When Colleen and Chris Otcasek bought a new home in Woodland Hills, they had no idea that their new home held a pretty awesome secret. I mean, it had the usual features that you look for in a home; great kitchen large bedrooms, a huge backyard…With the except of their very own FALLOUT SHELTER!

The real estate agent told them that the lot had a pretty ‘unusual feature’ in the back yard; a large, concrete-lined hole. They were told that the hole used to lead to a fallout shelter from the Cold War Era, but in all honesty, no one had gone down there all this time.

One day, they were feeling brave, so they invited someone from the local radio station and went down the rusted ladder and found an old door at the bottom.

Inside they found a small fallout shelter, large enough for a family of four, full of everything you’d need to survive a nuclear attack. The bunker contained water, canned food, clothing, and medicine, as well as magazines and books. Everything was still pristine and vintage.

So wondering who’d be the type of person to build a fallout shelter in the middle of a valley outside of Los Angeles, so they did a little research and contacted the media. While building a fallout shelter during the cold war was a common practice, to find one like this one, it must have had a pretty interesting story.

Soon they got a hit from Debrah Kaufman, who visited the couple at the house and told the couple that her father Alvin, was the one to build the shelter, back in 1961. He figured, if he built it 15 feet below ground, it would be safe enough for his family.

Alvin Kaufman was a self-taught nuclear engineer working as a contractor for a few companies, testing the effects of nuclear war on industry and of course, what it would do to humans. Knowing firsthand what the effects were, he wanted to do something to keep his family safe.The irony, though, is that he approached everyone in his cul-de-sac and offered to build one big enough for everyone. They said no. So he just made one for himself and his family, filled with several sleeping areas, a water tank, a hand cranked air filter and enough food to last several weeks.

The shelves were full of food from the era, all still sealed.

This is probably the most important thing for a fallout shelter, coffee. Although this can has seen better days.

Multi-Purpose food, was a powdered protein mix that was created by a California inventor, by the name of Clifford E. Clinton and his biochemist friend Dr. Henry Borsook in 1946. The MPF was meant to provide proper nutrition at a very affordable price.

A few board games to help pass the time.

Food storage options, of course.

No shelter is complete with out plenty of tissue and toilet paper!

Just in case you want to play some post-nuclear Beer Pong!

Plenty of clothing so you can keep your sense of style in the post-apocalyptic world.

First Aid kit, with various powders and ointments. This was a common thing to find in Cold War Era fallout shelters.

Medications.

They also found many editions of the Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine, full of stories from the major Sci-Fi writers of the day. Definitely a must read when you’re trapped in a small cube with the rest of the world destroyed!

Deborah also shared some items that she took from the shelter when she sold to the Otcaseks, including some of her dad’s books on Nuclear fallout.

Kaufman, who died in 2004, was a pragmatist to wanted to make sure he was prepared for everything and these books were important to him.

The couple plans to leave the shelter as it is for the next homeowners to find as a surprise.