Listen, we know you know the city like the back of your hand--even the “secret” spots. The whispering corner in Grand Central? Old news. Please Don’t Tell inside Crif Dogs? Been there, done that.
But even we were surprised to discover some of these blink-and-you’ll-miss-them, downright hidden spots around the city, from to a discreet cemetery behind a hotel to a bomb shelter under a bridge.
Hidden beneath the floors filled with 18th-century porcelain and walls of 16th-century paintings is, of all things, a bowling alley. It was commissioned by Frick in 1914. The lanes are super cool looking, but they’re kept under strict lock and key, so you’ll probably have to stick to Brooklyn Bowl.
Talk about eerie: This grain terminal (behind the Brooklyn IKEA and at the mouth of the Gowanus Canal) is made up of 54 circular silos, has been abandoned for more than 50 years and could definitely be the set of a horror movie.
It’s no longer in use, but at one time VIPs (including F.D.R.) used this train platform as a secret entrance into the hotel.
It looks identical to the buildings on either side, but the “brownstone” at 58 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn Heights is actually an emergency exit for the 4 and 5 trains.
Next time you’re near the Red Square building in the East Village (at 250 E. Houston St.), look up and catch a glimpse of a massive statue of the Russian revolutionary.
Looking like a creepy scene from a pirate movie, the Staten Island boat graveyard is the city’s dumping ground for old and unusable ferries, tugboats and barges.
On the Manhattan side of the bridge you’ll find a shelter full of supplies including blankets, food and other survival necessities that were just discovered by city workers in 2006.
That’s not just another mural in a Midtown East courtyard at 53rd and Madison; it’s actually a 12-foot-high, 20-foot-long segment of the Berlin Wall.
It exists, and not just on Broad City. Turns out, North Brother is an island in the East River between the Bronx and Rikers Island, and it was most notably the home of Typhoid Mary for two decades until her death in 1938.
The New York Marble Cemetery, founded in 1830, is in plain sight from the back windows of the Bowery Hotel, but there’s more to it. The deceased are interred in marble vaults underground and the burial spots are marked with discreet plaques instead of tombstones.
The next time you take the downtown 6 train, stay on at the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall station. As the train loops around to go uptown, take a peek at the abandoned City Hall station, which hasn’t been used since 1945.
