Red Hook Star-Revue November 16

SOUTH BROOKLYN’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER

The Red Hook StarªRevue

THROUGH DEC. 1, 2012 FREE

After two weeks of shock and bewilder-ment, followed by a lot of hard work, Sunday, November 11 turned into a day

of celebration. A merry band of min-strels brought music and light into our darkened village.

Restore Red Hook helped organized the bluegrass parade through Red Hook. The afternoon began with an opening jam inside Bait and Tackle. After an hour, singer/songwriter Jan Bell, gui-tarist Seth Kessel and Jonathan Hull on washboard led fellow musicians and travelers up and down Van Brunt and finally to Sunny’s Bar. This could have been parade day in the New Or-leans French Quarter except for our law against the public consumption of alchohol.

The musicians and their followers marched up to Hope and Anchor sing-ing the traditional American song “Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad.” All sorts of instruments were crossing Wolcott Street: guitars, harmonicas, washboards, mandolins, fiddles and even an accordion. Sunny’s, Red Hook home to many of these musicians, was the eventual destination, but there were many stops in between.

Kessel took the lead for a couple of tunes. He creates a rich mellow tone on his acoustic Gibson guitar. The sound of the guitar was a perfect bed to the music. Kessel could make anyone for-get the venue, busy Van Brunt Street. He is part of many Brooklyn bluegrass jams, including those at Mary’s Bar in the South Slope, Freddy’s, and of course, Sunny’s. The ensemble broke into “When the Saints Go Marching In,” followed by “Sitting On Top of the World,” while gathered in front of the beloved Red Hook eatery that miracu-lously avoided any major flood damage.

Huoll, another Sunny’s regular, played the pone percussion instrument - a washboard. later in the afternoon, the lanky Hull showed off his skills on the harmonica, which he is more well know for in the Brooklyn based bluegrass band, Jones Street Station. Red Hook Slim, a talented local harmonica player and a regular at blues jams throughout the city including the Union Street Star Theater, was just one of many mouth harpists that joined in.

Fort Defiance was the next stop on the map. St. John was brewing a spicy apple cider in front of his restaurant, which is now under renovation. At this point, Jan Bell became the ad hoc musical

RED HOOK RENEWS ITS SPIRIT WITH A SUNDAY JAM

by George Fiala

Sunny and Tone welcomes their Red Hook friends with a heartfelt tear of joy. (photo by George Fiala)

(continued on page 4) (continued on page 3)

Damage at Red Hook Houses is unprecedentedby Kimberly Gail Price

On Sunday, November 11, the streets of Red Hook bustled with utility trucks, medical mobile units and contractors. Neglected Red Hook was finally getting assistance after nearly two weeks of very little forward progress. The community had stood strong and was getting a huge national spotlight in the media. News-papers, TV anchors and radio broadcasts painted a picture of a strangled neigh-borhood on the edge of starvation and death. But I knew of the community that reached within its own pockets to provide during the disaster. Why was the rest of the world seeking out the worst of the worst in Red Hook?

Maybe Red Hook had run out of resourc-es. Maybe frustrations had turned neigh-bors against each other. Maybe help was too late and we were beyond repair. How far away from normality were we?

Assistance took a while to get here. Lon-ger than it should have. But when it ar-rived, the community was still standing as one. And the companies that could turn the lights back on and restore heat

were on our doorsteps, working together. The community was grateful, not angry or desolate.

National Grid began as-sessing the damage on Tuesday, October 30. Af-ter speaking with a crew foreman on Van Brunt, he informed me that he and his teams will be out working around the clock until every last customer has gas restored. National Grid expects all residents in Red Hook should have their cooking gas back by Monday, November 12.

They have opened up 34 man holes along Van Brunt. Section by section, they have been working to push water out of the pipes. Once that is complete, plumbers must come and inspect the equipment. He said that once the electronic equip-ment goes under water, it all must be re-placed. Once everything is approved, gas can be restored. However, heat will not

return before the power does.

Most of their equipment lies under-ground. The friendly foreman said the only way to prevent water in the gas lines is to prevent flooding.

Customer Service was also out in the neighborhood on Monday to assist with inspections of equiptment that was either damaged or submerged.

Verizon had several trucks in the area.

Page 2 Red Hook Star-Revue www.RedHookStar.com Through December 1, 2012

People

Star-Revue Community CalendarCOMMUNITY BOARD 6: ALL MEETINGS AT 6:30 PMMon. Nov. 19 Economic/Waterfront/Community Development and Housing Committee: Presentation and update from representatives for the Trust for Governors Island (formerly the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation) on planned and contemplated Capital projects, programs and events on Governors Island. Long Island College Hospi-tal, 339 Hicks Street, Room A

OTHER MEETINGS

Tue, December 4 Boerum Hill Association Board Meeting, 7:00pm – 8:30pm Bishop Mugavero Center, 155 Dean Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217

Tue, November 27 Cobble Hill Park volunteer cleanup 7:15am – 8:15am, Cobble Hill Park, Clinton and Congress Streets

Wed, November 28 Red Hook Civic Association: monthly meeting 7:30 PS 15 auditorium

Sat., November 17 PS 58’s own Brownie Troop 2440 will be holding a book drive this Saturday to benefit PS52 in Staten Island. PS52 was hard hit by hurricane Sandy and lost everything. We are trying to help re-stock their book shelves. Citibank, 375 Court Street (1st Pl.)



NOVEMBER 16-30 2012 VOLUME 3 NO.22

Table of ContentsPeople ............................... 2 Thanksgiving ............ 12Bluegrass ................... 1,4,5 Resource Direc. ........ 13Van Brunt businesses .... 8,9 Arts Calendar ............ 18Spoof .............................. 10 Classifieds ................ 19 Crossword ...................... 11 School Benefit .......... 20

STAFFKimberly G. Price ......................................Editor/PublisherGeorge Fiala ......................................... Graphics/PublisherAlexandra Gillis .................................................... ReporterVince Musacchia .................................................CartoonsErik Penney ..................................................... RestaurantsEric Ruff .............................................................. CalendarMatt Graber ..............................................Special ProjectsSara Saldutti ...........................................Retail AdvertisingHarold Boynes .................................Corporate Advertising

ContributorsMary Anne Massaro, Mary Ann Pietanza,

Brian Clancy

Member

@RedHookStarwww.facebook.com/redhookstarrevue

718.624.5568 - Editorial & Advertising 917.652.9128 News Tips101 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231 [email protected]

Red Hook’s Michelle Clark served as a poll inspector on Election Day as Barack Obama swept Brooklyn with over 80% of the votes and was re-elected President.

Fort Defiance owner St. John takes time out from his rebuilding to be interviewed by the Financial Times (photo by George Fiala)

Red Hook Star-Revue www.RedHookStar.com Through December 1, 2012 Page 3

(continued from page 1)

Neighbors taking care of neighbors in Red Hook Houses

They were high up on telephone pole lines repairing and replacing satellites and phone lines, so starting a conversa-tion with them was a little difficult.

Several mobile Red Cross medical units were set up around Coffey Park and the Houses. Although the lines receded as the evening wore on, their hands were still busy long after my departure.

A NYCHA employee who wished to re-main anonymous watched as I climbed down from a fence post. I was snapping pictures of a massive pile of garbage that loomed more than 7 feet in the air. When I reached terra firma, he asked why I had gone to such great lengths for the photo.

He said he has worked for NYCHA for a number of years, and he and the Hous-ing Authority have never seen this kind of damage on such an enormous scale. NYCHA was completely unprepared for this kind of a disaster. It is by far the largest amount of power outages they have ever experienced due to flooding.

All of the electrical equipment will have to be replaced, which could take months and will cost millions. In the meantime, NYCHA is doing what they can to return heat and power to their tenants as quickly as possible. They have hired a number of outside con-tractors to install temporary boilers and other equipment to provide heat, hot water and electricity.

Many NYCHA employees were evacu-ated; others stayed behind, sleeping on cots inside the buildings to help out where they could. This particular work-er was one who had moved to higher ground. When he returned, he was stunned at the severity of the situation.

WDF was one of the independent con-tractors that NYCHA outsourced. Over in a courtyard at the West Houses, John Ruckel had some friendly answers to my questions, where he and his team were setting up a temporary boiler that would service all of the buildings without heat. Their job was to install the boiler and hook up water and gas. When that phase was complete, another contractor would come in and connect steam. A third contracting team would connect the boiler to the temporary generator that had previously been installed. Then, the boiler could be turned on and would provide heat for the entirety of Red Hook Houses West. They anticipated the entire operation would be complete and functioning within 24 hours. WDF is also working around the clock to provide these systems in Coney Is-

land, the Rockaways and Staten Island until the job is done.Con Edison had a significant presence among the Houses as well. They were working with Five Star, an outside elec-trical company to locate boxes, connect power under the streets and then link it to the housing units.Five Star is working side by side with the energy provider to replace all of the dam-aged electrical equipment. Both compa-nies have been working 14 hour days. As I walked by one of their sites, a Con Ed worker was repeatedly thrusting a stick into the soft earth. My curiosity beckoned and I stopped for a look. The power was on under the street. He was looking for the circuit box that con-nects to the housing unit.

The elusive connector was probably un-der the last slab of sidewalk that lined the building. A jolly crewman asked if I might be interested in helping dig up that portion of concrete. My perplexed expression must have told him I was completely unfit for that job. I quickly walked away, as the crew discussed how to locate the circuit box.Health Outreach to Teens (HOT) is a Chelsea based medical support for homeless and HIV+ teens ages 13-24. The LGBT focused group was sent to Red Hook on Saturday by the City Council. City Council Speaker, Chris-tine Quinn asked them to come back again on Sunday.

