Open Secrets Series

July 17, 2003

Lifting The Veil

After nearly 150 years as one of New York's most famous and beloved destinations, after having provided inspiration for creative minds from E.B. White to Woody Allen, after a yearlong anniversary buildup that reaches a crescendo this Saturday - and, oh yes, after all those visitors, 25 million a year - is there really anything about Central Park that could still be considered a secret?

July 9, 2003

Our Local Birds' Nest

There are herons in Heckscher Park. There are also loons, cormorants, swans and hawks; doves, plovers, sandpipers, hummingbirds and thrushes; owls and ospreys, wrens and warblers, starlings and sparrows - a total of 45 distinct families of birds and more than 280 individual species, that either live in or visit this state park on the Great South Bay in East Islip.

July 9, 2003

Kissena Park

Flushing Flora

In 1981, a group of summer interns was clearing an overgrown section in the northern part of Kissena Park in Flushing, when they came upon an area filled with a variety of unusual trees.

July 2, 2003

OPEN SECRETS

It's Peaceful - Now

Up the hill they charge. The cyclists pump their muscular legs like pistons. The walkers swing their arms and swivel their hips. The runners, their faces grim behind sunglasses, extend their strides, some gasping hard, others hardly working. Seven days a week, almost any time of day, you can find people testing their quads and cardiovascular systems as they attack the steep hill in the northeast corner of Brooklyn's Prospect Park. When the British attacked here 227 years ago, they weren't looking for a good workout, but rather a decisive blow that would end the American struggle for independence in its early stages.

June 26, 2003

Montauk's Unsung Hero

Things were quiet at Camp Hero the morning of Oct. 22, 1962. Airman 2nd Class Bernie Roke of the 773rd Radar Squadron had just finished shutting down the base's diesel power plant for repairs. He was sitting in a World War II-era blockhouse, looking out a small window at the ocean, just a mile from the eastern tip of Long Island. Originally a cinder block building, it had been reinforced with concrete in order to withstand a nuclear blast. As the base powered down, the only light was from the battery-powered emergency lights that glimmered inside.