morning in Red Hook

since we got the car, we've been exploring Red Hook a lot more. we seriously considered buying a house there, and were really attracted to the area. Its an old waterfront & docks with a rough history, and a hulking industrial fabric. (On the Waterfront was set in Red Hook, but was filmed in New Jersey I believe). Lately its become a bit softer, but is still a stark and beautiful place, with no public transportation and a real mix of residents from a large complex of housing projects to old pioneers from the 70's, to the new young artists. Development is happening, but without any subway stops and very spotty buses it sits almost on an island and should retain some measure of its outsider character for a while I'd guess.

I'd taken the girls out a couple times early on weekend mornings to some of the docks, and wanted to show mother. Part of the demographic shift there is being spurred by the opening of a new Fairway Supermarket, which renovated and moved into a Civil War era warehouse/factory built out into the harbor. Its become our primary grocery store, since Red Hook is practically our next door neighbor, by car. The first stop is the warehouse situated on the pier adjacent to Fairway. Its inhabited by a loose-looking collection of local characters who seem to finally be reaping the rewards of their eccentricities (and real estate foresight). There is a carpenter who makes & sells Key Lime Pies. He's got colorful hand-painted signs posted around his entrance, and you walk right into his cavernous workshop, where he's thrown up a 'retail front' with a counter, price lists and an old oven and counterspace tucked into a corner.
Everywhere there is a homemade feel, with many waterfalls and Koi ponds thrown up by the biggest tennant, a plant nursery called Liberty Sunset Garden Center.
it was here that girls had experienced our unforgettable mornings, with no one else around but we three, and a few of the carpenters and gardeners who were slowly waking up and moving about drinking coffee and watering the plants. There was a mist in the air and it was quiet except for the lapping waves and the seagulls, and we were free to wonder thru the plants and accidentally discover every quirky waterfall and hiding place. There is at least one cat that the girls felt some relationship with, sitting on the concrete and petting her in the sun.

here is one of the crude waterfalls (pvc pipes & plastic sheeting - very thrown together). The original iron doors and structural details are incredible.

an antique threshing board with sharp, toothlike stones wedged tightly into the grooves.

a little breakfast table with one of most enviable but relatively unknown views in the area.

we next walked over to Fairway. Here we are out back, next to the shoreline, where theres a dock for a fairly new Water Taxi that will take you across the harbor to a half dozen stops up Manhattan. Fairway was wise to set up a patio out back here, with a deli/lunch counter. We always time it so that we do a bit of shopping and then sit down to eat with the girls. its become a real destination.

the water taxi coming in behind one of the many tugs

some early morning canoers - along with kayakers, not an uncommon sight and increasing