red hook

earlier this week, i took a walk to ikea, in red hook, brooklyn.

red hook has been getting a fair amount of attention in the past few years as one of "new cool neighborhoods" in brooklyn. this is with very good reason. it is very cool.

but one of the reasons that it's so great, is that it's hard to get to. there are no subways nearby, and only one bus line runs there. new yorkers are not such huge takers of buses, for some reason.

in the summer, it's pretty busy- people take nice long walks to get there, or ride bikes. but in the winter, especially on a weekday afternoon, the place is pretty quiet.

i used to live just next to red hook, and really loved the solitude of being there. i took some photos to share with you, which i hope captured how calm & lovely it is:

if you look at the area on a map, you can see that red hook has a lot of access to the water. i think it's one of the reasons that it's such a calming place to go.

but the neighborhood is also quite industrial, which is a nice contrast.