Celebrating Community
On a quiet July afternoon on Verona Street, near the corner of Van Brunt, Ken Marcelle sweeps hair from the floor before his next appointment. The incoming client is Keaton Tips, formally a resident of Red Hook. A 34-year-old animator and motion designer, Tips moved from Dikeman Street to an apartment in Ridgewood, Queens, in 2020. That year, many of […]
Sunset Park has a history of things happening to it, rather than for it. In Thomas J. Campanella’s thorough history of the borough, “Brooklyn: The Once and Future City”, Campanella describes how the borough’s neighborhoods were transformed by Robert Moses-era construction projects. Working class neighborhoods were re-branded with names like Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill. In Sunset Park, Third Avenue […]
A classic American drink, the egg cream is a true culinary invention of New York City, up there with chicken and waffles, the Waldorf salad, and baked Alaska to name a few. It was also deemed “Brooklyn’s official elixir since the 1920s” by former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz 21 years ago. Following the end of World War II before […]
“I don’t think I have to tell anyone in this room what it was like during Superstorm Sandy,” spoke Joy Sinderbrand, of NYCHA (New York City Housing Authority), to an audience of Red Hook Houses residents. The meeting, held in the P.S. 676 auditorium on June 6 from 6-8 pm, was attended by several members of NYCHA’s Recovery and Resilience […]
Red Hook’s IKEA held a midsummer celebration on June 23. It’s a Swedish tradition that brings family and friends together. In Red Hook, the celebration included a buffet with a special menu for the evening, as well as live music. IKEA is also celebrating its 15th year in Red Hook this June. One woman at the celebration said “I love […]
The Red Hook Pool has two new murals thanks to the work of Red Hook Art Project artists Aspen, Felix, Rosana, and Angelly. Both murals were summer-themed, one featuring a fire hydrant with water coming out and the other depicting sea life. “Art is a way of healing and of bringing so many people together,” said Tiffiney Davis, the co-founder […]
When New Yorkers take an airline flight, they go to one of three major airports – Newark, LaGuardia or JFK. But before any of them existed, New York’s first commercial airport was Floyd Bennett Field, in a still-underdeveloped area of southeast Brooklyn, just northwest of the Gil Hodges Bridge to the Rockaways. Never a commercial success during its era of […]
Actress, director, and on-camera coach Nancy Reardon, 81, has worked with St. Ann’s students for the past 50 years, engaging them in character development and strengthening their self-confidence for polished stage performances through theater classes and Shakespeare workshops. This spring, the “queen” of Saint Ann’s stepped down from her throne. “They called it a coronation, not a retirement, as they […]
Here’s a thought: I could die at work. Although the internet assures me school shootings are statistically rare, if you follow the news, they don’t feel rare. I’ve been in a classroom since 2017, and as time goes by, Columbine feels less like history and more like a recurring weekly nightmare. Although my logical brain knows I’m more likely to […]
Recycling has long been touted as an easy way to cut down on waste and to create a more sustainable city. In practice, about 18% of trash from homes in NYC is diverted to recycling, according to NYC’s Department of Sanitation (DSNY), and it is likely that a much smaller portion is actually recycled. In 2022, Greenpeace published a report […]