After volunteering their services to hurricane victims, HOT was given day-today assignments and did not know how long they would be assisting in Red Hook. They saw entire ranges to people, including a seventy year-old woman who had just left before I arrived. They helped fill the gaps for residents cannot get to their medical providers. HOT spent the day and evening treat-ing chronic health conditions, giving flu vaccinations and treating minor in-juries. They also had some medical pre-scriptions on board, but could provide runners to local pharmacies to pick up ones they did not have. The volunteers of HOT, Phyllis Pickens, RN; Elaine Chan, registration coordina-tor; Ronica Mukerjee, FNP; and Nelson Ponce, the driver welcomed me aboard their mobile unit and shared their stories with me. They said that a lot of people are still experiencing shock surrounding the disaster. Restoring the basic ame-nities was also hindering the problem. Many were eager to share stories with the volunteers or among the other patients.HOT did not know where they would be sent to next, but they were committed to

helping for as long as they were needed.

A few hours after my encounter with the mountain of trash, I circled back around to Columbia Street. the De-partment of Sanitation had crews out working as well. By the time, I reached the mini landfill, they had cleared away more than half, leaving only puddles of seepage on the curb.

After taking a few more pictures from ground level, I commended them for their efforts in the neighborhood over the past week and a half. Despite the masses the neighborhood built, it was always efficiently disposed of. Not only were they picking up all residential trash on a daily basis, but also sparing small businesses the burden of costly commercial fees to cart off extra waste caused by Hurricane Sandy.

The two sanitation workers were “amazed at the amount of trash” they had collect-ed in ten days. “It’s sad. To see people’s whole lives, it’s all garbage now.”

Over at 21 Mills Street, young Luis Mal-donato was standing outside He is a stu-dent at South Brooklyn High School on Imlay and Conover and has been doing his part to help out. His apartment never lost power. but some of his family members on the other side of the houses did. He says people are looking out for each other.I asked him about the national cover-age that the Red Hook houses were receiving. “Mostly, people keep the houses clean, but there are always dirty people.” He also said that some places may be a mess, but for the most part, residents and NYCHA were working together to solve issues as they arise. From what I saw, he was right. The hallways were cleared of trash, except for the trash bags NYCHA had set up to replace the unusable incinerators. These garbage bags were removed on a daily basis. There was no foul odor in any of the houses I visited.

Luis also told me about giving his time at a nearby shelter. A woman with her child was begging for an extra blanket, but the shelter had allocated one blan-ket per person. he gave her the thickest softest blanket he could find.

I wandered up the darkened stairwells of 21 Mills Street, awaitnig the hor-rors I have read about in other media. I found nothing remotely close. Instead I encountered Margaret standing by the top floor window smoking a cigarette. She puts out candles night so that her elderly neighbor doesn’t fall.

Another resident peeked out the door to tell me that the elevators were now run-ning and I didn’t have to take the stairs.

This particular building has power now, but the building does not. But spotlights have been placed in all of the court-yards. Lights shine through windows in stairwells giving off enough light to navigate, albeit slowly

Over at the Dwight Street Houses, I spoke with two gentlemen outside, who did not want their names to be included. They were frustrated that power and heat were still not on. They told me stories about their families and children and not being able to provide for them. But neighbor-hood was taking care of all of the people, and they didn’t have to worry.

They talked about how boiling water on the stove made the walls sweat, and ev-erything inside was being ruined by con-densation, but they were staying warm.

When I mentioned wanting to go up on the roof, they warned me against it. It was very dark up there these days and trouble could be brewing up there. When I decided to go anyway, they of-fered to escort me with flashlights. I de-clined because I wanted to experience the darkness and heinous conditions the media has been reporting. Finally,

they told me to call out for them if I was in danger; I promised I would.

But once again, there was nothing in-side the apartment building that war-ranted this reaction. Neighbors shared their candles along the darkened cor-ridors, even though light was scarce inside the apartment walls. The build-ing was clean; the only odors were from recently extinguished candles. The roof was extremely dark. But empty. Look-ing over the edge of the building, I didn’t see sick helpless people writhing in need. I saw groups of people laugh-ing and sharing stories. I saw neighbors embrace neighbors. I saw a man helping a lady with her newly acquired supplies.

All in all, Red Hook still has many needs. And all of the problems will not be solved when the lights come on. But this desolate picture America has painted of us is inaccurate. There are still many concerns. There are lots of reasonable complaints. The conditions without heat, water and electricity are miserable during a chilly November. But Red Hook is taking care of Red Hook. Neighbors. Friends. Family. Community.

A woman on the 6th floor went to check on her elderly neighbor. They were con-versing in Spanish and laughing as I came down the stairs. The younger lady’s husband came out to join her, at first in a protective way, but then in a friendly ges-ture, he began telling me about sleeping with five blankets at night to stay warm. He commented that under the blankets was warm enough, but getting up in the morning was very cold. “Shoo wee!” he laughed. Mostly, they talked about feel-ing lucky to be alive. They have no heat, no power, no running water. But they can survive all of that.

Seven foot piles of garbage are common. (photos by Kimberly Price)

This hallways was lit by the giant spot-lights outside.


supervisor and group leader. Jan sings, plays guitar and writes songs with the Maybelles, a touring bluegrass band. Jan, who is originally from England, leads the band that plays not only at Bait and Tackle and Jalopy, but also venues such as Cafe Lena in Saratoge, Manhat-tan’s Rodeo Bar and Pete’s Candy Store in Williamsburg. Maybelles has played abroad in Jan’s home country.

The musicians played “Tennessee Bor-der” while marching down Van Brunt. This class country hit was first made

Red Hook takes a day offfamous by Red Foley and Hank Wil-liams, Sr. A long-running WKCR radio program also takes their name from the song. Kessel’s guitar sounded extra sweet, while Alex Mallet, of the band that bears his name, broke a string on his banjo.

Hanging in front of KentlerThe musicians began multiplying. Jan started calling out songs along with which key to play them in. She brought the crowd in front of Florence Neal’s Kentler International Drawing Space for a few songs. Kentler is a Red Hook icon that opened on Van Brunt Street 22 years ago. Florence emerged, excit-edly snapping pictures. She immedi-ately posted one of them to the gallery’s Facebook page. Her caption read: “Mu-sic to the ears of Red Hook! Sunny’s

Bluegrass Jam takes to the streets of Red Hook second line style to benefit local businesses.”

The next song appropriately accompa-nied the beautiful day. The state song of Louisiana “You Are My Sunshine” by

former governor Jimmy Davis was right on target at the Red Hook love fest.

The bluesy “I Know You Rider” fol-lowed, featuring blistering harmonica solos from Red Hook Slim and Hull. The scene was ensconced in front of the gallery where Nancy Dean Hunt, an art specialist in Carroll Gardens flanked Hull. Her oversized smile was reminiscent of Joni Mitchell’s. Her hus-band Andrew, who was playing guitar, explained that she sang pretty well her-self, although on this day she remained

a happy onlooker.

“The Sun Will Shine in My Back Yard, Someday” was next as we all began marching down the block and across the street towards the Dry Dock Out-post. Dry Dock’s original location on the corner of Van Brunt and Van Dyke was flooded and being repaired. In the interim, they have rented the former Added Value space across from Hope & Anchor and have set up shop there.

“Sunny looks genuinely affected, saying that “If I could

cry the way I’ve cried today, I’d do it the rest of my life.”

He was referring to tears of joy.”

Red Hook Slim blasts a solo along with Hull in front of the Kentler Gallery

(continued on next page)The owners of Good Fork listen in.

(continued from page 1)


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Mary stressed that this was for now sim-ply an ‘outpost.’.

Next stop: Dry Dock OutpostOwner, Mary Dudine Kyle was enjoying the music, banging away on boxes and a mailbox as she kept time to the mu-sic. “Dirty Old Town,” written by Ewen MacColl, became famous to modern generations by the Pogues. The song mentions gas works, docks and factories - all seemingly appropriate to the day. “Today we are all celebrities. Not survi-vors, not victims,” Mary said.

Woody Guthrie’s, “This Land is Your Land” drew lots of singing accompani-ment as the parade moved on to The Good Fork. Van Brunt’s premier res-taurant is still closed, so Jan took the group to the fence next door. Owners Ben, and Sohui came out to listen as Jan called for the classic “Bury Me Beneath the Willow.” One thought of the Van Brunt willow that came down during the storm.

Afterwards Jan announced that the po-lice were giving tickets for drinking in

public. It was true, according to an on-looker who verified this with the Star-Revue. Later on that day, the cops com-plained to Sunny about whiskey being

drunk in the street.

The time for the pilgrimage to Sunny’s, was the final stop of the day. The crowd sang “May the Circle Be Unbroken,” while the Star-Revue chatted with young banjo player Doug Goldstein. He heard about this day via musician word-of-mouth, as did many others who came to play. He looked much like a fresh faced Tim Buckley, evoking an earlier time as he wore a felt hat he had bought in Oregon, . His band, Party Folk, has played Sunny’s and Manhattan’s Rodeo Bar.

A very large mobile meat smoker with two large tires sat across the street from Sunny’s Bar. The ubiquitous Billy Dur-ney was busy doing what he’s been do-ing nonstop since the hurricane: bar-becuing. Today’s menu was pork and brisket. He has been donating his time while Fairway and others have donated the meat. For a donation, people ate a delicious sandwich of meat and raw on-ions. “This is barbecue done right,” Bil-ly said. “Barbecue and Bluegrass.” Billy’s restaurant, Hometown, which will open on the corner of Reed and Van Brunt sometime next year, is already well known due in large part to Billy’s gen-erosity and good nature.

The meat was accompanied by hot cider dished out in front of Sunny’s. Sunny came outside along with his Norwe-gian wife, Tone. Tone announced to

the crowd “It is touching my heart to see you here.” Sunny looked genuinely affected, saying that “If I could cry the way I’ve cried today, I’d do it the rest of

my life.” He was re-ferring to tears of joy.

Afterwards Sunny spoke quietly on many topics, includ-ing his amazement at the outpouring of help he’s received. “The first respond-ers were friends and neighbors,” he said. Cradling a glass of cider with perhaps a shot, he spoke of his days in the Air Force, where he went from being a mechanic to being the base gar-dener; the days when he operated as a pri-vate club where the

to celebrate strength and rebirth

honor system was used for payment; and a touching story about how he met his wife and partner, Tone.

