In the spirit of Art Basel -Miami Beach here are some hidden secrets that New Yorkers love to think they know everything about their city—where to find the best street-meat cart, how to avoid paying full price at museums, what route to take to skip traffic down Broadway. But New York City can reveal new treasures to even its most grizzled veterans. Beyond the city where we work, eat, play and commute every day lies a hidden New York: mysterious, forgotten, abandoned or just overlooked. I’ve compiled a list of New York City’s coolest secret spots, ones you’re not likely to read about in any guidebooks. Get out there and discover them (well, those that are accessible anyway) for yourself.

Hidden Subway Station Beneath City Hall

The New York City subway has long been the country’s most comprehensive transportation system, and now it even lets you travel back in time. The majestic subway station underneath City Hall has been inactive for nearly 65 years, closing for good on December 31, 1945. The station is an underground architectural marvel, with tall arched ceilings covered in antique tile and glass skylights that flood the space with natural light from above. It’s been sealed like a time capsule since then, but you can see it with your own eyes (from inside a subway car). Here’s how: take the 6 train to the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall station (the last stop, if you’re heading south), but don’t get off. The train will turn around the City Hall station loop, which will give you a one-of-a-kind view of the otherwise unreachable location. Until recently, passengers were supposed to exit the train at the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall station before it made the turnaround and only attendees of special events or tours sponsored by the MTA and New York City Transit Museum (or anyone who managed to linger on the train) could see this gem.

Whispering Gallery in Grand Central Terminal

Photo; Alex Lopez

Grand Central Terminal has many secrets (just for starters: Franklin Delano Roosevelt had his own underground passageway that led to the Waldorf Astoria hotel), but the Whispering Gallery is its most romantic. This unmarked archway, located in front of the Oyster Bar & Restaurant, possesses a mystifying acoustic property: when two people stand at diagonal arches and whisper, they can hear each other’s voices “telegraphed” from across the way. According to rumor, jazz legend Charles Mingus liked to play under the arches. Today, though, the Whispering Gallery is more popular for murmured marriage proposals. Just don’t confess anything that you don’t want strangers to overhear!

Rooftop Gardens at Rockefeller Center

Some of the most beautiful gardens in New York are hidden—hundreds of feet above the ground. Rockefeller Center maintains five spectacular roof gardens originally designed by English landscaper Ralph Hancock between 1933 and 1936. The gardens have been closed since 1938, but three can be spied from the Top of the Rock observation deck. And there’s a chance you’ve seen at least one close up: the garden atop the British Empire Building appears in a scene from the 2002 filmSpider-Man.

Bowling Alley at the Frick Collection

Photo: Michael Bodycomb

The Frick Collection, a mansion on the Upper East Side formerly owned by 19th-century industrialist Henry Clay Frick, is an architectural beauty in its own right. But did you know that the building contains an underground bowling alley? Commissioned by Frick in 1914, the antique alley is a real tycoon’s playground, with mahogany-paneled walls, immaculate pine-and-maple lanes and a custom-made set of balls that remain in working order. After Frick’s death in 1919, the bowling alley was abandoned (except briefly, when it served as a library storage space in the 1920s). The Frick Collection restored the alley to its former glory in 1997 but keeps it under tight lock and key.

Staten Island Boat Graveyard

One of the spookiest places in town is the Staten Island Boat Graveyard. Located far from the urban bustle in Rossville, Staten Island, this swampy patch of the Arthur Kill Road waterway is the final resting place for dozens of rusting, decomposing and abandoned boats of all sizes. The rotting ship hulls, protruding from the watery depths, are oddly majestic and beautiful (but also kind of gross; we recommend wearing long pants and sturdy shoes if you go). The gravesite is located off of Arthur Kill Road near Rossville Avenue, about 13 miles by bike or car from the ferry terminal. As of 2013, there’s no longer a public path all the way to the water, but you can steal a glimpse of the boats before a padlocked fence gets in your way. It’s a truly forgotten corner of the City.

Pomander Walk

Twenty-seven buildings resembling Tudor homes with colorful doors, shutters and timber frames grace this gated street that’s tucked away on the Upper West Side, nearly completely out of view to passersby. Originally conceived as a temporary property that was to be knocked down and replaced with a hotel, Pomander Walk—which is modeled after an old London street and the set of a stage play, both of the same name—earned landmark status in 1982. Surrounded by buildings that tower hundreds of feet above its rooftops, this pedestrian-only lane of residences is a peaceful respite from the people and cars that hustle and bustle past its wrought-iron gates every day, unaware of the sanctuary within. You can’t access the hidden haven unless you have a key or know someone who does, but the picturesque spot is still worth a peek through the gate.