but its finer moments made me laugh out loud and think about the role of cities--and the explorers of cities--in human history and society. I love the idea of urban exploration, and admire the rebels who ignore 'keep out' signs in favor of seeing something outside the realm of the ordinary. But at times Gates comes across as immature and selfish. Despite that, I found myself daydreaming about abandoned subway stations and secret rooms at the tops of bridges.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My work allows me to see things that are not generally available to the public. Mo takes us to places that you must break the rules to see, as well as a good dose of fearlessness. Reading it, I wanted to have the stamina and chutzpah to do the same things knowing that just was never going to happen. So many disappearing worlds - from the wilderness to the hidden urban landscape. An entertaining chronicle.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have given this book four stars, but the author's sort of "bro-ish" attitude towards women was a turnoff. Parts of the book feel like a bunch of frat boys doing "Jackass" type stunts for the hell of it, which is boring. But when the author is able to step away from that and give us a glimpse into the undergrounds of some of the world's largest cities...well,*that's* compelling.

[William Yip · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title was a little misleading as the author wrote about his various adventures and escapades though many of them did relate to urban exploration. I would have liked more descriptions of the places he explored in. It's amazing he survived and didn't experience any major injuries considering he climbed scaffolds and walked in subway tunnels while drunk which is incredibly reckless.

That said, he did have interesting and entertaining stories though I could have done without his retelling of bowel issues he experienced during a bus trip. He wrote in an easy-to-read style. It was nice to read how he met so many different people from all across the world and saw many incredible views in all these different countries when he had trouble walking past a "Do not enter" sign before he dived into UE.

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about this subject is much needed where it is dominated by troves of photos. Always want to hear more of the places explored. The author no doubt has traveled to more places around the world to explore than I can imagine most could afford so there is plenty of content and makes for a unexpected travel-style book. Though the content didn't' stop it did start to drag a bit. I liked his relationship with his partner explorer, getting into the psychology of the trips and even the male bonding psychology. Could have easily removed anything regarding his other relationships, it had no reason to be in here.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the premise of this book really appealed to me, the actual execution let it down terribly. It read like a frat boy diary. There was even an actual journal entry from an ex-girlfriend about how great it was to have sex with the author on the top of a bridge. Far from exciting my interest in urban exploration, it all just made me feel gross. And guy, there's nothing 'cool' about getting a massive infection from wading through raw sewage. Just...eww.

[Christophe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. I am both jealous and in awe. If only he would write more.

[Bette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing and story telling was engaging. Compelling description of thrilling urban adventures that I have no interest in doing! Catacombs, subway tunnels, cathedral spires, bridge towers

[Beth Oehler]

Not my cup of tea. I love exploring cities but this approach didn’t inspire me personally.

[Noelle Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved it but -1 star for the vivid, multiple-page description of the author's bowel movements

[Vizma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read but also glorifies trespassing. Could have done without the chapter about needing to poop while in a foreign country.

[Mike Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh, jumps around too much and boring.

[Alan Bates · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hidden Cities: A Memoir of Urban Exploration is a chronicle by Moses Gates of his and his friends explorations into places where he is not supposed to go like the catacombs of Paris, the subway systems of New York City and London as well as climbing various bridges and buildings and sewer systems the world over. No trespassing signs just seem to attract him. It turns out that there is a huge subculture of urban explorationist’s that love to to do these things. For example I think that I am the only guy in Tulsa that hasn’t sneaked into the Tulsa Club for a look see. I went very shallow into Tulsa huge storm sewer system to find a geocache once but I haven’t ventured into the Elm Creek Tunnel to find it’s geocache. Supposedly it would require five miles of walking through the storm drain. I’m not doing that!!

Speaking of Elm Creek Tunnel, which drains into the Arkansas River. It seems to be hot on the list for Tulsa area urban explorers and You Tube has lots of videos of parties that have gone on. They look absolutely miserable to me. But I would go!! I wouldn’t stay long though. I did go into it a few feet to take a pic though.

I’m too much of a rule follower plus kind of a chicken. In my geocaching I get to talk to enough security guards without having to explain why I am in a building where I don’t belong. I do feel free though when a door is left open and there is no signage to go check things out if I feel interested.