As the sun set on a lovely Sunday in Red Hook, the generators kicked in, giving the bar a gorgeous red hue.

Heartland’s traveling smoker has been all over the place.

Doug Goldstein strikes a classic banjo pose. (all photos by Fiala)

After a while, singer Jan Bell more or less led the traveling band of musicians.

A hearty band of citizens accompanied the musicians all afternoon.


We are across from Coffey Park(718) 923-9880


Along with the Gowanus’s Superfund status, the in-dustrial zoned surrounding areas have been declared a

brownfield as of 2003. A brownfield is a former industrial site that has seen significant damage from contamina-tion. With the Environmental Protec-tion Agency (EPA) involved with the@cleanup of the Gowanus, as well as sev-eral private sector organizations doing their part to help, it seems as though a lot of parties have things to say on what should be done to improve the area. The Brownfield Opportunity Areas Pro-gram (BOA) gives the Gowanus area a chance to utilize New York Department of State (DOS) funds through a survey that is set up for areas like itself.

The Steering Committee for the Gowa-nus BOA Program includes several green organizations already involved

with the Gowanus area. These include The Gowanus Canal Conservancy, Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Devel-opment Corporation, and the Gowanus Alliance, along with Starr Whitehouse as their consultant team. As partner and landscape artist, Steve Whitehouse ex-plains, the committee has not yet begun making recommendations for the sur-vey. But so far it seems as though each organization has aspirations to see posi-tive changes to the Gowanus Area.Rich Kampf of the Gowanus Canal Conservancy explains that when it comes to the survey, the “key focus is on the objectives that surround economic development.” The conservancy’s special projects have a strong focus on green improvements like their efforts to make floating gardens, bioswales, com-post, and so forth.

The Conservancy aims to help the sur-

vey “support green and gray infrastruc-ture product,” which would include some of the “old fashioned” ways of han-dling storm water. The EPA explains gray infrastructure as handling storm water so it “takes the waste water away from our fields, parks, homes and busi-nesses,” instead of diluting it. The EPA also says that contrary to popular belief, “the idea that ‘dilution is the solution to pollution’ is not a way to get away from stormwater and its pollutants.”

The Gowanus Alliance along with hav-ing a green perspective, has a strong focus advocating the industrial use of the Gowanus area. Their online mis-sion statement speaks to those who run industrial businesses around the Gowa-nus. “The manufacturing base that ex-ists in our area is vital not only to you as a business or property owner, but also to our city’s future ability to endure hard

A Child Grows In Brooklynby Mary Anne Massaro“8 million stories out here in the naked.”

~A quote from rapper, Jay Z on his Empire State Of Mind album

Well it’s true, everyone has a story to tell. Mine began in Red Hook, Brooklyn. I was born in 1960 in an apartment building at 148 Conover Street. My mother, Theresa and father, Andrew already had 2 sons, Andyben and Tommyboy. I can remember how they would tell me what a joy it was when the doctors said “it’s a girl!” Though a lot of my memories of those days are not very vivid, some are planted in my mind as though it were just yesterday. Photographs of childhood are few for many people who grew up back then. Ask people for childhood photos and they will tell how cameras were luxuries and not necessities for most families. This is why I was so overjoyed to receive this old photo recently from a dear, old friend whose family lived one floor above us in that same building on Conover Street. As I recall, it was her aunt who drove my mother to the hospital on the day she went into labor with me. My mother would tell me the story of how she insisted that my mother name the baby after her if it were a girl. And so I went from being called Ev-elyn in the womb to being named Mary Anne in the nursery after my Godmother. I carry a lot of memories like that from my childhood in Red Hook. We were all like one big family back then. There was one school and one church, so we all met up somewhere at sometime in the neighborhood. I don’t think we had car service or taxis there was always a neighbor to help out with a ride when we needed it. We all lived together, played together, loved together in the small neighborhood at the end of Brooklyn that most people didn’t even know existed!

Gowanus BOA takes advantage of brownfield designationby Alexandra Gillis

economic times.”

Paul Basile, President of Gowanus Al-liance explained the need for a survey of industrial infrastructure. “It’s going to be harder and harder for the indus-trial zone to have resources,” he said. This is partially due to a shift in infra-structure priority created by spot resi-dential rezoning in the area, Paul said that when it comes to the industrial zones, “we’re trying to make sure we don’t get left behind.”

What decisions will be made from the BOA Program are still uncertain. Dis-cussions between the BOA Program, Steering Committee, and Department of State are just getting started. The col-laboration of Brownfield and Superfund hopes to speed along improvements to Gowanus and those who still make use of its surrounding areas.

Mary Anne Massa-ro and her brother Tommy outside the house they grew up in at 148 Conover Street in 1964. (photo courtesy of Bubbles Silvetti)

Pathmark shuts down as storm waters invade

Fairway was not the only area supermarket to close due to storm damages. Both Path-mark and Fine Faire suffered lost days. Local bodegas and the Met Foods all report extra business. (photo by Kimberly Gail Price)


After a day of shock and commiseration, the busi-ness people of Red Hook got down to real recovery

work on Wednesday, October 31. The streets were full of garbage bags. The sound of gas generators spraying wa-ter out of basement pumps was every-where.

The Hamilton Avenue Chase Bank opened Wednesday for the first time that week. Around noon, there were very few customers. One of them was the owner of a Red Hook graphic de-sign firm that lost all their equipment and most of their files. She told the bank manager that she couldn’t go through all of this again, and was look-ing to move her business out of Red Hook - away from the water. This was not what we heard from most of the other places we visited.

Another customer was Brooklyn Crab owner, John Czar. He reported little damage or loss from the storm. They were spending their off time help-ing out neighbors, including Perch and Steve’s Key Lime Pie. They were helping Amy from Perch save as much merchandise as possible. Czar said he thought many of her ceramic sculp-tures could be saved. They were all picked up by the floodwaters and found floating around the shop.

Walking up Van Brunt from Hamil-ton, we encountered furniture makers, Uhuru. Owner, Jason Horvath report-ed that the second floor space - where most of the manufacturing is done - suffered no damage. However, the first floor was host to over four feet of water during the relatively short time of high tide.

Their first floor space is divided into a showroom and a storage room for the unique woods that they use to pro-duce their custom tables. In the stor-age room, a crew of men were work-ing to stabilize the large slabs used to make tabletops. Horvath did not know whether the efforts to save the wood will be successful. Jason was curious about how FEMA worked, and was anxious for more information.

Finished pieces in the showroom were awaiting shipment to customers. Many had been damaged by the water. Jason reported that a 5,000 pound slab of wood floated to the other side of the room. The caustic seawater is danger-ous to wood furniture. Another poten-tial problem here is mold. Uhuru was not entirely prepared because no one could believe how high the waterline rose. “Nobody had any idea this was coming. No one expected this,” he said.

Coach Bus Repair, the looming space next door, experienced a flood high enough to cover the bus engines that were in their shop waiting to be re-paired. Sean, one of their mechanics, said they were not worried. “Fixing buses is what we do!” In addition to the buses, they suffered damage to their

lifts and power tools. The enormous shop was buzzing with activity as every-one showed up for work - despite the subway shutdown. They were busy get-ting everything back in order, including liberal use of the power-vacuum to suck up all the remaining water. “The waters were everywhere,” said Sean.

Jim Totten is a cabinet and furniture maker, who rents space in the historic Van Brunt Street firehouse. He has spent the past three months carefully building cabinets for a new Stumptown coffee outlet that will be opening in the Village. On Friday he boarded up all the windows. Sunday morning he came back to further prepare. Hearing the predictions of the storm surge, he returned on a whim Sunday night to place his current project on a high ta-ble. The last minute action was his sav-ing grace, because the cabinets survived unscathed.

The water spoiled about $4,000 worth of plywood, some large machinery tools and everything else in the shop that was stored below the four foot water line. A small outside alcove in the back, which was a repository for all sorts of wood and metal building materials, was “once a storage area, now a disaster area.”

Next door, red headed Nancy Carbone, Founder and Executive Director of the Friends of Firefighters, explained their biggest loss - the expensive industrial kitchen in the back of the first floor. The water went up past sink level, ruining a large refrigeration unit and gas range. “This is a problem because we use it a lot.” The oversize refrigerator was brand new. They also lost historic books and magazines, as well as boxes of T shirts. But, she said with a big smile, “It’ll take a lot more than this to push me out.”

Across the street, Sergi’s Images was a scene of devastation. Water flooded the entire 6,000 foot warehouse. Much of the space was a complete loss. By Octo-ber 31, they had already taken down all the walls in the front and were putting up new ones. The fetid water compro-mised the sheet rock. They lost expen-sive polishing machines, etchers and supplies. The foreman, Ubaldo, pointed to damaged hi-lo’s, dumpsters full of destroyed equipment and broken glass doors that were being made for clients, like Chase Bank. Worst of all, the mo-tors of their three specialized trucks de-signed to carry the the glass were dam-aged beyond repair. In front, towering mounds of fresh garbage awaited pick up by the Department of Sanitation.

At the Pioneer Supermarket, owner Carmen pointed to the water mark that was two shelves high. All of the mer-chandise below was ruined. Friends were walking around with garbage bags collecting the spoiled goods to add to the garbage mountains all over the side-walks. “I spoke to my insurance agent, and he already told me that what they couldn’t pay for, I should ask FEMA about. You see - the insurance compa-

Van Brunt businesses take a big Sandy hit

by George Fiala

Jim Totten points to the water line out-side of his Van Brunt shop.

Totten and partner with one of the cabi-nets they were able to save.

Sergi’s, a Van Brunt manufacturer, took huge losses of equipment.

Sergi’s foreman shows how high the water reached.

The shop was almost a total loss. The flood caused almost $2 million worth of damage.The remnants of household goods and

business merchandise were all over.

Stumptown had to do a total cleaning.

Trying to save Uhuru’s wood.

