The door at 349 Van Brunt is a different sort of portal.
Since 2006, it has celebrated a vision of Red Hook in mosaics.

Anne Griepenberg explained its origin story on Facebook:

"My friend Max Airborne was creating mosaics & since that door didn't open Deb and I decided to create a mosaic of all the things we loved about Red Hook. Yes the hook was once red mirrored tile but has faded over the years in the sun.

But the theme was "pirate fish" and along with our fat lady liberty mermaid, a queer  and some classic Red Hook cobblestones & other waterfront icons, Max took our vision to the next level. It makes me smile every time I see it.

Our friend Max actually lives in Oakland, CA. She made it out there, packed it into a suitcase and flew easy to install it.

Yep, 2006, a couple years after we moved in.

Thank you for the stories of delight! One of my favorite things is when kids come up and take a closer look and start pointing everything out to their caregivers. Kids are real art lovers as well!"

Images of the mosaic being installed on August 2006 can be seen on flickr, as can a 2008 pre-fade image of the door.