Undiscovered New York: Rambling Red Hook

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Welcome back to Gadling’s weekly series, Undiscovered New York. Being the global metropolis that it is, criss-crossed with highways, cargo ships and landing airplanes, you may find it hard to believe that any part of New York City could be considered isolated. But the fact of the matter is that there are still some parts of the city that could easily be labeled “the place that time forgot.”

One neighborhood that holds such a distinction is Brooklyn’s Red Hook, a charmingly disheveled waterfront district cut off from the rest of the city by the BQE Expressway. Red Hook’s reputation as a working-class, hardscrabble industrial port area is well earned. From the mid 1800’s until the middle of the 20th Century, this was a thriving hub of marine-based commerce in New York City and home to around 20,000 residents, primarily longshoremen.

But by the mid 1960’s, a changing shipping industry had moved many dockworking jobs to New Jersey. The departure of these jobs from Red Hook, along with the completion of the BQE, sent the neighborhood into a period of decline. The 1970’s through the 1990’s saw the area ravaged by crime – LIFE Magazine even went so far as to declare it the “crack capital of America.”

Yet by the end of the 90’s Red Hook was taking a turn for the better. An influx of new residents, attracted by the neighborhoods cheap rents and gorgeous views of the New York Harbor were opening new businesses at a record pace. Recent years have seen further development, including a huge Fairway grocery store, the recent arrival of furniture behemoth IKEA, and a house for castmembers of MTV’s popular reality show The Real World.

Still, despite these changes, Red Hook maintains a unique charm unlike any other part of New York. Want to eat a chocolate covered Key Lime pie on a stick? How about taking in sweeping views of New York harbor and aging industrial relics? Click through for Undiscovered New York’s guide to Red Hook.
Red Hook Food
If there’s one thing that has New Yorkers talking about Red Hook, it’s the many unsung food spots. If you’re anywhere north of Key West, Red Hook is ground zero for some of the country’s best Key Lime pie at Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pies. This unassuming shop is nothing more than a small counter and a refrigerator with some freshly made slices of citrus-y heaven. If you simply can’t wait to try it, get yourself a swingle, which is a personal-size key lime pie on a stick covered in chocolate. Enjoy it outside on a picnic table while you take in some of New York’s best harbor views.

The other amazing food spot in Red Hook is the Red Hook ball fields, home to what is arguably New York’s most authentic collection of Central and South American cuisine. On weekends during the warmer months, the fields host lively soccer matches, and the competition is ringed on all sides by food vendors offering everything from mouth-watering ceviche to milky Horchata drinks to cheesy pupusas.

Van Brunt Street Strip
If lonely Red Hook could be said to have a main strip, it’s probably Van Brunt Street. A range of quirky and eclectic businesses crowd both sides of this thoroughfare, reinforcing Red Hook’s shifting reputation as a home for artists and artisans. LeNell’s is Red Hook’s liquor store and then some, stocking a diverse range of small-batch liquor and exotic mixers for the cocktail enthusiast. Meanwhile dessert specialist Baked offers a mouth-watering array of muffins, cakes and cookies. Those looking to discover their inner longshoreman should stop off for a pint at Sunny’s Bar, a proudly old-school local watering hole since 1890.

Urban Exploring
One of New York’s greatest forgotten pleasures is urban exploring. While there have been great benefits to the city’s gentrification, it’s also stripped away some of the quirky buildings and spaces that once gave the city its character. Red Hook still retains an essence of this “gritty” charm, and it can be amusing to get lost on its many deserted side streets and alleyways, revealing a number of deserted architectural relics. You might stumble upon the imposing Red Hook Grain Terminal, which looms ominously along the area’s waterfront. Or you may meander past the ancient Clay Retort and Fire Brick Works Storehouse, a well-preserved Civil War-era factory that dates to 1859. Meanwhile, massive cruise ships drift by like lumbering giants as they inch their way into the nearby Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. It is perhaps bittersweet to note that one of Red Hook’s most iconic wrecks, the Revere Sugar Refinery, met the wrecking ball in 2007.

The LA River: A sad, lonely body of water that gets no respect

by Neil Woodburn on

Paris has the Seine, Vienna the Danube, and Los Angeles has the LA, river that is.

Whoa, what!?!? Los Angeles has a river?

Perhaps river is far too generous of a term for the 52 miles of concrete-lined “waterways” which tumble from the foothills of Los Angeles down to the Port of Long Beach. And yet, locals in this water-starved city have clung to this definition of “river” because they’ve got nothing else that even comes close. No one even thinks it ironic that the number one activity enjoyed on the LA River is not boating or fishing, but rather filming car chases for blockbuster Hollywood films.