Uhuru owner Jason Horvath in his dam-aged showroom

Friends of Firefighters’ Nancy Carbone points out her damaged industrial refrig-erator in the darknews.


nies - they will pay when there’s a fire, but they don’t like to pay for water,” Carmen told the Star-Revue.

Mark’s Pizza was busy pumping out their basement. Owner, Tony Kokale ex-plained that his generator had broken down, so he was using his car battery to power the pump. The basement was a complete mess, just as most businesses along Van Brunt were. He lost his com-plete stock of soda, which he estimated at $2,500. His air conditioning com-pressor sitting in the back yard was most likely unusable. He had recently spent $5,000 on a computerized motor for the walk in freezer that blew up when Con Ed flipped on the power for a split second. “I ran to the back to shut it off, but it was too late.” He got there just in time to see it smoking.

Kokale is hoping to reopen as soon as he gets some financial assistance from his insurance company and FEMA. “I put everything up high before the storm, but nobody expected the water to come up as high as it did.” Sandbags placed by the door were no help. “The water rushing down Van Brunt was like a tsu-nami,” he said. On Tuesday, he fed vol-unteers with left over pizza. For now, he cannot make any more.

Scott Pfaffman is an artist who has lived on Van Brunt for 22 years. About 50 large garbage bags full of art books were piled up on the street in front of his house. He showed me a waterlogged book on Picasso that was on top of one of the bags. “Look at those bananas,” he said as he pointed to a page. When asked if any of the books might be salvageable, and he replied “With any luck, I’ll put together a new library.”

His friend Tania, who was staying in the back of his building, was helping out. They laughingly fought over who saved whom from the raging waters.

Pfaffman said inspectors from the De-partment of Environmental Protection (DEP) were already in Red Hook by Tuesday, October 30 to check out over 40 basements. “Number 2 fuel oil is a killer,” Pfaffman said. When a burner leaks, the DEP will demand proof of soil remediation. “That could cost me $70,000 to $80,000 and I have no insur-ance for that.”

Pfaffman mentioned that while most of Van Brunt took in floodwaters, for some reason the stores around Coffey Street were spared ground-level flooding. This included Baked and the Kentler Gal-lery. This area is being called “Coffey Heights” by some in the neighborhood.

Brett Underhill is an animator who has lived at 374 Van Brunt for three years. He did not evacuate along with many

other locals. He saw the water rush down Van Brunt Monday night around 8 pm, and then leave just as quickly a few hours later. He expected his power outage to last for as long as ten days. He was pleas-antly surprised when his power came on around 1:30 pm on Halloween. Everyone had been told 4-10 days. He lives on an upper floor and said his life was halfway back to normal, just three days after Van Brunt Street was ransacked by Hurricane Sandy. But most others are not so lucky; after more than two weeks, many still do not have electricity.

Further down the block, Nate’s Phar-macy was not only lit, but open for business. The white coated pharmacist was busy preparing medications in the back. An attractive woman, Ida Lagoa, dressed as a nun was handling custom-ers. Actually, she was only a nun for the day, because it was Halloween. A large bowl full of candy sat on the counter, but Lagoa said that not one trick-or-treater had stopped by. She seemed a disappointed.

She lives in the Red Hook Houses. As soon as the electric was turned on, she was called in to work and explained that while no water came through the front door, the basement was filled, with it and a cleanup was in full swing.

Lagoa didn’t evacuate her home because with a mother and a daughter, it seemed too complicated. She said that everyone on the first floor left. While it was incon-venient with elevators and electricity, it still was home. She also said that she needed to get home before it got dark.

Further up, Baked, Red Hook’s preferred coffee bar and bakery, suffered water damage only in the basement. All they lost was product, including a large sup-ply of their cookbooks. Armed with electricity and a working kitchen, they were gearing up to open Thursday morn-ing. Manager, Jordan Slocum said they had been giving coffee to the many vol-unteers helping get Red Hook back on its feet. “We’re very lucky,” said Slocum.

On the Wednesday after the storm, Van Brunt’s restaurants created a free community barbecue for all the volunteers and workers. (photos by George Fiala)

Baked avoided first floor flooding. Matt, one of the owners, is on vac duty.

Nate’s Pharmacy was filling prescriptions as soon as the power on their block was turned on. Ida Lagoa is dressed for Halloween.

Artist Scott Pfaffman was stoic.

The Pioneer Supermarket lost their bot-tom three shelves of goods.

Brett Underhill was surprised that his power returned after less than two days. Others are not so fortunate.

Mark’s Pizza was hit inside, outside, and in the basement below. Tony Kokale points to damages.

Kokale is hoping to reopen

as soon as he gets some

financial assistance from

his insurance company and

FEMA. “I put everything up

high before the storm, but

nobody expected the water to

come up as high as it did.”


The Blue Pencil Lunar Revue

A spoof publication of the Red Hook Star-Revue, no information below is meant to be true or offensive.

1. Blue Pencil Lunar-Revue by Retarded Monkeys

2. Waterfront Edge Diner’s To-Go Menu by the owners of the Waterfront Edge Diner

3. Memoirs of the 76th Precinct: The Ill-Effects of Stop and Tickle by Captain Jeffery Schiff

4. George Fiala’s Death Certificate by the Kings County Coroner’s Office, circa 2047

5. The Act of Doing Nothing for Dummies by Faux News

6. 1988 Dodge Dynasty Owner’s Manual by whoever Justin Beiber was in his past life

7. The 50 Most Worse Grammerly Errs by Kimberly G. Price

8. A Pictorial Guide to Things I Found in my Belly Button by Branch Dickey

9. How Government Works by the Pizza guy who ran for president whose name nobody remembers

10. Riding My Imaginary Trolley by Bob Diamond

Sharky Shark CalamariParty affiliation: Ill-Mannered Tea-pot Party

Age: 34.5

Political past: Served 3 days of a 5 year sentnce for punching an elderly Democratic lady. He was pardoned as soon as Guliani took office

Platform: Rescue the Economy

Slogan: “Just print more dough!”

Primary goal as president: Organize a million millionaires march to drop one billion counterfeit $1USD.

Physical characteristics: wears a knock-off Armani suit and sports a handlebar moustache

Favorite words: “yup” and “nup”

Favorite food: boiled cabbage

Most well known for: his tattoo of a unicorn on his fanny

Pets: a 13 year old tarantula named Mrs. Robinson and a Smartphone that he affectionately calls Senorita Vibrato

Pippi Parsnip StrongbottomParty affiliation: Frumpy Old Maid Party

Age: 57

Political Past: She voted a record breaking 17 times in the 1992 elec-tion: 8 votes for Clinton; 7 votes for Papa Bush; and 2 votes for Mickey Mantel

Platform: Extending Arbor Day to a month long mandatory fasting; Plants’ rights

Slogan: “Artichokes have hearts, too.”

Primary goal as president: Decrease the national deficit by raising taxes on all produce 3,000% - especially broccoli

Past employment: modeled nose rings in her youth; later, she under-studied the bearded Lady in an off-off Broadway Carnival, but could only grow hair on her chest

Favorite meal: EZ cheese and root beer

In the wake of this year’s presidential elec-tion, the Blue Pencil Lunar-Revue would like to highlight a couple of candi-

dates that may have been improperly represented in other media. We feel

they are due their fair share of public-ity, even if the votes have already been tal-

MULLED MOCK TURKEYINGREDIENTS:

• 1 large pigeon, dead• 3 pairs of dirty socks• 3 teaspoons of boysenberry juice• 1 garlic clove• 3 quarts of turmeric• 1 used stop sign• 2 Christmas ornaments• pinch of salt• 1 Richard Nixon mask• 14 eggs

DIRECTIONS:

Cut the dirty socks into 1/4 inch squares, combine with tur-meric and 7 eggs and blend in food processor set to mash-up for 15 minutes. Chill and set aside

Cut the tail off of the pigeon and insert whole garlic clove into rear. Wipe pigeon with boysenberry juice.

Pulverize Christmas ornaments, add salt and 7 eggs includ-ing shells.

In a serving dish, place the pigeon on its feet, dish the sock mixture around it and bake in oven set at 414 degrees for 38 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with salt and return to oven for another 15 minutes.

Pour the Christmas ornament mixture into a blender and blend at high setting for an hour.

Remove pigeon from oven, cover face with Richard Nixon mask.

Serve with chilled Christmas ornament mixture (poured into crystal drinking glasses) and make sure to decorate with Stop sign just so you can tell your guests they were warned.


The Red Hook StarªRevue crosswordAnswer to previous puzzle

STAR-REVUE PUZZLER #20 by George FialaACROSS 1. Toast topping 4. Joust 8. 24 cans of beer 12. Outrage 13. Opera feature 14. Landed 15. 60’s Pontiac 16. Legal matter 17. Drug detective 18. Trees do this in hurricanes 20. Buona _____ (Italian greeting) 22. No seats (abbr) 24. Sharon Jones’ Kings 25. West coast city (abbr) 27. Visits unexpectedly (2 words) 31. Lukewarm 33. Edge 34. Former Knicks star Jeremy 36. F line 37. Pond buildup 40. Bewails 43. To, or not to (Shakespeare) 44. Here, to Pierre 46. Number of little indians 47. Coney Island park 49. First man 52. Green fruit 55. Verve 57. Actor Torn 59. Legal claim 60. Council, old style 61. Early man, with Magnon 62. Chinese dynasty 63. Old style Russian leader 64. Take up

DOWN 1. This can be up 2. Goes with Sciences 3. Catspeak 4. Man-goat beings 5. Not amateur 6. Some put these on 7. X or R 8. Served at a party 9. Chicken ___ King

10. Elton John’s title 11. And so forth, abbr. 19. Cleo’s slayer 21. Kind of a fink 23. May form a slick 25. Found in laundry or bellybuttons 26. Totals 27. Colorless 28. Annoy 29. Holy Smokes online abbr. 30. Nothing 32. Brooch 35. King Cole or Sherman

38. Not feeling well 39. Old French coin 41. More spiteful 42. Finale 45. Dead to the world 48. Pub offerings 50. Curved part of foot 51. Mucky stuff 52. Dutch airline 53. Roman numberal 3 54. Small cyst 56. Byron’s daughter 58. Popular red juice

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RIGHT HERE!

