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Does anyone live in a home with a Cold War era bomb shelter?

Posted on 08/21/2009 8:29:21 AM PDT by Nikas777

I would like to ask if any Freeper lives in a home with a Cold War era bomb shelter?

If so, what is it used for now? Still an emergency shelter or just for storage?

The reason I ask is I live in Queens, NY and growing up in the 80s and 90s I still saw what I assume were Cold War era early warning sirens - painted Green and buildings with the fall out shelter radiation sign.

I visited some of these areas recently and the apartment building that had that used to have that fall out shelter sign no longer displayed it.

I thank you in advance for your time in any response I get.

PS: If you did live in a home with such a fall out shelter I would love to hear a brief recollection of your memory of it. Also welcomed are those that have built or are building a modern survival shelter. How are you building it? Home made? Pre-fabricated? Costs, etc.


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: coldwar
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To: SoCal Pubbie
You bring up a point. Nowadays everyone talks of a nuclear exchange as envisioned during the Cold War as wiping all life away in an instant.

The reality is that those drills could have saved lots of lives just a few miles from a blast site.

21 posted on 08/21/2009 9:05:37 AM PDT by Nikas777 (En touto nika, "In this, be victorious")
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To: Nikas777

ping


22 posted on 08/21/2009 9:06:56 AM PDT by VaRepublican (I would propagate taglines but I don't know how.)
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To: kellynla
Remember the Duck and Cover Drills at school?


23 posted on 08/21/2009 9:07:20 AM PDT by tapatio
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To: Nikas777

WA
House built in ‘63

I’ve been here much longer than indicated on my profile.

Ask whatever.
Pay no attention to the critics.


24 posted on 08/21/2009 9:10:22 AM PDT by G Larry ( Obamacare=Dying in Line!)
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To: ETL
To be honest. I don't fear a nuclear exchange with Russia as much as I do a nuclear jihadi or crazy North Korean attack.

The Russians are rational - the jihadis and North Koreans are kook burgers.

25 posted on 08/21/2009 9:11:00 AM PDT by Nikas777 (En touto nika, "In this, be victorious")
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To: G Larry
That is amazing to me that it is a 60s house since I assumed this was a 50s only phenomenon.

I am shocked that my request solicited a critical remark - I thank you for your reply.

Even though it is not my era I am very tuned into the America of the past and want to know as much about it as possible.

26 posted on 08/21/2009 9:14:22 AM PDT by Nikas777 (En touto nika, "In this, be victorious")
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To: tapatio

“Remember the Duck and Cover Drills at school?”

Yep...one of brothers was named “Bert” too! LOL


27 posted on 08/21/2009 9:14:41 AM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: Nikas777
Does this count?

http://www.missilebases.com/properties

"20th Century Castles, LLC offers several decommissioned missile base properties. We have sold 47 of these sites as of January 2009 and we are proud to offer these below. If you are interested in learning more, we offer site-specific video tours of most of the properties we offer. A video tour is worth 10,000 words and are a prerequisite to an onsite inspection."

28 posted on 08/21/2009 9:22:05 AM PDT by bt_dooftlook (John Adams: Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate)
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To: bt_dooftlook
You can buy a missile base now?!!

Awesome.

29 posted on 08/21/2009 9:23:51 AM PDT by Nikas777 (En touto nika, "In this, be victorious")
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To: kellynla
Sometimes we'd have to get under desks until someone decided it'd be safer just curling up in the hallway. Hey, you wouldn't want to get glass shards from the windows before you were fried. I remember there were several homemade shelters in backyards when I'd walk to school. I'd love to have one now days. I'd even enjoy living in one of those abandoned military silo contraptions.
30 posted on 08/21/2009 9:26:17 AM PDT by bgill (The evidence simply does not support the official position of the Obama administration)
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To: bgill
l. I'd love to have one now days. I'd even enjoy living in one of those abandoned military silo contraptions.

Ditto!

Thanks for responding with your recollections.

31 posted on 08/21/2009 9:27:48 AM PDT by Nikas777 (En touto nika, "In this, be victorious")
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To: Nikas777

My Grandpa built a shelter on his property with hidden air intake, toilet, pantry; large enough for our combined families to stay for the projected “2 weeks” of nuclear fallout after a blast. Plus shotgun to keep intruders out.
By the mid-60’s it had become just a large underground pantry.
Considering he was ~60 miles from an air force base in California, I think it was a very good thing to have.


32 posted on 08/21/2009 9:29:17 AM PDT by jasmine47 (All you have to decide, is what to do with the time that is given to you. (Gandalf))
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To: Nikas777

This shelter may interest you.

http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz175/castlebravo007/BombShelter.jpg?t=1250871110


33 posted on 08/21/2009 9:30:28 AM PDT by MCCC
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To: jasmine47

I find it amazing how handy that generation was - they could build anything by hand back then it seems.


34 posted on 08/21/2009 9:33:16 AM PDT by Nikas777 (En touto nika, "In this, be victorious")
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To: MCCC

That looks like the Penthouse suite of shelters!


35 posted on 08/21/2009 9:34:01 AM PDT by Nikas777 (En touto nika, "In this, be victorious")
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To: Nikas777

In 1981 I inspected the last rations of the Cold War Nuclear bomb shelters in the Knoxville, Tennessee, area. The crackers were rotten, the water unpalatable and contaminated and the storage amenities were unusable. The inventories were kept by the Tenn Air Guard at McGee Tyson and spread in several shelters in the Knoxville area.


36 posted on 08/21/2009 9:37:55 AM PDT by vetvetdoug
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To: Nikas777
What's the "Cold War"?

What is a "bomb shelter"?

Why would I tell you anything like that noob?

37 posted on 08/21/2009 9:39:28 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Nemo me impune lacessit The law will be followed, dammit!)
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To: vetvetdoug
Thank you for that amazing insight.

On youtube there is a govt film about living in a fall out shelter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_Zgyp4HgNU

Were the items in the video similar to what you saw?

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I find this stuff fascinating.

38 posted on 08/21/2009 9:42:00 AM PDT by Nikas777 (En touto nika, "In this, be victorious")
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To: Nikas777

We owned a place here in central Indiana that had a small reinforced concrete shelter underground below an outbuilding. It may have been for tornados also because the house didn’t have a basement. Not really sure about the details because the original owners were dead by the time we bought it.
It was damp in the driest of times and full of water in the spring. I had it filled in when we razed the outbuilding to build a new one.


39 posted on 08/21/2009 9:42:02 AM PDT by nascarnation
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To: mad_as_he$$
Are you insane or just an elitist? Or just joking around? I can't tell being a noob and all.

Did I sit at the wrong table in the Junior High School lunch table or something?

40 posted on 08/21/2009 9:43:20 AM PDT by Nikas777 (En touto nika, "In this, be victorious")
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