Woodland Hills Home Sold Complete With 1961 Nuclear Fallout Shelter

WOODLAND HILLS (CBSLA.com) — A house in Woodland Hills has been sold — complete with nuclear fallout shelter.

The shelter was built in 1961 by Alvin Kaufman, a nuclear engineer, and it is located about 15 feet below the property's backyard.

"I didn't expect it to look like this," new owner Chris Otcasek said. "I guess I just figured it would be like a hole."

Kaufman's daughter, Debra, grew up in the house, and said that Kaufman built the shelter to protect his family from potential nuclear war.

"In that era, in the sixties, there was a much greater fear and feeling that a nuclear war was possible," Debra said.

Kaufman estimated that the shelter could sustain a family of four for a few weeks, which he felt was long enough to wait for the radiation to clear.

Among the many amenities found in the shelter were water, sleeping areas, a water tank, soap, a board game, tissue, coffee, sleeping pills, reading material, and a man-powered air-filter.

Kaufman, who died in 2004, had originally offered to build a fallout shelter for his entire block, but his neighbors reportedly declined.

Meanwhile, Otcasek says he does not plan on making any changes to the shelter.

"I'll leave it for the next people," Otcasek said. "It should last forever."