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move up a notch as your friends and neighbors see you in print right here in their favorite newspaper!


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F R A M I N G O N E A L

The Star-Revue has tickets to the Big Apple Cir-

cus! To win tickets, be one of the first five to

identify the location of this photo. Winners

will be announced in our next issue. Submit entries to

Red Hook Star-Revue, 101 Union Street, Brooklyn,

NY 11231, email [email protected], or send us

a private message on our Facebook page. For more in-

formation, email [email protected].

Where is this? photo by Thomas Rupolo


1. That first shower after spending 3 days and nights at the office on deadline

2. Heated Community Board 6 meetings

3. $5 Highbeams at the Ice House (Miller Highlife and a shot of Jim Beam)

4. Personal talks with Sunny at Sunny’s Bar

5. Splitting dinner during sunset at Brooklyn Crab

6. A full pot of coffee round the clock

7. Community barbecues

8. Our amazing staff and contribu-tors that give so much character to this paper

9. Kayaking in the East River

10. Gorgeous waterfront views while strolling down Valentino Pier

11. Representing the best group of artisans Brooklyn has ever seen

12. The vibrant youth of this com-munity

13. The support, resources and smiling faces South Brooklyn shares with us daily

14. Letters to the editor

15. Friends who pop by the office

16. Springtime arrival of the food ven-dors, little league games in the ball fields, fall rugby practice and end of the year tree lightings

17. Distributing papers on the streets to our faithful readers

18. All of the amazing events we have been a part of

19. 2 am diner meetings to originate the next wacky spoof page

20. Being inducted into the New York Press Association

21. The pages and pages of future issues we look forward to creat-ing

22. Being inspired by the human spirit that lives among us

23. George’s old beat up Taurus that brings thousands of papers from Connecticut to Brooklyn, barely

24. The first look at the freshly print-ed papers hot off the press

25. Growing and thriving, knowing the best is yet to come

26. Ordering dessert after splitting a foot tall burger at Hope & An-chor

27. A VFW Post that always has their door open for us

28. Facebook fans and friends that share their stories with us

29. Delicious burgers at the Water-front Edge Diner around the cor-ner from the office

30. Jumping on the couch scream-ing “Song of the South” at 4 am to keep each other energized

In the first founding years of our country, adversity was an obstacle; enduring meant survival. Our com-munities have faced many hardships, especially in the past weeks. But we have continued moving forward

into our future. Days pass and often we forget to be grate-ful for all of those things that often go without thanks. For our readers, we’ve compiled an astonishingly long list. The editor has compressed that list into 30 things, one for each day of the month of Thanksgiving.

The Red Hook Star-Revue would like to wish our readers and their loved

ones the happiest of Thanksgivings. May you find many blessings this

holiday season!

Thanksgiving is generally thought of as an Ameri-can holiday. The tradition of Thanksgiving stems from the tales of the first settlers surviving

their first year in the New World. But many other coun-tries celebrate in various ways.

CanadaJour de l’Action de grâce is celebrated on the second Monday in October to give thanks at the end of the harvest season.

GermanyErntedankfest occurs in early October and generally encompasses the Ba-varian beer event, Oktoberfest.

JapanKinr Kansha no Hi is a national holiday celebrated on November 23, which was adopted during American occupation during WWII.

GrenadaThanksgiving Day, celebrated October 23, is the celebration of the US-led in-vasion in 1983 that resulted in the execution of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop.

LiberiaThanksgiving Day began in 1820 when former slaves from the US colo-nized in the west African country and is commemorated the first Thursday of every November.

The NetherlandsA non-denominational church service is held every year on the American Thanksgiving Day in the Pieterskerk - a Gothic church in Leiden - in hon-or of the hospitality the Pilgrims received on their way to the New World.

ChinaAugust Moon Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month because the Chinese the moon is brightest on this night. Under the moonlight, lov-ers confess their hearts; friends and relatives give gifts of mooncakes.

RomeCerelia, the Roman harvest festival, honors Ceres, goddess of corn, on Oc-tober 4 and includes music, parades and sports.

BrazilThe Brazilian ambassador brought Thanksgiving to his homeland after be-ing inspired by a visit to the US. They celebrate their gratitude of an plenti-ful harvest with an much-admired Carnival.

KoreaChu-Sok begins on the 14th night of August and continues for three days, as people gather under moonlight to remember their ancestors and forefathers.

AustraliaSeveral harvest related festivals are held to celebrate communal harmony in-cluding the Lavender Harvest Festival during the first three weeks of January, The Hops Festival throughout February and March, the Apple and Grape Festival for 3 to 4 days in March, the Renmark Orange Week Festival in ei-ther August or September, the Cane Festivals happening from June through December, and the Wheat Festival that takes place in December.

GreeceThe Festival of Thesmosphoria was held in ancient Greece every autumn to honor Demeter - goddess of harvest - in the hopes that she would grant a fruitful harvest.


Red Hook StarªRevue


(continued on next page)


The Big Apple Circus has de-lighted children and adults alike from its 1977 beginnings in a lower Manhattan loft in

Lincoln Center to its home in Dam-rosch Park in 1980. This is their 35th anniversary production. It is spectacular from the opening Charivari, that parad-ed all of the afternoon’s performers to the finale, where they all return to dance and wave goodbye to the spectators. The show had an engaging and inclusive at-mosphere. Despite the brilliance of its performers, the whole tone seemed to say that this circus troupe regarded the audience as the star performer.

What struck me in particular was the sense of nostalgia that this show seemed intent on creating for us. Between acts, the Ringmaster, John Kennedy Kane made reference to days gone by in New York City and its relationship with the Circus. In his tales, twenty-one el-ephants paraded across the newly built Brooklyn Bridge, reassuring citizens that this marvelous engineering feat was in-deed safe. The challenges in building the Erie Canal that linked the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes of the Mid West.

This season’s production, “Legendarium” sets out to meld classical circus acts with some of the best contemporary circus artists and performers from around the world. This circus featured the best con-tortionist - Elayne Kramer - that I have ever seen. I was amazed to see her hold her entire body weight over her head us-ing only her teeth. She then ended her act by firing a bow and arrow with her feet, while maintaining a beautiful grace and elegance in her movement. Watch-ing Daniel Cyr was also mesmerizing, as he performed acrobatics with a large ring called a Cyr Wheel. The image of him sitting in the centre of the ring as his wheel came to rest around him while

the lights faded was one of the best mo-ments in the show. Afterward, the Ring-master announced that we had just wit-nessed an act executed by the man who invented it - that is now performed by hundreds of performers worldwide. The Dogs of Central Park followed which was clearly a favorite of the younger au-dience members. The dog handlers all wore Victorian period costumes as they walked the dogs into the ring, bringing that old-world feel back again. After being amazed at the dog’s funny perfor-mance, I was particularly charmed to hear from the Ringmaster that the dogs were all rescues from the city’s animal shelters.

Although all the acts were incredible, my favorite one was on the aerial silks. It is always a beautifully graceful act to watch. What set this act apart was the wonderful lighting design that accom-panied it. Katarina moved as though she was swimming deep underwater like a dolphin or some other worldly crea-ture of the deep. The Blues and greens that shone down from the apex of the big top created the illusion that beyond the darkness of the rooftop tent was the light of the surface of the Erie Canal. Sounds bizarre, I know. But that’s how enchanting this circus really was. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, I think a lot of New Yorkers need to be-lieve that there is light beyond these darker days.

The Star-Revue has tickets to the Big Apple Circus! To win tickets, be one of the first five to identify the location of the photo on page 11. Winners will be announced in our next issue. Submit entries to Red Hook Star-Revue, 101 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231, email [email protected], or send us a private message on our Facebook page. For more information, email [email protected]

The Big Apple circus worth a trip to Manhattanby Brian Clancy

These pictures show the performers of the Big Apple Circus.

101 UNION STREET Brooklyn, NY 11231

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Star-Revue Guide to area restaurants

Red HookBAKED 359 Van Brunt St., (718)222-0345.THE BROOKLYN ICE HOUSE 318 Van Brunt St., (718) 222-1865.BOTANICA 220 Conover St (at Coffey St), (347) 225-0147.DEFONTE’S SANDWICH SHOP 379 Columbia St., (718) 855-6982.DIEGO’S RESTAURANT 116 Sullivan St., (718) 625-1616.F&M BAGELS 383 Van Brunt St., (718) 855-2623.FORT DEFIANCE 365 Van Brunt St., (347) 453-6672.THE GOOD FORK 391 Van Brunt St., (718) 643-6636.HOME/MADE 293 Van Brunt St., (347) 223-4135.HOPE & ANCHOR 347 Van Brunt St., (718) 237-0276.IKEA One Beard St., (718) 246-4532.JOHN & FRANKS, 367 Columbia Street, (718) 797-4467KEVIN’S 277 Van Brunt St., (718) 596-8335.MARK’S PIZZA 326 Van Brunt St., (718) 624-0690.NEW LIN’S GARDEN RESTAURANT 590 Clinton Street, (718) 399-1166RED HOOK LOBSTER POUND 284 Van Brunt St., (646) 326-7650.ROCKY SULLIVAN’S 34 Van Dyke St., (718) 246-8050.STEVE’S AUTHENTIC KEY LIME PIE, 204 Van Dyke St, (718) 852-6018SUNNY’S BAR IN RED HOOK, 253 Conover Street, (718) 625-8211

Columbia Waterfront DistrictALMA 187 Columbia St., (718) 643-5400.BAGEL BOY CAFE 75 Hamilton Ave-next to Chase, (718) 855-0500.CALEXICO CARNE ASADA 122 Union St., (718) 488-8226.CASA DI CAMPAGNA 117 Columbia Street (718) 237-4300.CASELNOVA 214 Columbia St., (718) 522-7500.FERNANDO’S FOCACCERIA RES-TAURANT 151 Union St., (718)855-1545.HOUSE OF PIZZA & CALZONES 132 Union St., (718) 624-9107.JAKE’S BAR-B-QUE RESTAURANT 189 Columbia St., (718) 522-4531.KOTOBUKI BISTRO 192 Columbia St., (718) 246-7980.LILLA CAFE 126 Union St., (718) 855-5700.MAZZAT 208 Columbia St., (718) 852-1652.PETITE CREVETTE 144 Union St., (718) 855-2632.TEEDA THAI CUISINE 218 Columbia St., (718) 643-2737.

