Video: How to Get Your NYC Bike Racks

Check out this great instructional video by Streetfilms about factors needed for an ideal bike rack location



....and now that you know that, come out and help COWNA find bike rack locations throughout the Columbia Waterfront this Saturday!

Red Hook based People's Urban Films featured on BK Independent TV

Long time Red Hook resident Danelle Johnson was recently profiled on Brooklyn Independent Television's Neighborhood Beat series for her community based youth video production program "People's Urban Films."

Check out the video above to see the piece and learn about this amazing program

Red Hook Green Map created by Hook Productions

The Brooklyn Greenway Initiative sent out a link this week to a Green Map that was created by 24 teens from Hook Productions after a project this summer where the teens took a bike tour along the proposed greenway route and took down details to be included on the map. Check out the map here and a video from the project below:



This project was done in collaboration between BGI, the Partnerships for Parks, Red Hook Catalyst, and Recycle-a-Bicycle

Honey, I Shrunk Red Hook video

A video has been released about the "Honey I Shrunk Red Hook" project by Luis Blackaller and Andy Cavatorta that appeared at Lucky Gallery this past August.



This art project and installation - described on Lucky's site as a little Red Hook in the big Red Hook - is such a great concept, and the video does a great job of documenting it.

Check out Lucky Gallery's site for more great installations and events.

Videos of Candidate Debates from Brooklyn Independent Television and CNG

The Community Newspaper Group and Brooklyn Independent Television have recently hosted debates between candidates for a variety of public offices in the upcoming election, and the videos are available online (but unfortunately can't be embedded here.

Videos include:
The 39th District Council candidates
The 33rd District Council candidates
City Comptroller
and Public Advocate.

Check them out here.

Video of DJs Premier, Scratch, and Evil Dee in Red Hook Park

DJ Premier vs. DJ Scratch in Red Hook (Video) from Digiwaxx TV on Vimeo.

I was unfortunately unable to make it to this seemingly classic event - but thank god for internet video! This video features DJ Premier and DJ Scratch battling over crowd pleasing classics - and near the end features a surprise appearance by Evil Dee. The DJ Scratch and Evil Dee Peter Piper Routine is Crazy! There are also many very funny moments here.

My only question seeing this video is - why did Pete Rock not make it out? Check out the review at Cafe Maroon for more information and additional videos.

Historic Trolley Footage

In light of recent announcements about potential trolley service in Red Hook, Gothamist linked back to a post they made a couple years back (the last time the potential for trolley service in Red Hook was discussed) that contained this video of historic Trolley footage in Brooklyn. Enjoy!

Red Hook featured on NBC

Red Hook favorites Sunny's, Defonte's, Botanica, Home/Made, Red Hook Yacht Club, Red Hook Lobster Pound, Steve's Key Lime Pie, and local bloggers Brooklyn Based, were all featured in a video that appeared on NBC over this past 4th of July Weekend.

Calexico on Martha

The whole Calexico crew appeared on the Martha Stewart show earlier this week. Check out the video above.

We can't wait for it to open!

Nightime Bike Racing

The video above is from the Red Hook Night Criterium on March 28, 2009. Check out more details on Bike Blog NYC.

Looks like fun

Freebird's Post-Apocalyptic Book Club on AMC

The AMC Network recently featured Freebird Books, owner Peter Miller, and members of the store's Post-Apocalyptic book club in a feature about upcoming movie The Road, based on the book by Cormac McCarthy.

Check out the video above for great local shots as well as expert post-apocalyptic analysis. And if the video isn't enough for you, head on over to the store at 123 Columbia St.

Moonshine and Tini featured on NY1 Zagat segment

Local bars Moonshine and Tini were featured on a NY1 segment about Zagat rated nighlife in Brooklyn today (called "Red Hook Hot Spots"). Unfortunately, the video doesn't have code for embedding, so people will have to go over to the NY1 website to check it out if they're interested......

See the video and related article here.

Red Hook tv night pt. 2

Tomorrow night is another chance to see Red Hook on Tv. This time, it will be the featured neighborhood onBrooklyn Independent Television's "Neighborhood Beat" series (shown on BCAT). Here is a description of what will be featured from their website:

Neighborhood Beat: Red Hook Monday, February 9 at 12:30pm & 8:30pm On this phenomenal Red Hook episode, we examine even more of what this cutting edge community has to offer. We explore the neighborhood’s maritime heritage with Portside, headquartered aboard the Mary Whalen; pick up some fierce finds at the Brooklyn Collective; take a historic walking t our with guide Gideon Levy; and finally, turn up the heat with some glass blowing at Pier Glass.

