ARTISTS
Focus on the Flatfiles: Views from Red Hook
In 1981, when my boyfriend and I bought a 20 x 20 wood frame house in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Liberty was considered the patron Saint by retired longshoremen. Taps from Governor鈥檚 Island wafted across Buttermilk Channel. Stories, like ships, came in with the tide. Stories about the Civil War warehouses; the abandoned sugar factory; the squatter washing his laundry in the open fire hydrant; and the old bachelors at Jimmy鈥檚 shoe and vegetable store, jumping as if fathers for each stray pup born. The artists and carpenters and old-timers celebrated, protested, mourned and hung out together because Red Hook was home.
Recommended for you
In 1981, when my boyfriend and I bought a 20 x 20 wood frame house in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Liberty was considered the patron Saint by retired longshoremen. Taps from Governor鈥檚 Island wafted across Buttermilk Channel. Stories, like ships, came in with the tide. Stories about the Civil War warehouses; the abandoned sugar factory; the squatter washing his laundry in the open fire hydrant; and the old bachelors at Jimmy鈥檚 shoe and vegetable store, jumping as if fathers for each stray pup born. The artists and carpenters and old-timers celebrated, protested, mourned and hung out together because Red Hook was home.
Contact details