Carroll Gardens/Cobble HillABILENE, 442 Court Street, 718-522-6900, ANGRY WADES, 222 Smith Street, (718) 488-7253BACCHUS, 409 Atlantic, (718) 852-1572BAR BRUNO, 520 Henry St., 347-763-0850, BAGELS BY THE PARK, 323 Smith Street, (718) 246-1321BAR GREAT HARRY, 280 Smith Street (718) 222-1103BOMBAY DREAM, 257 Smith Street (718) 237-6490BOURGEOIS PIG, 387 Court Street, (718) 858-5483BROOKLYN BREAD CAFE, 436 Court Street (718) 403-0234BUDDY’S BURRITO & TACO BAR, 260 Court Street, 718-488-8695, BUTTERMILK CHANNEL, 524 Court Street (718) 852-8490CASA ROSA, 384 Court Street, 718-797-1907CHESTNUT, 271 Smith St., (718) 243-0049COBBLE GRILL, 212 Degraw Street, (718) 422-0099

COBBLE HILL COFFEE SHOP, 314 Court Street, (718) 852-1162CODY’S ALE HOUSE GRILL, 154 Court Street, 718-852,6115COURT STREET GROCERS, 485 Court Street, (718) 722-7229CRAVE, 570 Henry Street, (718) 643-0361 CUBANA CAFE, 272 Smith Street (718) 718-858-3980 DOWNTOWN BAR & GRILL, 160 Court street, 718-625-2835DUBUQUE, 548 Court Street, (718) 596-3248EM THAI KITCHEN, 278 Smith Street, (718) 834-0511ENOTICA ON COURT, 347 Court Street, (718) 243-1000F LINE BAGELS, 476 Smith Street (718) 422-0001FIVE GUYS, 266 Court St., 347-799-2902FRAGOLE, 394 Court Street, (718) 622-7133FRANCESCO’S RESTAURANT, 531 Henry Street, (718) 834-0863FRANK’S LUNCHEONETTE, 365 Smith Street, (718) 875-5449GHANG, 229 Court Street, 718-875-1369GOWANUS YACHT CLUB, 323 Smith Street, (718) 246-132,Closed til springHANA CAFE, 235 Smith Street, (718) 643-1963LE PETITE CAFE, 502 Court street, 718-596-7060LING LING YOUNG, 508 Henry Street, (718) 260-9095MARCO POLO RISTORANTE, 345 Court Street, 718 852-5015MAMA MARIA’S RESTAURANT, 307 Court Street, (718) 246-2601MEZCALS Restaurant, 522 Court Street, 718-783-3276NATURES GRILL, 138 Court street, 718-852,5100, NINE-D, 462 Court Street, 718-488-8998, OAXACA TACOS, 251 Smith Street (718) 222-1122OSACA RESTAURANT, 272 Court Street (718) 643-0055P J HANLEYS, 449 Court St, 718- 843-8223PALO CORTADO, 520 Court St, 718-407-0047PRIME MEATS, 465 Court Street, 718-254-0327 or 0345,PALMYRA, 316 Court street, 718-797-1110RED ROSE RESTAURANT, 315 Smith Street, (718) 625-0963SALS PIZZA, 305 Court Street, (718) 852-6890SAM’S RESTAURANT, 238 Court Street, 718-596-3458

SOUL SPOT 302 Atlantic Ave 718 596-9933

SAVOIA, 277 Smith Street, 718-797-2727

SEERSUCKER RESTAURANT, 329 Smith Street, (718) 422-0444

SMITH & VINE, 268 Smith Street (718) 243-2864

SOUTH BROOKLYN PIZZA, 451 Court Street, 718 852-6018

STINKY BROOKLYN, 261 Smith Street, 718 522-7425

SWEET MELISSA, 276 Court Street, (718) 855-3410

TRIPOLI, 156 Atlantic Ave, 718 596-5800

VINNY’S OF CARROLL GARDENS, 295 Smith Street, 718 875-5600

VINNY’S PIZZERIA, 455 Court Street, 718 596-9342

VINO Y TAPAS, 520 Court Street, 718-407-0047

ZAYTOONS, 283 Smith Street, 718 875-1880

GowanusMICHAEL AND PINGS, 437 Third Av-enue, (718) 788-0017

COTTA BENE PIZZA, 291 3rd Ave, 718 722-7200

LITTLENECKS, 288 3rd Ave., (718) 522-1921

CANAL BAR, 270 3rd Ave, (718) 246-0011

This art deco structure provides ventilation for the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, completed in 1950. Robert Moses’ opposed the tunnel, his plan was to build a gigantic bridge that would have eradicated large portions of Red Hook and battery park. Moses hated tunnels, calling them a “hole in the ground . . . merely a tiled, vehicular bathroom smelling faintly of monoxide.” Powerful interests tried to halt the bridge’s construction, but it took the full power of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor, to finally force Moses to build a tunnel. (photo and text from the book IMAGES OF RED HOOK, published October 2012. For more info and bonus content or to purchase a copy of the book visit www.ImagesofRed-Hook.com)

Images of Red Hook


Hours: Noon to 10:30 pm Tues.to Thurs.Noon to 11pm Friday.4pm to 11pm Saturday & 4pm to 10:30pm Sunday.

I like Seersucker and I have for a while; let me get that out of the way right off the bat. I’ve had brunch there a few times, lined

the stomach with excellent grits and eggs, and then headed next door to the Gowanus Yacht Club for outdoor beers on sunny Saturday afternoons. But their Southern-inspired menu of com-fort food favorites deserves a more ex-tensive treatment than I am prepared to give here. Today, I would like to talk a bit about one particular evening I had at Seersucker last week. This evening wasn’t about food or even good times, but instead about doing something small to help an organization in need, and a neighborhood that’s been brought to its knees.

We all know about the hurricane. All of us who live in Red Hook have been affected by it, some more than oth-ers. Many homes and apartments were flooded, their contents destroyed, the inhabitants reeling and - in many cas-es - left with little help from the City. Our neighborhood went dark and cold for days on end, and as we all followed the news of neighborhoods and subway lines being restored throughout Man-hattan, I know we couldn’t help but wonder whether anyone remembered we were still here, and still in trouble.

In the middle of this, stood the Red Hook Initiative (RHI) - an organization well known to all of us as a valuable pro-

vider of health and education services for the underserved youth in our con-genitally underserved neighborhood. In the storm’s aftermath, RHI seamlessly went from their traditional mission into full-blown disaster-recovery mode, pro-viding hot meals, blankets, clothing and personal products, water and medicine to many, many Red Hook residents, as they continue to do. This was all un-anticipated and stretched a thin budget even thinner. It was in this context that I heard of the fundraiser at Seersucker to benefit the Red Hook Initiative.

This was called “Pork for New York,” and Seersucker was selling four pulled pork sliders with green tomato BBQ sauce for $10, Victory Prima Pils draft beer for $5, and cups of caramel corn for $3 to munch on while we waited. There was also a very large and promi-nently displayed tip jar on the bar, the

contents of which were to be earmarked for the RHI.

We got there shortly after the official 6:30 pm start; there was already a line to get in. Truth be told, it was hard to tell whether the people there came for the cause or the cheap food, though I suppose it doesn’t matter much – money is money. The line never shrank, and by the time we left at around 7:30 the restaurant had run completely out of pork and was offering fried chicken in-stead. The tip jar was being filling with $20 bills. The bartender was slinging beers and popcorn as fast as he could. This all gave me a good feeling to be a part of, but I still felt detached, knowing that Red Hook - just blocks away - was still without power or heat. Many resi-

dents were struggling mightily to make it through another cold night.

The sliders were excellent. I ordered two sets of four for myself, one more for my guest, and beers and popcorn while we waited. The pork was excellent. These

were big chunks of juicy, earthy pork shoulder, slowly smoked for hours and hours until they gave way at the slightest touch. The flavor was heightened by the tangy, fruity sauce and served on a deliciously mushy potato bun. Simple and perfect, and they were dealing them like blackjack cards from the bar. The sliders were piled high and the whole thing was worth more than $10. So, like many I dumped some substantial overage into the tip jar, never feeling like it was enough to address the enormous financial deficit that existed all over the neighborhood.

And then we headed on foot towards Red Hook. You see, ever since the storm I had been staying in a largely untouched part of Manhattan; I hadn’t really seen the neighborhood at night. I needed some things. I needed to make sure my unattended apartment was still secure. I needed to make sure it was closed and shut against the nor’ easter that was in the forecast for the follow-ing day. But I also needed to see my home, my ground-floor apartment that held 2 feet of water just days before, and the possessions I left behind, and in a way to reclaim ownership of what I had. I just needed to see it again and feel my-self enter the neighborhood. I needed to re-establish control.We walked from Smith down a well-lit Union Street towards Columbia, then down President Street into Red Hook. At that point, the lights stopped work-

ing. It was eerie, shadowy, but not en-tirely pitch black as we walked south along Van Brunt Street. There was an odd ambient light, a gloaming, which was totally out of place. It wasn’t until we got closer to the source that I real-ized what it was. There was a police spotlight attached to a generator ex-tending far into the sky. This was the only source of light for blocks - the gen-erator’s persistent hum, the neighbor-hood’s new white noise.

It reminded me of the scene in Apoca-lypse Now when Captain Willard reach-es the last US Army outpost upriver, a post where a scattered, decimated and undersupplied group of soldiers are de-fending a bridge, but it’s clear that they have been overrun and defeat is certain.

