When I spent a month in London, back in the early 90's, I saw a number of things that at the time seemed to be from another world. Bombs going off on crowded streets, 5 swat type police with h&k mp5's frisking people outside Harrods, and just a general awareness that bad things were happening. It was part of the ongoing "Irish Problem".
On the way home one night, there were vague reports of road closings on the taxi's radio. The driver kept going this way and that, finally dropping me off a few blocks from my hotel. I walked down the street until I reached the bobby holding back traffic. Pointing at my hotel, I asked what was going on. He said there had been a few garbage can bombs going off and they were waiting for this street to be checked. I asked if I could go to my hotel which was only a 1/2 block away. His answer was "if you think that's best, go ahead, but we've already had one bomb go off"
I hesitated for a second and he looked around. "I doubt they put any in the alley, you can get in the back door of your hotel from there". Truthfully, though I'd been there two weeks, I hadn't even noticed the alley hidden away. Ten steps off the main street and I was went from modern day London to something medieval and scary. Even though the sun was still up, it didn't reach in here very often. Everything had a wet black smelly sort of feel and it wasn't clear what I was stepping on or in. I kept going though and sure enough, there was a door with the dimly lit sign for my hotel on it.
I walked in the door and there was a porter guarding the entrance with a cleaver. I quickly produced my guest card which he checked before the maitre'd appeared to escort me through the kitchen. Exactly like the Goodfella's scene, we went through the gargantuan kitchen turning this way and that, quickly losing all sense of direction. Eventually, we burst through a set of swinging doors right into the main "fancy" dining room in the hotel. Everyone in the entire room stopped what they were doing and looked at the two of us. Quickly, they realized that if I could get IN that way, then they could get OUT the same way. A stampede of people who had been trapped there for the past two hours charged into the kitchen demanding to be led outside.
By the time I made it into the main lobby, word had reached the crowd there about the new secret exit. Wading through the stream of people, I reached the staircase and walked up to my room. I saw on my balcony and watched the bomb squad check out all the garbage cans for the next hour or two before finally falling asleep.