Support NeoGAF

[Dalek]

Jack Nicholson and Other Celebs Had Tunnels From Their Homes to the Playboy Mansion

The Playboy staff found old photos and blueprints that showed a series of underground tunnels that went from surrounding celebrity homes directly to the Playboy Mansion. The plans reference the homes of “Mr. J. Nicholson,” “Mr. W. Beatty,” “Mr. K. Douglas” and “Mr. J. Caan,” where the secret passage ways led to and from Hugh Hefner's iconic home.

They’re definitely talking about Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Kirk Douglas and James Caan, who all lived near the Playboy Mansion during the late 1970s and early 1980s. A staff member said the tunnels were closed in 1989, around the same time Hugh Hefner married Playmate Kimberley Conrad. The general manager, the Mansion's staff, Hugh Hefner and none of the celebrities' reps would comment about the tunnels. Playboy is still searching for anyone who has any more information.

 

[Discotheque]

i guessed warren beatty before I clicked the thread.

not surprised at the other names too.

 

[Alcoholikaust]

Dont make that right turn at Albuquerque

 

[spindashing]

There's a joke about bunny holes here somewhere.

 

[RaGNaRoK 2k5]

Genius. Good job Jack.

 

[Tripon]

Easy access.

 

[Dan]

Did the city know about these tunnels?

 

[ahoyhoy]

Stupid Lie Day?

 

[Lucky Seven]

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

 

[FStop7]

Gonna call BS without some pics of the actual tunnels having been constructed.

 

[Borgnine]

Is March 31 the new April 1?

 

[Mutanthands]

Stupid Lie Day?

I vote for this. None of those guys would give a fuck about being seen coming and going from the Playboy Mansion.

 

[Slayven]

A lot of effort just to have pussy on tap.

 

[maquiladora]

Early April Fools. C'mon.

 

[ahoyhoy]

Is March 31 the new April 1?

Gotta keep putting out those Stupid Lies earlier and earlier because people have learned to not trust anything they hear on Stupid Lie Day proper.

Soon you'll start hearing "It's April 1st according to the Lunar Calendar!"

 

[Goro Majima]

Did the city know about these tunnels?

That's my skepticism here. I imagine building private tunnels is a paperwork nightmare even back then.

 

[Delta Assault]

I'm surprised they didn't run a train through there.

 

[Kinyou]

A lot of effort just to have pussy on tap.

But that's not even guaranteed. I mean, those are playmates, not prostitutes, right? Not sure if they're all just down to fuck. I feel like the playboy mansion is a little overrated.

 

[Sanjuro]

 

[perfectchaos007]

Why couldn't they just take the sidewalk?

 

[BodiesWithoutOrgans]

Dont make that right turn at Albuquerque

Brilliant

 

[Sheroking]

You know what I hate about April Fools Day (other than everything)? The fact that the fools who play "pranks" now think it's okay to make jokes long before April 1st.

 

[Tripon]

But that's not even guaranteed. I mean, those are playmates, not prostitutes, right? Not sure if they're all just down to fuck. I feel like the playboy mansion is a little overrated.

Its easy access to parties. And we're talking about the biggest stars of the 70s and 80s, I doubt they had to pay in order to entice somebody to sleep with them. Even if they were playmate models.

 

[FuuRe]

Honey i'm going to get something to drink from the kitchen, i'll be back in a couple hours

 

[Dalek]

Jesus Christ a whole parade of skeptics.

Playboy published the original article on March 30

http://www.playboy.com/articles/tunnels-to-celebrity-homes-playboy-mansion

here are some pictures of the tunnels:

One of our editors was in the office archives pulling photos for a feature set to run on Hugh Hefner’s birthday. He found some Polaroids from 1977 that showed a large excavation project at The Mansion. We asked the new general manager at The Mansion about these photos. He said, very matter-of-factly, “that’s probably when they built the tunnels in the 70s.”

Um, what?

When you work at Playboy, you hear a lot of stories. Some of them are true: The Playboy Mansion is, in fact, the only private residence in LA with a fireworks license and one of the few with a zookeeping permit. Some of them — such as whether there’s a secret room in the house that lets you see into the Grotto pool — we can’t verify because we’ve never actually seen that room in The Mansion. But we’d never heard anything about a tunnel.

These are the photos we found in the archive:

We decided to dig a little deeper and secured an invite to The Mansion to see if we could find out anything else. Staff led us to an unfinished basement area (rare in LA, given the earthquakes) and let us check out what can only be described as a treasure trove of old photos, plans and blueprints.

After an hour of giddy treasure hunting (you won’t believe some of the stuff down there), this caught our eye.

So, according this blueprint, tunnels were built to the homes of “Mr. J. Nicholson,” “Mr. W. Beatty,” “Mr. K. Douglas” and “Mr. J. Caan.” We’ll go ahead and assume they’re talking about Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Kirk Douglas and James Caan – all of whom lived near the Playboy Mansion during the late 1970s and early 1980s. There are no dates on the architectural schematics, but the dates on the Polaroids were from 1977.

This was the only other document that referenced the tunnels.

We asked if we could see the tunnels. A staff member said, off the record, “I heard they were closed up sometime in 1989.” Hugh Hefner married Playmate Kimberley Conrad in 1989. We went back to the general manager, and he said he couldn’t discuss it further.

