My editor's notes to the new Red Hook guide



Finally got the Red Hook 2008 guide posted on NewYorkology late yesterday. It's topped off with lots of info about the new Ikea, which will fundamentally change the neighborhood. After the press tour inside the store, I was one of a handful who took part in the tour of the new waterfront park Ikea's built. (And by the end, I was the only one on the tour.) The park tour was lead by Joseph Roth, Ikea's director of public affairs for the U.S. and he started by saying "I've been coming to this location for more than six years. ..."

So among the info in the NewYorkology guide that I think you may not find in all the Ikea/Red Hook coverage elsewhere:

Their dredgers pulled a Mercedes out of the Erie Basin. (No one was inside, and the PR folks I asked thought it was a late-model, but weren't sure. The dredgers also found entire toilets down there.)

Upcoming openings in Red Hook: The gals who run tini wine bar (our go-to no-fuss dinner place) have set July 3 as the opening date for home/made, their new shop down the street. And wow, apparently on July 4 we're getting a coal-oven pizza place called Anselmo's Bakery.

Ikea also gave me some rather specific info about transportation that some of the papers have slightly wrong. The water taxi and bus routes don't kick in until opening day. Oh and by the way, I specifically asked Roth if he's OK with Brooklyn residents using their boats for a free commute, or people from Manhattan just using it as a way to get to the food carts at the soccer field. They are absolutely cool with that. That's when he gave me the "We are introducing Red Hook to the rest of the city," quote. Weeks ago, this question was met with less enthusiasm when I asked the Water Taxi spokeswoman and the Ikea store manager.

Also, considering the ongoing need for NYPD traffic cops in the neighbrohood (and over in Columbia Waterfront District) due to that insanely screwed up road construction project, I found it hugely interesting that Ikea is going to reimburse the NYPD for three months of daily traffic cops to handle the influx of Ikea traffic throughout Red Hook.

Labels: brooklyn, pictures, red hook, restaurants

- posted by Amy @ 6/13/2008 07:46:00 AM