Paseo Phillips

This guide to Paseo Phillips in Santiago follows the Otis elevator that opened inside the passage in 1927, a hand-cranked cage with no automatic doors that Chileans lined up to ride just for the sensation. It traces the ascensoristas who operated it by hand for most of a century, including the last one, Maria Eugenia Contreras, and the resident, Enrique Escobar, who fought to keep the original cage after safety codes caught up with it. Stand at the foot of the passage where the ride once started.