We then asked The Mansion staff for more info about the celebrity tunnels, and we were told Mr. Hefner did not wish to comment. We reached out to reps for Nicholson, Caan, Douglas and Beatty, and they have not agreed to comment.

This is all the info we’ve been able to dig up. So we’re asking for help. If you were at The Playboy Mansion in the 1970s or 1980s, and you (or your dad or someone you know) saw or used one of these celebrity tunnels, please email us at editors@playboy.com.

 

[Fuzzery]

No Nicholson nodding gif? For shame gaf

 

[Borgnine]

Wow, I can't believe they actually built some tunnels 40 years ago just for an April fools joke.

 

[Dicer]

Why would you cover up a story about easy access sex tunnels?!?!!? It gives the Playboy mansion a different vibe. If anything, this shits right out of a James Bond movie or at least an Austin Powers one...

 

[Escape Goat]

The Vietcong infiltrated America.

 

[kirblar]

Why would you cover up a story about easy access sex tunnels?!?!!? It gives the Playboy mansion a different vibe. If anything, this shits right out of a James Bond movie or at least an Austin Powers one...

Because they were to private residences.

 

[NullPointer]

A lot of effort just to have pussy on tap.

So much of world history can be summed up with this.

 

[Delta Assault]

The Vietcong infiltrated America.

"Charlie... Charlie's in those tunnels!"

They were talking about Charlie Sheen.

 

[FStop7]

"Depth to San Andreas Fault near Sunset Blvd"

The San Andreas Fault is like 200 miles away from Los Angeles.

Come on.

OP are you seriously falling for this?

 

[Siegcram]

And the bullshit stories begin ...

 

[Calamari41]

Yeah... uh... you can't just do this. The city would have had to sign off on them and probably would have had to build them themselves. Unless someone comes forward with official municipal documents, this is complete BS.

 

[outunderthestars]

Yeah... uh... you can't just do this. The city would have had to sign off on them and probably would have had to build them themselves. Unless someone comes forward with official municipal documents, this is complete BS.

So much this.

 

[FStop7]

Yeah... uh... you can't just do this. The city would have had to sign off on them and probably would have had to build them themselves. Unless someone comes forward with official municipal documents, this is complete BS.

Can't wait for OP to either continue to double down or start pretending like he knew it was a joke all along.

 

[crooked spin]

PB logo: real or shopped?

 

[Mutanthands]

Can't wait for OP to either continue to double down or start pretending like he knew it was a joke all along.

It doesn't make sense. Jack Nicholson would walk in and out of the front door of the Playboy Mansion with that big ass smile on his face every day if he could in the 70s. He gave no fucks at all. Why would he need a tunnel? Warren Beatty needs to hide the fact that he's hitting on Playmates? In the 70's, when he was Horndog Maximus? No.

 

[Scirrocco]

Early April fools, maybe?

Although if it is 'real', planned and built are two different things. So just because there Re blue prints doesn't mean they exist.

 

[Calamari41]

Early April fools, maybe?

Although if it is 'real', planned and built are two different things. So just because there Re blue prints doesn't mean they exist.

They're claiming that the tunnels were built as well. The OP has another post a few up where there are polaroids of the tunnels being dug out.

 

[Corgi]

over the years, i still have little clue what the playboy mansion is. And I played that game.

Is it just a celeb mansion with many live in guests? Is it a whore house?

 

[Fury451]

Stupid Lie Day?

They were all well known/notorious playboys (well, Kirk is kind of news to me), so I'm with lie.

Why would they care being seen at the mansion?

 

[Dalek]

over the years, i still have little clue what the playboy mansion is. And I played that game.

Is it just a celeb mansion with many live in guests? Is it a whore house?

One of my favorite stories about the mansion was from Rob Lowe on a Howard Stern interview from last year:

Howard asked Rob about writing this book. Rob said that he wrote about going to the Playboy Mansion at 19 years old. He said that's something not everyone can experience. Howard asked why he didn't bang anyone at the mansion. Rob said he didn't say he never did. Howard said this is the one time he didn't. Rob said he was meant to meet a girl in the grotto. He said that back then it was great and not like it is today. He said he waited out there for the girl and she didn't show up. Rob said he was waiting for her naked. He said through the mist he made out a naked girl. He said this girl was prettier. He said he was talking to her and having a conversation with her. He said sometimes she'd make a noise like something was happening to her. He said he just played it off. Rob said he started looking around if there was an EMT nearby. He said they talked for a long time and then he saw a big ebony hand around her waist. He said that she was getting it on and he was behind her the whole time. He said the guy didn't even care. He said the guy looked at him and gave him the Wassup look.

 

[Beer Monkey]

Gentlemen prefer Polaroids.

 

[Kinyou]

Its easy access to parties. And we're talking about the biggest stars of the 70s and 80s, I doubt they had to pay in order to entice somebody to sleep with them. Even if they were playmate models.

True, there's that celeb bonus.

 

[Borgnine]

I remember some guy told a story on one of those TV specials about the Playboy mansion, like some old time celebrity like Jack Lemon or something. He was in his room and then asked the employee who showed him to his room when the girls were coming up. The employee laughed and then Jack Lemon went to sleep.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

Could swear I heard this story about certain celebs having tunnels to the Playboy Mansion a long, long time ago...

 

[Deadly Cyclone]

I'm surprised they didn't run a train through there.

 

[AlexMeloche]

Seems fake, pretty sure text on plans and blueprints was written all by hand during those years.