[from NYC Honorary Street Names:] Jose “Tuffy” Sanchez (1933-2005) was a Korean War veteran and a community leader in Red Hook. In the early 1960’s, he became co-owner of the 3&1 Social Club in Brooklyn. He was a pioneer in promoting Latin...
Atlantic Docks, 1888 Etching
The Atlantic Dock etched by Charles Adams Platt (1861-1933) in 1888. A three-masted schooner tied up to a pier dominates the left side of the image
Jewish Refugees Arrive on an Overcrowded Spanish Ship, 1941
617 refugees fleeing German-occupied European countries arrived at the foot of Columbia Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn in 1941. Crammed aboard the VILLA MADRID, a Spanish liner with accommodation for only 225, they complained about the conditions and...
War Department Map of Port Facilities - Red Hook, 1932
1932 map of the piers and port businesses from Baltic Street (now called Cobble Hill) moving south through Atlantic Basin around past the Erie Basin, for the War Department / U.S. Army Corps of Engineers The map indicates the businesses that...
Red Hook Flats has Hermit on Mystery Ship, 1931
Month after month a three-mastered schooner was seen anchored off-shore in the Red Hook Flats. On board was just one man who never went ashore. How he got by was a mystery to the few folk who knew of his existence. He was not hiding; he had...
Jewish Refugees fleeing German-occupied countries, arrive at Columbia Street dock aboard Spanish freighter NAVEMAR, 1941
The Spanish Freighter NAVEMAR left from Seville. Spain, with 1,120 passengers, in 1941. Most were Jewish refugees fleeing genocide in German-occupied countries. The conditions on the NAVEMAR, a ship designed with only 28 accommodations, were...
Seaman's Handbook for Shore Leave, 1920
Seaman's handbook for Shore Leave , by United States Merchant Marine’s Social Service Bureau. Custom House, published in 1920 listed sailor’s homes – places were sailors could get a bed and sometimes a meal for a night - from...
"Smallest Ship that Ever Crossed the Atlantic Ocean: Log of the Ship-Rigged Ingersoll Metallic Life-Boat." 1866
In 1866, two men and a dog from Red Hook, set sail in a metal life-boat rigged like a sailing ship. Captain Hudson and Mr. Fitch were out to prove the seaworthiness of the lifeboat , RED WHITE AND BLUE, designed by Brooklyn's Oliver Roland...
S. W. Bowne Grain Storehouse, 1886 to 2019
Updates on the building and the efforts to save it or raze it: June 14, 2018, a fire occurred in historic S. W. Bowne warehouse. FDNY concluded that the fire was arson and "the investigation is still open” (as in "who did it"?) Demo Permit...
Brooklyn's Bonded Warehouses, 1872
Bonded warehouse are places were foreign imports can be stored or manipulated without the payment of duty or taxes. The government only gets a piece of the action (duty) if and when the goods are sold domestically. Under the watchful eyes...