MEET CELEBS

You don't need to head to Broadway to catch the crews from "Avenue Q" and "Wicked." Just hang out at the Heckscher ball fields in the park's southern section, where for more than 50 years, the Broadway Show League — actors, stagehands and other theater types — has played softball. Games are Thursdays from about 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., from April through mid-August.

Actor Matthew Broderick helped kick off the 2007 softball season last month, the first following a $3 million restoration of the fields; his team won the league championship last season.

Then there are the local celebrities, such as the park's honorary mayor, a tan, mustachioed 92-year-old named Alberto Arroyo, who claims to be the first person to run around the Reservoir, back in the 1930s. "I know every inch of Central Park," he said last week. The Reservoir is surrounded by a 1.58-mile track used by runners and cameratoting tourists every day of the week. Arroyo can be found sitting here most days with his walker. He happily takes credit for every jogger who passes by, most of whom wave or stop to say hello.

Perhaps fewer people approach Thoth, another park regular whose look and sound pretty much defy characterization. The other Sunday, I found him — dressed in a short red silk robe, strappy sandals and a black and red feather headdress — in the Bethesda Terrace Arcade, part of a series of terraces and archways mid-park near 72nd Street. Chances are you'll hear Thoth before you see him, as he uses the arcade's incredible acoustics to "prayform" his "soloperas," a sort of yowling accompanied by violin, hand bell and foot-stamping.

While you're in the arcade, look up. The ceiling's 15,876 19th-century tiles, which were removed in the 1980s, were restored and unveiled in March. The $7 million restoration is yet another indication of how the park, under the stewardship of the nonprofit Central Park Conservancy, has transformed from the graffiti-ridden, lawless space of the '60s, '70s and early '80s.

GO SKATE-DANCING

You can skate throughout much of the park, but only at mid-park, near the Mall and the bandshell area, can you groove to funk and house music.

"If you're not skating, check your pulse — you might be dead," someone called out as DJs Nick Johnson and Andre Collins played for the crowd on a recent Sunday afternoon in the park's Skate Circle. It's free, and anyone with skates (in-line or four-wheeled) is welcome; you just have to keep moving to the beat. From about 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. on weekends from April through October, skaters go 'round and 'round the DJs' gear.

The Central Park Dance Skaters Association lists times, dates and a DJ lineup — there are 26 of them, playing everything from Latin music to R&B, reggae, house and funk — on its Web site, www.cpdsa.org.

TAKE IN A SHOW

You probably know about the summer season of Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theater. But you may not know that the circa-1876 schoolhouse next door is home to an equally inspired troupe: a cast of wildly creative puppets.

I joined about 60 preschoolers and their parents for a recent Sunday's matinee of "Cinderella Samba" at the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre near 79th Street and loved every minute of the hourlong production.

The adults laughed as much as the kids, and we all bounced along in our bench seats to the Brazilian music. The theater is open year-round with a few weeks off here and there; call (212) 988-9093 for reservations and a schedule. Tickets are $6.

COMMUNE WITH NATURE

If you've been to Central Park even once, chances are you've explored its southern end, which features the famous Zoo and Carousel — Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the park's 19th-century architects, designed that part as the Children's District. But until the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude's popular "Gates" installation sent swatches of saffron material through the entire park in 2005, the northern end was generally ignored by out-of-town visitors — and by plenty of New Yorkers as well.

In the North End (everything above 97th Street), the carefully engineered landscape of the lower park gives way to a more natural approach, particularly on the west side. "It's more romantic and beautiful, and there's a Hudson River feel to it," said Central Park Conservancy President Douglas Blonsky.

Last month, the Peter Jay Sharp Children's Glade opened between 103rd and 106th streets, west of the Great Hill Oval. The small woodland area reinvents the concept of playground: Instead of swings and jungle gyms, there are rock outcroppings, winding pathways and a mysterious catalpa tree "that looks like it's talking to you," Blonsky said.

Just south of the glade is the lovely, willow-lined Pool; at its eastern end is a 14-foot waterfall that runs into the Ravine, a 90-acre woodland that is the most intensely natural-looking part of this almost entirely man-made park. Note: Practice the buddy system here. The park is considered quite safe during the day, but be cautious in wooded areas.

If you keep trekking through the Ravine, you'll pass at least two more waterfalls and eventually emerge at Lasker, which is an ice rink in winter and a public pool in summer. Wind east and you'll be at the Harlem Meer, the best place in the park for catch-and-release fishing.

FIND A SECRET GARDEN

It's not technically a secret ... but south of Harlem Meer, near 105th Street, is what Blonsky calls "one of the most spectacular gardens" in the whole park. It's also the only formal one.

When I'm looking to feel a bit of Old New York glamour, I enter the six-acre Conservatory Garden from Fifth Avenue, through the Vanderbilt Gate, and imagine that I'm a society guest at one of the many weddings that are photographed here.

Going in that way, you're in the Italian section, its long green lawn flanked by crabapple trees that in early May had just burst into bloom. Go left and you're in the English-style section, filled with perennials, along with a monument to Frances Hodgson Burnett, the British children's author who made this city kid fall in love with gardens. To the north, star magnolias and tulips are hallmarks of the French garden, where a statue called "Three Dancing Maidens" holds court amid the spraying jets of an oval fountain.

MEET THE LOCALS

Think New Yorkers don't know their neighbors? Take a walk in Central Park around 7:30 in the morning, when dog owners convene for their daily meet-and-greets, and "hellos" and "good mornings" are tossed about freely. Dogs may be off-leash in much of the park between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. (the park is technically closed from 1 to 6 a.m.), and locals take full advantage.

Early in the morning, when you and the dog walkers and the insomniacs have the Mall to yourselves, the light filtering through the wavy, thick branches overhead makes for some of the most photogenic scenes in the city.

At the Loeb Boathouse, where you can have a fancy meal or rent rowboats, a coffee klatch of sorts gathers every morning at the outdoor snack bar. Play with the dogs, talk politics with their owners ("We go from all the way left to all the way right," said Eleanor Stark, who said she has lived in New York for more than 40 years), and pick up tips from the crowd.

GO BIRDING

Central Park is a stopping point on the Atlantic flyway, and, according to the Conservancy, more than 275 species of birds have been spotted there. Many of them can be found in the Ramble, a bird-watcher's paradise northwest of the Boathouse.

Sightings are easier during early-morning visits, but you'll need your own equipment. If you arrive after 10 a.m., binoculars, bird books and clipboards to record your sightings are available to borrow from Belvedere Castle, a Gothic-style visitors center on the north side of the Ramble (every day except Monday).

Another favorite spot of local birders is the Arthur Ross Pinetum, with its more than 400 trees and 15 species of pines. Particularly in winter, the evergreens provide cover for owls and other birds. New York City Bird Report (www.nycbirdreport.com) is an enthusiast site that lists birds likely to be seen in the park.

HAVE A SCAVENGER HUNT

The park, which opened in 1873, may have been conceived as a recreational escape from 19th-century city life, but it's also packed with references to history, literature and world politics. Among the park's oddball collection of statuary worth seeing: