I got a heads up the other day on The City Concealed, a new web only series from THIRTEEN, part of the WNET Public Broadcasting family. This is so my kind of thing. Looking at the city from vantage points you normally can’t get to or didn’t know existed? Why are all the coolest things so secret? isn’t there enough Gotham to go around? – but I digress.

The official description of City Concealed is ” . . . exploring the unseen corners of New York. Visit the places you don’t know exist, locations you can’t get into, or maybe don’t even want to. Each installment unearths New York’s rich history in the city’s hidden remains and overlooked spaces.”

You don’t get better than that.

The July 8th episode is on the North Brother Island Bird Sanctuary. “What’s that? Where?” I hear you cry. Well, get this. It lies in the East River, between The Bronx and Queens, just west of Rikers Island and directly under the flight path of departing jets from LaGuardia. An obvious place for a bird sanctuary, right? It’s not only home to birds however. It is also home to some very – um – atmospheric derelict buildings that cry out for a visit from Ghost Hunters or Most Haunted (I vote for Most Haunted because I am never less than thoroughly entertained by the antics of Karl and Stu — there I go, digressing again).

I will digress one more time though to say that THRILLED as I am to know about the series, I so wish I’d known about it when it kicked off lo these many months ago. I’ve spent all afternoon going through archived episodes and it’s first class stuff. There’s episodes on everything frmo the Fresh Kills Landfill, which as any viewer of QI knows is the largest man-made structure on Earth (take THAT, Great Wall of China!) to to the Tombs & Catacombs of Green-Wood Cemetery to the United Palace Theater and everything in between. If any needs me, I’m at THIRTEEN catching up on my Gotham insider secrets.