Open Thread Wednesday

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

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?

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!)

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.

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.

Blue lives matter

If that’s true, it is most unfortunate

Blue lives matter

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.

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.

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.

Yes, they have bananas!

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

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