Yesterday, the Post reported about a strange and disturbing road rage incident in Red Hook last week. A woman was ultimately repeatedly hit by the driver of a Land Rover. According to police sources, on Thursday afternoon, the woman got out of her car to speak with 63-year-old Jeffrey Klempner, who was in his SUV at Columbia Street and Atlantic Avenue, "to talk to him about an earlier collision." Klempner "denied any wrongdoing," but when......

Insert obligatory phoenix metaphor here: Brooklyn’s Freebird, the used book and corn dogs mecca that closed earlier this year, is set to re-emerge a little later this week from The Embers of Gentrification. While the NY Magazine article linked in that last sentence is about the real estate debacle of Red Hook, the shuttered Freebird, which is technically in Cobble Hill, is sometimes considered (with restaurants like Alma) to be an extension of that troubled......

Well well well, when we reported in August that Lido Bar in Red Hook would be closing we were met with many emails and comments stating this was 100% untrue. Bar manager Molly Franklin even held strong that Lido Bar would remain open and that this was nothing more than "bar gossip." Earlier this week we received an email from one of the "insiders" stating "Lido actually *is* closing in the next couple weeks (next......

After questioning the future of Red Hook, we decided to interview someone who can tell us what's really happening in the 'hood. Molly Franklin is the manager of Lido Bar (pictured), and has a thing or two to say about where she spends her days and nights. Give it to us straight: is Red Hook on the up, on the way out, or somewhere in between? Red Hook is somewhere in between. The neighborhood has......

The NY Post reports on the ever-declining neighborhood of Red Hook today, with the area going through some changes that may make some suckers wonder why they just spent $800K on an apartment there. The Brooklyn Paper reported on the neighborhood last month as well, stating it "is in fact turning cold one year after New York’s gentrification guard branded it as The Next Big Thing." Of course, the "gentrification guard" had its eyes on......

As we mentioned, City Councilman Charles Barron held his press conference yesterday to announce his candidacy for the 2009 Brooklyn Borough Presidency. He told the crowds that his platform included affordable housing, health care accessibility, more jobs, standing up to developers who use eminent domain, ending mayor control of schools and more would help everyone. "Am I going to be a borough president for all the people? Absolutely. But I'm letting y'all know now, I'm......

Lido is somewhat of an enigma along Columbia Street. Unlike the dark hues of B61 across the street, and the low light of Sugarlounge further down the street, Lido’s front windows show all from the street. In fact, the name means a public open-air swimming pool or beach, which probably explains the bare legged women sprawled out on the sign. With nothing to hide, Lido can either seem very empty or one of the hottest......

We’re pissed. After setting the date on our schedule for an excursion out to the Red Hook Ball fields this Saturday to sample some of the famous Mexican stalls, word comes from Porkchop Express that the opening has been postponed until May 5th. Apparently from the official Food Vendors Committee of Red Hook Park: ...administrative issues beyond our control have forced us to push this date to May 5th. We are very excited to......

We’d heard about a recently opened Singas Pizza on Columbia Street, that along with a few tables and chairs, also happened to have a post office inside. They usual jests about mailing pies were made, but not much talk about how the actual pizza was, so we decided to head over and check things out. On the front door was a newspaper clipping proclaiming that their chain, which has over 18 locations around the city,......

Poor Columbia Street. In Manhattan, streets are completely torn up, repaired, and repaved and functional in a day. But for the past 6 months this street on the edge of Carroll Gardens and Red Hook has been in a stages of distinct disrepair, each frustrating in its own particular way. There were the potholes of the summer, the big dig of the fall -when all the concrete and asphalt were removed and new concrete......

As much as I pretend to act like it, I am no working class hero. True, I've done a number of blue collar jobs. But that hardly makes me a member of the proletariat. My mom was a teacher and is now a counselor. My dad was a professor, then a high level government official, and is now a lobbyist. And they paid for my undergraduate degree at NYU. No matter how long I drive......

The déjà vu you may get upon entering Buck's Lodge on Atlantic Avenue is not from the country paraphernalia you’ll recognize from similar southern-tinged bars around the area. Even though there seems to be an overload of deer heads on bar walls, it's not that specifically which will make you do a double take. Just think for a moment, order a drink, plop on the evergreen couch, grab a bowl of peanuts and try to......

Did you ever wonder what Red Hook looked like one hundred or two hundred years ago? Well, the map above won't really show you, but Corie does think it explains why much of Red Hook becomes flooded when it rains. Ever the research fiend she is, Corie found an article from the April 19, 1896 issue of Brooklyn Daily Eagle which had an overlay of South Brooklyn in 1776 and 1896. She then took......

On Saturday we led a streetart bike tour through the streets of Brooklyn with Mike and Will. At the far end of the tour, we stopped at an abandoned shipyard at the corner of Halleck and Columbia Street. It's filled with amazing graffiti, including this Gable piece-- but that's not the point of this story. Mike pointed out that if you look through the back fence of the shipyard, you can get a clear......

Steve Tarpin, Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pies...

The other evening Gothamist came stumbling out of West Carroll Garden's premiere Mexican hot spot Alma and walked along Columbia Street by the industrial waterfront, dotted with cranes and the remnants of a live poultry market. Just a block away, urban renewal was taking hold - but not here. This desolate strip was remarkably seedy and sad. But then, lights flickered in the distance. (Okay. It wasn't really that far off, but our contact lenses......

Today is "It's My Park Day"! Which means that citywide you can volunteer to help clean up a park near you by planting, painting, restoring and just making it green again. Parks are important for things like: suntanning, reading the paper, people watching and of course...sports! One park being cleaned up is Brooklyn's McCarren Park, where every Sunday night from 6 to 11pm the Brooklyn Kickball Society play ball. The teams, or those awake before......

I bet you all have a good subway story in you. Actually, if you only had one that would be disappointing and we'd say you need to get your upscale ass out of that cab and ride the rails more. So what's your story? Is it about the time that cute guy sat across from you with his nose buried in the Corrections and later that day you wrote a Missed Connection for him, he......