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June 25, 2006
Rainy Red Hook
Red Hook is pretty close to south Park Slope, so it's somewhat embarrassing that we hadn't been there until today. We had read and heard about Sunny's, Hope & Anchor, the Fairway, the barge, the arty things going on, and the crusade to bring back the trolly. We had been invited to hear someone's band play. But there never seemed to be an easy way to get there, so we never made the trip.
Finally, since we had nothing else to do, we drove there today. The recent Time Out article for Red Hook newbies was very helpful. The rain made things wet and deserted, but I was still very happy with what we found.
We started at Hope & Anchor, where the food took forever to come but was good. Next, we walked down Van Brundt and noticed signs of neighborhood yuppification. First, we saw "baked", an upscale looking bakery. Next, there was "The Good Fork", which reminds me of a Smith Street restaurant. In between, there was torn-up pavement, a Mexican deli, an empty lot or two, some sort of ramshackle outdoor market, a cool vintage furniture shop, and a variety of newish and falling-apart-old buildings. It reminded Derek of old Williamsburg. There are also old red brick warehouse buildings, which would have made for great photo subjects on a sunnier day.
As you get closer to the water, there are warehouses to each side, with endlessly repeating double doors -- these are in good shape, and the one to the right houses Fairway. You can walk past that and directly onto a pier, or to the Water Taxi station. Behind the warehouse to the left is a falling-down assortment of shipping and storage buildings. Rusting contraptions meant to unload ships, and two masts from an actual sunken ship, sit around as if their operators simply left one day and never came back. It's fascinating. I love old things, and these are huge, complicated, hulking old things. They're like the largest antiques in the world. I'm very jealous of the people who work in the studios in one of the warehouses -- they're right on the water, and they have this other-worldly landscape of 1860s industrial works to look at when they get bored. They can also see the remains of the trolly -- three cars are parked right on the water, on what seems to be a well-preserved track. The electrical wiring above the track is even in place. I can see why someone wants to get it working again -- I would LOVE to ride a trolly. I'm kind of pissed all the trollies that ran in the city are gone. They're so much more stylish than diesel busses.
Our feet were soaked, so we headed to Fairway, expecting a wide variety of food to make us feel better. It was a disappointment -- I'm not sure why. It was freezing, I couldn't seem to get a good recommendation from the cheese guy, and the produce isn't that great (the co-op has spoiled me). The little cafe has a very nice outdoor sitting area, though.
Finally, on our way home, we hit two more Red Hook landmarks. We visited the Valentino pier (launching area of the Gowanus Dredgers), where I saw a guy catch a humungous fish, and we got some tortillas and corn con crema (so good) at the stands set up at Red Hook Park. Next time, I'll go on a sunny day so I can catch some photos of those massive loading docks before Corcoran bulldozes it to make way for luxury condos.
Posted by csageday at June 25, 2006 02:40 AM