Living in Red Hook?

October 24, 2006 11:35 AM

Does anyone live in Red Hook, Brooklyn?

I'm considering a move to Red Hook to have more space (and escape the yuppies...I currently live nearby, though it is a sea of baby-strollers and restaurants, like night and day from Red Hook) and I'm looking for thoughts from people who live or have lived there.
How was it, really, dealing with the tranportation? Are the streets totally empty at night? What concerns should I have? What concerns shouldn't I have?

posted by cal71 to home & garden (8 comments total)

While I haven't lived in Red Hook, I have lived in other parts of Brooklyn with poor transportation. And let me tell you: it blows. It blows like nothing else. The single thing that has improved my quality of life most has been moving near a subway stop. The neighborhood isn't as nice, but it really doesn't matter.
posted by dame at 11:42 AM on October 24, 2006

As a resident of full-blown yuppie Brooklyn Heights, let me add: do you really think that you're going to escape the yuppies for more than a couple of months? They're building an Ikea there, and there's tons of construction planned.

Whatever a resident of Red Hook can tell you about living there now, that information is very temporary.
posted by Bookhouse at 12:05 PM on October 24, 2006

very good point, Bookhouse
posted by cal71 at 12:10 PM on October 24, 2006

I lived just to the north of Red Hook, in a border zone along Columbia Street in the mid-90s.

I loved Red Hook when it was wind-blown and deserted. From time to time, you could catch a whiff of the salty sea air. I would walk the streets of abandoned warehouses and factories. I would look around me and imagine Red Hook as it was in the days of cranes and ships, payday and sailor's bars.

That Red Hook is disappearing. It will be gone within five years and turned into another DUMBO, only not as convenient.
posted by jason's_planet at 12:13 PM on October 24, 2006

I live in gowanus now and yeah, there are huge loft buildings springing up (In Gowanus! Who buys a loft under an overpass? Rich people, apparently). Pretty sure I will soon be kicked out of my apartment for "redevelopment" or "beautification".

Getting to red hook (and I am like ten blocks away) is a pain. Unless you drive, in which case it is probably quite convenient.
posted by shownomercy at 12:25 PM on October 24, 2006

what's wrong with yuppies?
posted by cahlers at 12:26 PM on October 24, 2006

I currently live nearby, though it is a sea of baby-strollers and restaurants

We might be looking for different things, but lots of restaurants is a reason I'd move to a neighborhood, not away from it.

Yuppie concerns aside: I used to live right at the northern border of Red Hook, and it was a small hike to the Subway from my apartment (~12 minutes). Since that's the nearest stop to Red Hook, going further in only adds on more time. If you don't mind walking 20-30 minutes to get to the train (or waiting for the bus to take to the subway station) every day, then go for it, but there's a reason the neighborhood has been so slow to take off.

Three years ago, I moved to Smith right by the Bergen stop, and it's made my life 100% more enjoyable. The only way I'd move to a place as inconvenient as Red Hook would be if I bought a building. There's just not much upside to renting in a bad neighborhood.

Best case: Your neighborhood stays run down and inconvenient, but cheap.
Worst case: Your neighborhood takes off and you have to move because you can no longer afford it.

Besides, Red Hook is full of swarthy foreigners and squalor.
posted by Gamblor at 12:57 PM on October 24, 2006

The B61 bus runs every 10 minutes at busy times and once an hour in the early morning hours. Red Hook prices seem to have gone up a lot in the last few years. If you mainly want more space and, errrr, a different demographic, somewhere like Sunset Park is likely to give you more for your money and better transportation options.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 1:05 PM on October 24, 2006