And yet, there are sections of the river that are actually river-like, with flowing water, small islands, and even little fish swimming about. But don’t expect to find these more bucolic stretches on your own.

Visiting the LA River is pretty much at the bottom of most any tourist itinerary, but if exploring massive concrete public works projects is your thing, you should consider checking out Friends of the LA River, a “non-profit organization founded in 1986 to protect and restore the natural and historic heritage of the Los Angeles River and its riparian habitat through inclusive planning, education and wise stewardship.”FoLAR conducts monthly nature walks and urban explorations of this serpentine watershed, exploring the struggling ecosystem, cool bridges, storm drain paintings, and more.

Few locals and even fewer tourists ever make it down to the banks of what is otherwise an invisible river rarely noticed by the throng of commuters who pass by it on a daily basis. River activists hope this will one day change. Although plans are often kicked around to construct a bike path along its banks from the beach to downtown, it will be a long time before this is ever realized. In the meantime, the LA River will continue its lonely, anonymous existence as the river that gets no respect.

(click here for more information about the LA River)

Diggers of the Underground Planet: Exploring the mysteries beneath Moscow

by Neil Woodburn on

Far below the city streets, in the very bowels of Moscow, a ragtag group of modern-day troglodytes oversee the countless, eerie miles of subterranean tunnels and caves which crisscross their way through the Russian capital.

Most tourists are only aware of Moscow’s phenomenal metro system and limit their time underground to short trips between various stations. The metro, however, is just the tip of the iceberg, as they say.

Vadim Mikhailov (above) knows this because he heads up a group called the Diggers of the Underground Planet. The members don’t technically dig, but they do spend a great deal of their time with flashlight in hand, exploring the six to twelve layers of underground Moscow. Since organizing into a group in 1990, the Diggers have been mapping out the abandoned subway tunnels, sewer systems, drainage tunnels, bunkers, riverbeds, waterfalls, lakes, laboratories, torture chambers, mass graves and more. This 850-year old city has lots to hide.

Perhaps the most infamous underground secret is the private subway Stalin had built which reportedly runs to a number of locations including the Kremlin and even to the suburbs outside of Moscow where Stalin had his dacha. This metro is apparently still in operation and therefore a wise Mikhailov never comments on it.
Even more legendary is the 15th century library of Ivan the Terrible. The underground location of this invaluable collection of Byzantium books and scrolls has been lost to history and treasure seekers have been looking for it ever since. As you might imagine, this is the holy grail of Moscow’s underground and the Diggers are constantly searching for it.

Unfortunately, the Diggers do not conduct tours of the tunnels, although there have been reports of them considering this for the future. In the meantime, it’s probably not a good idea to explore the dark underground on your own. In addition to rats, mutated animals, human waste, corpses, and even discarded radioactive material, the Diggers have also come across satanic cults, armed men in uniforms, and members of the criminal underworld living and doing business underground. This is certainly not a place for amateurs.

Seven must-see abandoned wonders

by Jerry Guo on

Here’s a nice gallery of seven derelict structures around the US that you can visit. Yes, I know, I’m two months late on this one (Halloween), but by the looks of these pictures, the places look like they would be cool to visit year-round.

There’s one that I didn’t expect on the list: the old headquarters of Sun Microsystems in Palo Alto. Isn’t real estate in Silicon Valley going through the roof? It’s incredible that there’s all these abandoned buildings in the middle of bustling metropolises.

For something closer to home, there’s Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh (I wrote for a paper there this summer). For some reason, there’s apparently lots of abandoned prisons in that region that are catering to tourists now. I dug up this nice article that a colleague of mine from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wrote about a prison tour he went on.

Now, my question is does anyone know of urban exploration clubs around New York (or anywhere else) that arrange expeditions to these kind of places?

Tunneling under universities becoming more difficult

by Neil Woodburn on

Many large American universities offer fascinating opportunities for urban exploration in the form of underground tunnels.

Although most students don’t know they even exist, those that do, tend to be infatuated with infiltrating their subterranean depths.

The tunnels were built to distribute water, wiring, and steam for heating, to the numerous buildings on campus. They’re dark, mysterious, and alluring–or so I’m told. I chickened out of exploring the six miles of tunnels on my campus because of the rumor that anyone caught inside would be immediately expelled from the university, no questions asked.

Those that did take the risk, however, report that it was rather easy to find a way in and move about undetected. This is no longer the case. According to an LA Times article by Tony Barboza, universities across the country, fearful of terrorist attacks and lawsuits from adventures gone bad, are tightening up tunnel access, sealing entrances, and installing security systems. In other words, if you try it today, you will get caught.

Dammit, one more college tradition killed off!