Here's how to watch:

You can watch a block of Brooklyn Independent Television productions on the BCAT Television Network every weekday beginning at 12pm and 8pm on Brooklyn’s Time Warner Cable channel 56, Cablevision channel 69, RCN channel 84, Verizon 44 and streaming live online at briconline.org/bcat (channel 3).


Previous episodes of Neighborhood Beat in Red Hook can be found here

New music video shot on Columbia St.

Something about our neighborhood must be appealing to people making music videos. First there was Cop Bar, and now there is this new one called "The Coolest Girl in Town" by the Señors of Marseille:



It has shots of Columbia Foods, Red Apple, the B61, and some other random Columbia St. shots. It also has footage taken at Brooklyn Social on Smith St.

Good video - keep 'em coming!

Red Hook tv night

We started our evening with the documentary A Hole in A Fence (trailer above), which is a great documentary about Red Hook, particularly because it was shot pre-Ikea and places focus on elements of Red Hook that no longer exist. The Red Hook Community Farm, graffiti writers, Red Hook houses residents, the Waterfront museum curators, and more, all get some screen time.

After that, we watched the premier of Real World Brooklyn, which (big surprise) did not show much Red Hook scenery other than their waterfront hideaway. I actually perked up a little when the characters mentioned going to Alma, only to realize that they actually said Elmo. How disappointing.

Over all, I highly recommend A Hole in a Fence, while I partially recommend Real World for mindless entertainment and the constant suspense of how much or how little local footage they show................

Moonshine - aka The Cop Bar

"COP BAR" video by Jimmy Lloyd from jimmylloydsuperstar1 on Vimeo.

I don't know if cops actually hang out at the Moonshine bar on Columbia St. or not, but this music video called "Cop Bar" by Jimmy Lloyd was shot on location at Moonshine, and includes my friend Maggie, tough guys from the Sopranos and Bronx Tale, a bunch of cop types, and much mroe Fun stuff. Interesting how they made the south end of Columbia St. look so shady.....

Late Post: Latin Festival in Coffey Park on 8/3/08

I meant to post this a while ago, but didn't get a chance to upload the videos. On August 3rd, my family and I were walking around Red Hook, and after eating lunch at the ballfields, we made our way over to Coffey Park where we stumbled upon the Red Hook Latin festival. Performances included salsa, merengue, reggaeton and more. It was a fun time for sure and my only complaint is that i didn't hear about it before hand. Check out these videos for a sample of the music:

Inside Look: Brooklyn Waterfront and the Mary Whalen

While digging around on the internet today, I came across this footage that was taken during an Open House NY tour in 2006 in which the public was allowed tour the Brooklyn Marine terminals and the Mary Whalen ship (seen below).

In light of the recent decision to renew American Stevedoring's lease of the container port for 10 more years, this rare opportunity for people to get a glimpse into what lies behind the gates at the waterfront is important.

While I'm happy for the container port's victory, as well as the jobs and historical industry that it preserves, I also hope that events like this will continue to occur in the future and that American Stevedoring will continue to sponsor projects like the Urban Meadow on Van Brunt St., as the best thing for everyone is a good relationship and interaction between the terminals and the community.

Also, be sure to check out Portside NY, the group responsible for the Mary Whalen, and the work and events they do in the area. For example, they are sponsoring a Kayak Valet day on June 7th so that NYC Kayakers can leave their boats and walk around the neigborhood for the Red Hook arts festival.

Brooklyn Photoblog Tribute

While surfing around on Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, I found this fantastic photo montage of Brooklyn scenery that was created by the Brooklyn Optimist for the recent Brooklyn Blogfest.

While it contains pictures from all over Brooklyn, I decided to include it here because some of the pictures were taken nearby, the most recognizable being in Red Hook.

Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn Bridge!

Festivities for the 125th birthday of the Brooklyn Bridge started today, and as a result, the sky was lit up with fireworks.

Here's what it looked from Van Brunt St. in the Columbia St. Waterfront District.