“One corner of Brooklyn likes its hookers – and wants to keep them happy. On the streets of Red Hook Sunday, old-timers and newcomers alike said the FDNY should ease up on Engine 279/Ladder 131, whose firefighters call themselves the Happy Hookers. FDNY brass ordered the station to change its nickname and logo two years […]

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The job of managing the massive Ikea in Red Hook has gone to a Canadian who has worked for the multinational retailer for 14 years, according to a press release issued yesterday, which notes that the massive store will open this summer (August has always been mentioned as the most likely date). Ikea is hiring […]

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These signs at Beard and Dwight Street in Red Hook, across the street from the big Ikea site, looks like they’ve taken it on the chin from construction in the last couple of months. If one were into cheesy humor, one might say they were bent out of shape about their big blue-and-yellow friend.

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The Red Hook Playgroup, a community-based preschool for local children, is having its 1st Annual Winter Fundraiser on March 5. A release says that the benefit concert will “christen” chef Neil Ganic’s new Beard Street restaurant Bouillabaise and adjoining Annabelle’s bar/music club. The performance will come fromm Las Rubias Del Norte. Here’s a bit from […]

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A Few Moments in Red Hook from rsguskind on Vimeo.A few moments by the water in Red Hook on President’s Day with a dramatic sky and harbor sounds.

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On Nov. 8, 1909, a celluloid comb factory at 150-152 Columbia Street was hit by a devastating fire that took ten lives. There were no fire escapes and workers couldn’t get out because of iron bars on the second floor windows. The owner committed suicide ten days later.–Fading Ad Blog

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“So what is the reason for its descent from glorious burger haven to rundown, just-about-to-be-closed burger shack (besides reported loss of lease)? Well, I think raising the prices was a mistake. Or at least it was a mistake when patrons have to put up with generally incompetent service, unsurprising moments like flat draft root beer […]

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The Red Hook vendors are getting things together to bid on getting a long term permit to operate this summer and beyond, but it’s not a foregone conclusion that they’ll win and the conditions imposed by the Parks Department and the Health Department are so onerous it may make it impossible. The Village Voice Eat […]

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This vid was posted on the always wonderful Amy’s New York Notebook. It is lovely. It’s a few minutes of natural beauty as seen from Red Hook.

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Schnäck, the eatery on Union Street in Red Hook, is going belly up. The end has been in the works for a long time, we guess, but it still makes us sad to lose one of our favorite stops for veggie burgers and a basket of artery clogging fries and onion rings. Not to mention […]

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Red Hook may be a little less isolated by fall with the proposed extension of the B77 and B71 buses to South Ferry in Manhattan via the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. The changes could make life easier for some people hit by the planned closing of the Smith-9th Street station. The B77 bus runs from Park […]

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Those with memories of the “old” Red Hook will remember the abandoned cars that used to be left on Red Hook and the tendency they have to catch fire. A dedicated GL reader emailed us to reminisce and to point out that, in addition to a traffic light and other alterations, Beard Street is changing […]

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Where do you go when you need 10,000 pounds of confetti for a Super Bowl celebratory parade? Red Hook, of course. “The confetti is recycled packaging paper cut into approximately 10-inch strips and is being provided by the Atlas Material Company in Red Hook. Downtown Alliance personnel spent today at the company’s plant, breaking down […]

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Dusk in Red Hook, looking across the water at Sunset Park and at Staten Island.

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Those who have mourned the demise of the paving stones torn out of Beard Street in Red Hook to make way for a smooth, paved street that can handle Ikea traffic can stop: the paving stones are back. They are not on the street, but rather on the sidewalk, alternating with spaces where trees will […]

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We stopped and stared when we were taking photos on Beard Street and realized that a stoplight was being installed in front of what will be an entrance to the new Ikea. We will admit that this is an insignificant thing to many people, but it is a rather symbolic thing to those that recall […]

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Ikea sent press releases out everywhere yesterday “announcing” that it is accepting applications from the general public. The release said that Ikea “has begun the general recruitment process for its 1st New York City store, set to open Summer 2008 in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook.” Ikea had previously announced that it would only […]

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Parked on Columbia Street at Summit Street in Red Hook.

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Here are some photos we shot yesterday at the 2008 Idiotarod in Gowanus, at the Carroll Street Bridge, and in Red Hook, at Moonshine, which was the finish line. Related Posts:Idiotarod ’08 Has Taken Off [Gothamist]1,186 Idiotarod Tagged Photos So Far [flickr]NYC Idiotarod 2008 [Brit in Brooklyn]A Group of Idiots in Search of Idiotarod ’08 […]

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We caught some of the 2008 Idiotarod–that annual small-scale Halloween meets the Mermaid Parade, but with pimped shopping carts and a very long route–in Gowanus and Red Hook. Here’s our video of the race, as it leaves “Checkpoint Two” at The Yard, next to the Carroll Street Bridge in Gowanus and at the finish line, […]

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Today’s Daily News reports potentially bad news about the beloved Red Hook ballfields vendors. The Parks Department put out RFPs for vendors to use the ballfields last week and bids are due by February 22. The vendors, however, say that they’ll have to use approved food prep carts that cost $15,000-$30,000 per stand and that […]

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Ikea has been taking applications from Red Hook residents for more than a week-and-a-half, having given them a three-week head start, but it sent out a release with the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce yesterday that it will start general hiring for the Red Hook store on February 4. Some of the publicizing of job opportunities […]

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The work on Columbia Street in Red Hook goes on. And on. And on. Our Carroll Gardens correspondent filed these photos in an email with the subject line “Columbia Street Wasteland.” She writes of the construction work: I know people on that block and the construction shakes their foundations. It’s impossible to drive there, too. […]

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“There is small open green space down the street from us that keeps a flock of fake owls (a flock of owls is actually called a parliament, by-the-by) on the grass. I absolutely love them. When I stooped down to take the above photo, a breeze set in and three sets of intense eyes swiveled […]

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