Open Thread Wednesday

By on July 14, 2020 11:33 pm in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

Photo: Martha Foley

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  • Georgia Fee

    She was a seamstress and bought antique mother-of-pear buttons and lace from me.

  • Andrew Porter

    Once upon a time, Red Hook was tied in to Brooklyn’s streetcar, elevated and subway system. Then plans were announced to establish a container port there, and disinvestment began. Got so bad there were building collapses, structures and streets fell into disrepair.

    Then the Port Authority decided the container ports would be in Elizabeth. Meanwhile the “trench” of the BQE divided Red Hook from the rest of Cobble Hill.

    A long, sad history which started before de Blasio was born…

    Here’s a 1930 streetcar map of part of Brooklyn. See how interconnected Red Hook was with the rest of Brooklyn. All now gone:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/91f5c43974c174f5ba38f6ded530b9a7fa3f51b51c4b8a0cfd8a04a549ded8e6.jpg

  • Andrew Porter
  • Andrew Porter

    Could it be that population figures are based on the 2000 Census, vast parts of which were Witness buildings now vacated or changed to single family occupancy? And the Towers and Bossert hotels?

  • Andrew Porter

    She was a Holocaust survivor, wth a tattooed number on her arm, and she sold children’s clothing. Wonderful woman. Wish I’d taken a photo of her when I could.

    Conjecture on my part, but thinking back now, I think she washed up in this neighborhood and found a home and an occupation here.

    My eyes suddenly filled with tears…

  • Cranberry Beret

    There’s no stoop but it’s not wheelchair accessible. There’s one concrete step up. Not sure why they would use such a specific term that is just wrong. (Oh wait, they’re brokers trying to push a vastly overpriced house – my mistake!)

  • Andrew Porter
  • Reggie

    Weren’t both the Singer Building and One Liberty Plaza the headquarters for US Steel? My recollection is that the exterior of the latter was designed to reflect the anchor tenant.

  • Reggie

    I don’t think Brooklyn was ever considered for containerized shipping–not a deep enough draft and insufficient land. When break bulk was replaced by the container ports in New Jersey, the neighborhood lost its biggest industry and suffered decline. The BQE certainly was a factor, along with racist reactions to an increase in Black and Puerto Rican residents.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    I was mistaken, I worked at One Bankers Trust Plaza (130 Liberty St.) which was the asbestos building across from the WTC. It was later demolished because of extensive damage from 9/11. One Liberty Plaza was an attractive modern building in my opinion.

  • Andrew Porter

    From:

    http://waterfrontmuseum.org/red-hook-history

    “…The history of the neighborhood … is also intertwined with the ill-conceived plans of state and city government. … in 1972 the city approved an urban renewal plan to develop 230 acres of waterfront for a modern container port… The proposal, according to the plan, ‘put a cloud of condemnation over many residential blocks which were eventually not taken due to changes in the internal container port design. This led to further decline and abandonment of housing.”

  • BH Mike

    Blue lives matter

  • BH Mike

    There is nothing open about this thread. Any varying opinion from what the regulars discuss is considered a troll and posts are removed. Conform or move on.

  • diego

    If that’s true, it is most unfortunate

  • Jorale-man

    Looking at this again, I couldn’t help but focus on the chandelier in the marble bathroom. Presumably to turn on during your bubble bath set to the music of Liberace.

  • BH Mike

    Blue lives matter

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    As the conversation about the role of policing and prisons in injustice continues, we need to be ready to stop taking for granted the legitimacy of many things police do, including arresting people.

    (Just imagine, for example, if there was an impartial crowd de-escalation task force that was trained to listen to and peacefully assist with the conclusion of demonstrations, and then help mediate between their organizers and legislators.)

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    There’s no such thing as “Blue lives”. Being a cop is a job that someone chooses to do. They can take off the uniform and switch careers any time they want. Not so with skin color, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc.

  • diego

    Why do you have an avatar depicting what appears to be violence? Honest question.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    Thanks for the link, Andrew. I’m amused by the reference to H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Horror at Red Hook” (1925), which he wrote while living at Clinton and State streets. It would arouse great controversy if published today, for good reason. Lovecraft contrasts the “swarthy” – a word he seems to equate with “evil” – inhabitants of Red Hook with the “sturdy blond Vikings” of Sunset Park, which at that time had a large Scandinavian population, I think mostly connected to shipping business.

    I didn’t know Budd Schulberg’s original “On the Waterfront” was set in Red Hook. The movie was made in Hoboken.

  • Reggie

    Me loves a citation, Andrew; thanks. Over two hundred acres by eminent domain? That was just never going to happen when Port Newark and Elizabeth required minimal work.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    True, and Jersey had the great advantage of a railhead oriented to the west, south, and north, instead of just eastward, into Long Island. As you know, there is a small container port at Red Hook that has been there for some years, but it is reliant on truck transport, and, as I understand, only handles cargoes like bananas for local consumption.

  • SongBirdNYC

    There are protesters and then there are “protesters.” Those arrested on the bridge were not part of the Jericho March.

  • Andrew Porter

    Yes, they have bananas!

  • Andrew Porter
  • BH Mike

    You know I always thought that you were a Richard if you know what mean.

  • BH Mike

    Actually I think many who post comments here are Richards including myself. Otherwise, not sure why I would be wasting my time.

  • http://www.yotamzohar.com StudioBrooklyn

    If I recall correctly it’s a photo of a fistfight on the floor of the Polish parliament, which I probably found amusing.

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