CONELRAD: GROUND ZERO | Rest Stop for the Atomic Tourist

Ground Zero, Times Square 1955, Operation Alert

Five Star Fallout Shelter or the Graceland of Atomic Tourism

PART I:

PART II:

PART III:

AUTHENTICATE! Special correspondent Liz Coffey reports.

RELATED LINKS

TITAN II MEMORIES: Curtis Samson's Atomic Testimony

: LIFE Magazine's 1959 Fallout Shelter Couple Tell Their Tale

Lost and Found "Atomica" from the CONELRAD Collection

LISTEN to a NEW SELECTION of ATOMIC PLATTERS via Internet radio and READ the broadcast track listing.
[Broadcast hosted by live365.com]

Come over to our house and see our vacation slides!

Atomic tourist attractions, radioactive and otherwise, can be found all over the world, but here in the U.S. the landscape is literally pocked with them. Indeed, if John Q. Public was atomically inclined, he could load up the SUV and take the family on a two-month summer vacation and STILL not see everything that's out there. CONELRAD, through links and our own first person accounts, will attempt to cover all your sightseeing needs. The following article about the decommissioned government fallout shelter underneath the Greenbrier Hotel is our inaugural travelogue.

AUTHENTICATE! THE TITAN MISSILE MUSEUM TOUR

Looking down at the Titan II...

When it comes to Arizona tourism, most people assume that once you've seen the Grand Canyon you can write the state off. But then most people probably aren't aware that there is another hole in the ground that is equally deserving of your time: The Titan Missile Museum in Sahuarita, AZ. Special CONELRAD Atomic Tourism correspondent Liz Coffey filed the following report after a private tour of the facility in December 2003.

THE GREENBRIER: FIVE STAR FALLOUT SHELTER

In the summer of 1992 the Washington Post revealed the existence the immense government shelter you are about to read about. The nation yawned. Assemble at the Bunker office The Cold War had been over for about a year and America was on to new diversions. Thus the news of this ridiculous and fascinating tax sinkhole left over from the fifties took a back seat to L.A. riots and a cantankerous Texas billionaire. Anxious Atomic tourists would have to cool their heels for a few years before the Greenbrier Hotel management bowed to nascent Cold War nostalgia and opened their blast doors to the public. (The bunker is also available for group events and "unique theme parties.") But as anyone who has taken the tour will tell you, it was well worth the wait.