There is no organization; the noose is tightening. It’s every man for himself. Every soldier that Captain Willard en-counters as he searches for the com-manding officer is mad by having con-fronted his own mortality. This is how it felt that night. We had been forsaken by the City in the same way that those soldiers had been forsaken by the army at that bridge. All trappings of a civil, orderly society had been lost. It was sur-real, and it should not happen here.

I made it to my apartment in total dark-ness, let myself in, looked around and found that everything was safe, locked the windows and left. But the mood has stayed with me ever since. Most of us have power back now, but most of

us still have a big hole to dig ourselves out of. But I keep reminding myself that in many small ways, the people in our neighborhood banded together to help each other. I have since heard of so many little fundraisers, benefits and food & clothing drives for Red Hook. I’ve seen people who have been devas-tated by the storm volunteering to help others. When I see that, I realize how lucky I am to live where I do, know the people I know, and why it will take more than a hurricane to hold us back.

Seersucker

329 Smith Street (corner of Carroll)

www.seersuckerrbrooklyn.com

Court Street’s Seersucker hosts RHI benefitby Erik Penney

“In the middle of this, stood the Red Hook Initiative (RHI) -

an organization well known to all of us as a valuable provider

of health and education services for the underserved youth

in our congenitally underserved neighborhood.”


Art & Community CalendarIf you have an event you would like listed in the Red Hook Star-Revue calendar, please email [email protected].

CHILDRENBethel Baptist Day Care Center 242 Hoyt St. (718) 834-9292 ACD funded Early Childhood Education Programs, Family Services, and Day Care Services for the Gowanus Community. Call for more info.

Kentler International Drawing Space—353 Van Brunt St. (718) 875-2098, kentlergallery.org FREE Weekend Art Workshops for Families. Ages 4 & up. Every 1st & 3rd Sat. Noon-1:30pm regis-ter in advance: [email protected]

Who’s On First? 46 1st Place, Clinton/Henry (718) 243-1432 whosonfirstkids.com A nurturing and supportive environ-ment focusing on self esteem, problem solving, socialization, conflict resolution and free expression through art, music and creative movement. For children “from birth to 7 yrs..

CHURCH/SYNAGOGUEKane St. Synagogue 236 Kane St. (718) 875-1530 kanestreet.org Torah Study every 2nd Shabbat of the Month 11am-Noon. Every Fri. &/or Tues.

St. Stephen’s R.C. 108 Carroll St. (718) 596-7750 delvecchiorc.com & brook-lyncatholic.blogspot.com Every Wed. 6:30pm Choir rehearsal, if interested contact [email protected] or [email protected]

Visitation of Our Blessed Virgin Mary R.C. 98 Richards @Verona (718) 624-1572 Every Thurs. 6pm Choir Practice w/ Emiliana In-Home Blessings and Masses, by appointment. Languages available: English, Spanish, Italian, Ger-man. Contact: Lori Burkhard at (917) 971-5522.

CLASSES/WORKSHOPSBrooklyn Collective Gallery 212 Co-lumbia St. (Union/Sackett) (718) 596-6231 brooklyncollective.com. Gallery Hours: Thur.- Sun. 11am-8pm, Sat. 11/17 5-8pm Hidden Places & Hidden Spaces: Book Release Party w.Glogg & Canapes.

Brooklyn General—128 Union St. (718) 237-7753 brooklyngeneral.com Classes and Workshops for all things Sewing. Call or contact their website for more info.

Carroll Gardens Association 201 Co-lumbia St. Sackett/Degraw (718) 243-9301 carrollgardensassociation.com Christmas Toy Drive For Red Hook Chil-dren through 12/6,

The Gowanus Studio Space 166 7th Street (347) 948-5753 www.gowanusstu-dio.org

Cora Dance 201 Richards St. (Coffey St./Van Dyke St.) #15 (718) 858-2520 coradance.org Classes resumed as of 11/7.

Ger-Nis Culinary & Herb Center 540 President St., 3rd/4th Ave. (347) 422-0337 ger-nis.com Sat. 11/17 11am-2pm Sweet Breakfast Treats $50. 4-7pm Fall Solo Cooking Guide $65. Sun. 11/18 1-4pm Make YOr Own Dim Sum & Beer $65. 6-9pm Rejuvenating Ramen $65. Fri. 11/24 10am-1pm The Rustic Bread Baker $40. Thu. 1130 6:30-9pm How TO Make Gnocchi Like An Italian Grand-mother $65.

The Intercourse 159 Pioneer St. (718) 596-3000 theintercourse.org Sat 11/17 Noon-3pm There Will Be Blood: Cooking The Odd CUts $75. Mon. 11/19 7-9pm Electronic Voices $30. Thu. 11/29 7-9pm The Steaming Screen: History of The Sex Scene in Hollywood $15.

Jalopy Theatre and School of Music 315 Columbia St. (718) 395-3214, jalopy.biz SUn 11/18 Noon Vocal Harmony Ba-sics $20. 2pm Vocal Harmony Duos & Trios $25. Both, $40.

YWCA Brooklyn 30 3rd Ave (Atlantic Ave/State St.): (718) 488-1624 ywcabk-lyn.org

Galleries440 Gallery 440 6th Ave. (Park Slope) (718) 499-3844 440gallery.com Gallery

Hrs. Thu., Fri. 4-7pm, Sat. 11am-7pm, or by appointment. Through 11/25 Richard Eagan-Art of the Coney Island Hysterical Society.

Brooklyn Collective Gallery 212 Colum-bia St. (Union/Sackett) (718) 596-6231 brooklyncollective.com Gallery hrs. Thur. - Sun 1pm-8pm through 11/31 New Col-lections of Local Artists FREE.

Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition 499 Van Brunt St. (718) 596-2506 bwac.org Open every Sat. & Sun 1-6pm The CUrrent Accepted Works From THe Na-tional Juried Show.

Falconworks Kidd Studio 135 Richards St. (718) 395-3218 falconworks.com - redhooktheater.org

The Invisible Dog 51 Bergen St. (347) 560-3641 theinvisibledog.org 11/14-17 7pm,11/18 6pm Take Her To See The Maco Lights/theater/Superwolf $15. Thu. 11/15 7:30pm Cine Club: Black Cat, White Cat $5 donation. Sat. 11/17 5-10pm Dither Extravaganza: Music.

Kentler International Drawing Space—353 Van Brunt St. (718) 875-2098, kentlergallery.org Gallery hrs. Thu.-Sun. noon-5pm. Through 12/16 Beyond Lines, Beyond Surface: Tamiko Kawata. Paper Optics: Joan Grubin. Sun. 11/18 4pm Artists’ Talk.

Look North Inuit Art Gallery—275 Conover St. Suite 4E, (347) 721-3995, looknorthny.com Polar Light: Greenland. The Greenland photography of Rena Bass Forman and the Greenland draw-ings of Zaria Forman. A climate change awareness exhibition held in conjunction with Al Gore’s “The Climate Project”.

Sweet Lorraine Gallery 183 Lorraine St. (Clinton & Court St) (347) 409-8957 screwballspaces.com, [email protected] Through 11/25 Peter Patchen: Mi-gration.

Sunny’s Bar Backroom 253 Conover St. (Beard/Reed St.) (718) 625-8211 sun-nysredhook.com & Sunny’s Bar on face-book. Open Wed, Fri, and Sat 8pm-4am.

MUSEUMSMicro Museum 123 Smith St., Pacific/Dean (718) 797-3116 micromuseum.com Through 12/20/13 Every Sat. 12-7pm Above & Beyond: A 3yr. retrospec-tive of the art of William & Kathleen Laziza $2 donation. Every Sat. through 3/2/13 12-7pm Lucky 7’s, 8’s, 9’s $2 do-nation. Say “I like Red Hook Star Revue” and get a free gift bag!

The Waterfront Museum Lehigh Val-ley Barge No.79, 290 Conover Street. (718) 624-4719 ext. 11 www.waterfront-museum.org. Free boat tours & open hours all through the year. Thursdays 4 - 8 pm and Saturdays 1 - 5 pm. Juggling For Fun Wkshp. Call (718) 624-4719 x.11 David Sharps.

MUSICBait & Tackle 320 Van Brunt Street (718) 451-4665 redhookbaitandtackle.com No Cover. Unless otherwise noted, everything starts @ 9pm. Fri. 11/16 Jes-se Kilgus. Sat. 11/17 Bebe Requin. Sun 11/18 Tin Roof Trio. Fri. 11/30 Sullied Ac-colades.

Hope & Anchor 347 Van Brunt St.(718) 237-0276. Every Wed. 7pm, Jazz Jam w/The H & A House Band! Every Thurs. through Sat. from 9pm-1am Karaoke.

Issue Project Room 110 Livingston St. (718) 451-4665 issueproject room.org Thu 11/15 7:30 pm Reza Negarestani & Florian Hecker: The Non-Trivial Goat and the Cliffs of the Universal @ Abrons Playhouse, 466 Grand Street NYC. Fri 11/16 8pm Mind over Mirrors: Miguel Gutierrez @ Actors’ FUnd, 160 Schem-erhorn St. BK. Sat 11/17 Mind Over Mir-rors: Zelienople & The Ashcan Orchestra @ Actors Funs 166 Schemerhorn St BK. FrTue. 11/27 6:30pm Sergei Tcherepin: Massage Performance. Thu 11/29 7pm Evan Calder Willims @ Artists Spcae 55 Walker St. NYC. Fri 11/30 8pm Swedish Energies:: EMS in NYC Night 1 @ Cle-mente Soto Velez 107 Suffolk St NYC. Sat. 12/1 7pm Swedish Energies: EMS in NYC Night 2 @ clemente Soto Velez 107 Suffolk St. NYC.