Back to the book, it is a good read although a bit scattered. It kind of convinced me that I would not be a good urban explorer but I am fascinated by people who have to venture over the ropes and beyond the no trespassing sign.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author is an engaging speaker and I bought the book after hearing on an NPR interview. The book is accurately sub-titled "a Memoir" and is about his personal experiences and inner thoughts and emotions about urban exploring. He was a professional NYC travel guide, but you won't find the facts or historical background that a travel guide or travelog would normally provide. He well brings the excitement and compulsion of urban exploring to the page but I was looking for more than emotions. He is reasonably informative about the exploration sites in NYC and Paris but hits the nadir of information in Naples. We can get two pages of looking for a bathroom in LaPaz but if you looking for more than a line or two of information about the aqueducts or ancient pedestrian tunnels in Naples, you are out of luck. Just a paragraph about how long, when built, or who use them would have been very welcome. This is true for most of the rest of locations visited in the book.

He does provide a short bibliography of books at the end of the book that may provide the pictures, facts, and historical background that I wanted. This memoir of compulsive love of exploring is good but the physical, urban structures are what is truly fascinating to me and this work never does more than touch the surface of them.

[Armand · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an awesome, touching book. It explores the hidden infrastructure of various cities, but it really grabs the reader on an emotional level because it is very deep and introspective. Sample paragraph:
"Some cities are shallow, some are deep. It's not a value judgement and it doesn't have much of a bearing on how much I like a town. But it's there. Paris is a shallow city. Despite not knowing French and having spent only a few weeks there, I can tell you I know Paris. Maybe not all the nooks and crannies, not all the shortcuts, but I know the city. New York is different. It's deep, but in a very different way from how a city like Naples is deep. New York is almost defined by its transience. This is especially true of Manhattan. Even before colonization it was transient: the local Lenape Indians would set up shop in the summer, do some hunting, and then leave for the winter. More than any other city I know of, knowing New York is a choice:it's all there if you want to put in the work, but it's going to be a heck of a lot of work. And the work never ends. New York changes so fast that you're constantly playing catch-up. Because of this, it's actually the newcomer who knows the city best at any given moment; old-timers are always looking at it from the distorted lens of a city thst'd no longer there." - page 138

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book that reads like a cross between the adventures of Indiana Jones and the writings of Jean-Paul Sartre. Gates’s memoir operates on several levels. There is his clear passion for all that is great about cities, with each being a unique expression of the populations’ collective sentiments and culture. Then, there is the physical expression of a city’s status; those edifices that are part of all great cities that Gates wants to expose in his own very unique way. This includes climbing up the towers of Notre Dame in Paris; scaling the church of Saint John Lateran in Rome; navigating the sewers of Paris, Moscow and New York; and climbing bridges in virtually every city he visits. While anyone reading this book will question his sanity, there is a thoughtful and purposeful introspection on the meaning of his pursuits that is very authentic. This was the best aspect of the book for me, because it shows that his exploits, however imprudent, were based on a curiosity and passion that is genuine.

[Brady Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a common feeling: You’re walking through a city at night, doing something banal, thinking you might like to be doing something cooler. And then you think that somewhere, probably not too far from you, a bunch of people are having a really amazing time, and you know that if you only knew what it was and where to go you’d be welcome. But you don’t know. You don’t know even know what that amazing something is, but in a city there’s always something.

Get ready to feel that way on a whole new level when reading Moses Gates’ Hidden Cities, a memoir of ignoring “Employees Only” and “Do Not Enter” signs, from New York to Moscow to São Paulo.

The book gives you Gates’ personal history of trespassing, from when he started doing it as a way of exploring New York City to the point in his mid-30s when he decided he had gotten a bit too old for (so much) tomfoolery. ...
Here's the rest of my review, on NextCity.org

[Whitney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never LOVE memoirs because I get frustrated when they don't follow a nice storyline, but that's real life and I need to get over it. I enjoyed reading about Gates' adventures in and under cities all over the world, and I like how much he referenced the community aspect of urban exploring because I think that is what really makes this hobby meaningful. I wish he had talked more about cities in the US so I could picture the scenarios better, but I can imagine that going terribly awry when people read this book and decide they want to join in. I have wanted to go tunneling and exploring for years but have never known where to start or who to contact. Even though I didn't get any answers that I needed from this book, it made me look harder at every manhole cover and locked door I passed; that, to me, is the sign of a good book.