Jalopy Theatre and School of Music 315 Columbia St., (718) 395-3214 jalopy.biz. Every Wed. 9pm Roots & Ruckus w/Feral Foster FREE. Thu. 11/15 9pm Gaucho, Tamar Korn & Friends $10. Fri. 11/16 6pm Ukubiqiitous Robin Hoffman closing art reception FREE, 8pm Melody

Alegra Birthday Party, The Berger Sis-tersa, Margaret Glaspy, BowSmack $10. Sat, 11/17 3pm FREE Old Time Jam w/Harry Bolick. 9pm Mike & Ruthy, Spuy-ten Duyvil $12 adv. $15 dos. Sun. 11/18 8pm The Homemade Supper Show $10. Wed. 11/21 7pm A Benefit To Restore Red Hook starring Roseanne Cash @ the Bell House. 9pm Roots & Ruckus. sat 11/24 9pm Doug Skinner FREE. Fri 11/29 9pm Kale Records Presents: Charles Mansfield Band, Buffie ROse-anne Brian Speaker, and others: Part 2 of the Red Hook Recovery Benefits. Sat. 11/30 9pm Flight Feathers, The Strung out String Band, The Flanks $10.

Montero’s Bar 73 Atlantic Ave. @ Hicks St. (718) 534-6399 [email protected] Karaoke w/Amethyst and the beautiful Andy at the bar. every Fri. & Sat. 10pm. Every Wed. after. 8pm - Mid-night. The raucous musical concoctions of The Red Hook Irregulars. All Acoustic. Guest Players invited.

Rocky Sullivan’s—34 Van Dyke St., (718) 246-8050. No Cover Every Mon, Tues, Wed 8pm Live Irish Music Every Last Wed 8pm Readings By Authors.Ev-ery. Thurs. 9pm Rocky’s World Famous Pub Quiz. Every Mon 9/17 7pm Chris Byrne’s Beginner’s Tin Whistle Class. Trad. 8pm Irish Music

The Star Theater Acoustic Jam & Hoo-tenanny 101 Union St. ( Columbia / Van Brunt) (718) 624-5568 Every Monday Night 8pm. C&W to Jazz (with a healthy dose of Blues in the middle). Bring your Axe & Your Favorite Beverage!

The Star Theater Electric Jam 101 Union St., (Columbia / Van Brunt )Every Thur. Night 8pm Hard rock, Jazz, Blues. Full Back Line. Refreshments provided. Donations accepted.

Sunny’s Bar 253 Conover St. (Beard/Reed St.) (718) 625-8211 sunnysred-hook.com & Sunny’s Bar on Facebook. Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, live local roots music.. Every Sat. 10pm Bluegrass/Folk Country Jam.

Union Hall 702 Union Street @5th Ave (718) 638-4400 unionhallny.com Every Sun. 7:30pm Pretty Good Friends. Com-edy host by Eugene Mirman $7. Every Fri. Midnight Karaoke Killed The Cat FREE. Every Sat. 11pm CRAZY $INCE DA 90$ FREE.

PUBLIC MEETINGS Brooklyn Greenway Initiative 153 Columbia St.(Kane/Degraw) (718) 522-0913 brooklyngreenway.org The Ce-ramic Arts of Kathryn Robinson-Miller. 30% of the proceeds will go to support BGI’s work.

Brooklyn Public Library - Carroll Gar-dens 396 Clinton St. @ Union St. (718) 596-6972 brooklynpubliclibrary.org/locations/carroll-gardens Knitting Club (all ages) Every Tues 4pm mezzanine. Memoir Writing (adult) Every Wed. 6pm Chess Club (all ages) Play and improve your game. Bring your own clock. Mon. 6/4 11:30am Babes & Books w/ 1st RIF. Tue. 6/5 3-5pm English Conversation: English for ESOL students.

TASTINGSBotanica—220 Conover St (@ Coffey St) 347-225-0147. New cocktails, spe-cialty liquors & Exotic Chocolates featur-ing Cacao Prieto Chocolate. Sat-Sun: Afternoon cocktails. Now Open!!

Dry Dock Wine & Spirits Outpost Across from Hope and Anchor (718) 852-3625 drydockny.com ALL TAST-INGS ARE FREE! Thu. 11/15 6-8pm Beaujolais Noveau. Fri 11/16 Jack From Brooklyn: Christmas drinks.

MikNik Lounge 200 Columbia St. (917) 770-1984 ‘Rebel! Rebel!’ (Gay Night) every First & Third Thurs. 9pm - 2am Cheap Beer, $6 well drinks, friendly crowd.

WALKING TOURSA Tour grows in Brooklyn 1212 64th St.(212) 209-3370 brooklynwalkingtour.com A historical walking tour of Brown-stone Brooklyn featuring the childhood home of Al Capone, the history of the Williamsburg Bank, and the Revolution-ary War battle site The Old Stone House. Real Brooklyn Pizza Lunch included. Daily 10am-1pm, $40

Urban Oyster (347) 618-TOUR (8687) urbanoyster.com Every Sat.Noon-3:30, Brewed in Brooklyn Tour (Williamsburg) $60 Adv. sales only. Every Sat. Brewing, Bottling, & bootlegging in historic Wil-liamsburg. Samples, pizza and fresh la-ger lunch included. $65, adv. sales only. Every Sat. & Sun Navy Yard Full Tour 2:30-4:30pm.$30, adv sales only.

Dear Readers,

The Red Hook Star-Revue is your newspaper.

Our mission is to provide Red Hook and its adjacent communities with the news that is needed for a community to understand the world immediately around us. An informed populace can’t be fooled.

During this extraordinary emergency we have seen our community come together as no one xpected. No one except those of us who live here and who report on the amazing community that we are. We are proud to be your community newspaper, or ‘neighborhood rag,’ as St. John has called us.

Our pages are open to you. We invite and encourage letters, opinions, suggestions and even rotten tomatoes.

You can reach us easily enough by email, phone and snail mail.

Email: [email protected]: (718) 624-5568Mail: Red Hook Star-Revue, 101 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231

We work through the nights often to find as many events to list in our calendars as possible. You can help us be letting us know of your event. Calendar listings are a free public service.

Publishing the Red Hook Star-Revue is a labor of love. Over the past two weeks we have lived in our offices, putting as much into these last two issues as we possibly could. As we are the paper of record for Red Hook.

Again, we thank you for your readership and loyalty.

Sincerely,


Kimberly Gail Price & George Fiala , Publishers


Star-Revue ClassifiedsJABUS BUILDING

CORP.Serving Red Hook for over 25 yearsSpecializing in Construction and

Historic Preservation• New construction• Renovations, additions and extensions• Masonry specialist• Concrete floors/radiant heated• Concrete/bluestone sidewalk repair• Flue linings, chimneys and fireplaces• Demolition and waste removal• Violation removals• Landmark Preservation contractor

Jim & Debbie BuscarelloPHONE: (718) 852-5364

Fax: (347) 935-1263 www.jabusbuildingcorp.com

[email protected] License #0883902

Trade Waste License #1135

HELP WANTEDFreelance Writers: The Red Hook Star-Revue is looking for freelance writers for both the arts and news sections.We want to buttress our news as well as local theater and arts coverage.Email Kimberly @redhookstar.com

Outside Salesperson: The Red Hook Star-Revue seeks an ambitious person who likes to walk, talk and make friends in the neighborhood to sell display advertising.Commission to start - work around your hours, no pressure.Call 718 624-5568 and speak to Kimberly or George.

Hair Dresser with Following.Licensed hair-dresser needed for huge opportunity in very modern and elegant Van Brunt Street Salon.Opposite PS 15.Call Nayda at 718 935-0596 for more details.

Day or afternoon grill man new diner on Columbia Street seeks a grill man with diner experience.Please call 718 855-1400.Columbia Street Diner.

MoversCOOL HAND MOVERS Friendly local guys that can relocate your life, or just shlep your new couch from Ikea.We’ll show up on time, in a truck or van if necessary, and basically kick ass -- you might even have a good time! Call for a free estimate at (917) 584-0334 or email at [email protected] Customer reviews on YELP.COM

Space AvailableWarehousing and office space available in Brook-lyn, Sunset park area, anywhere from 1,000 to 7,000 sq.ft @ $8.00 per sq.foot.Please call Frank Monday through Friday 9:00am to 5:00pm at 718-260-9440 or 718-797-4000.

Licensed Electrical ContractorsCommercial • Residential • Industrial

Free Estimates

Violations RemovedAll Types of WiringEmergency Service

Vito Liotine(718) 625-1995(718) 625-0867

[email protected]

137 King StreetBrooklyn, NY 11231Fax: (718) 935-0887

EMERGENCYSERVICE

No job too big or too small

Toilets, Boilers, Heating, Faucets, Hot Water Heaters,

Pool Heaters.

B & D HEATING507 Court Street 718 625-1396

The Red Hook Star-Revue publishes twice a month - classified advertising is one of the best and least

expensive ways to get your message across.Special

yearly contracts available for service businesses such as

plumbers, electricians for as little as $500 annually.Email [email protected] or

call (718) 624-5568

Introducing Business Card Classifieds. Your card categorized as below. The Star-Revue is read by over 10,000 individuals in zip code 11231 every two weeks, as it is the leading source of community news. We offer highly affordable rates - contact Sara Saldutti at 718.624.5568 or [email protected] to get your card in our next issue.

Your Cost: 2 months $400; 4 months $750; 6 months $1000; one year $1750. Take an extra 5% off if paid all in advance. We take all charge cards.

CAR SERVICE LEASING

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MOVERS

“Large oil painting A con-temporary work of ap-proximately 6 by 8 feet.It is painted in a loose ex-pressionistic style.The im-age is of a seahorse” with other images of sea life around it. The artist used complementary colors of blue and red.The painting is livey, colorful and joyful. $1,000.00 or best offer. Vall Sr. Rosanna at Visita-tion Church 718 624-1572

101 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231 718 624-5568 [email protected] www.RedHookStar.com


101 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231 718 624-5568 [email protected] www.RedHookStar.com



THROUGH DEC. 1, 2012 FREE

SAVE THE DATE!

Sunday, December 16, 2012Fundraiser for Red Hook Public Schools

2 pm until 10 pm music and dancing

THE RED HOOK STAR-REVUE THEATER

101 Union Street between Columbia and Van Brunt

Documents

Red Hook Star-Revue November 16