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A peek inside the Taste of Red Hook party, September 2014

On September 30, the Red Hook Initiative hosted its annual Taste of Red Hook event at Pioneer Works Center for Art and Innovation. Dozens of local restaurants and vendors volunteered their time — and their best dishes — to raise funds for the Initiative. The Red Hook Initiative is a not-for-profit organization that offers a helping hand to Red Hook residents. They have …

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Tenant Profile: Apotheke Soap and Candle

Apotheke owner Chrissy Fichtl, her husband Sebastian Picasso, and their daughter Penelope Red Hook, with its old warehouses and piers, is a living monument to Brooklyn’s industrial heyday. And while the neighborhood today is quieter and more residential, The O’Connell Organization is dedicated to attracting local manufacturers to Red Hook and its abundant warehouse space. …

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This historic trolley car will transport you back to the old days of Red Hook

For a limited time, the trolley car pictured above will be on display at the Red Hook Stores building on the Red Hook Waterfront. It’s a different model than the trolley cars the O’Connell Organization donated to the Branford Electric Railway Association, who operate the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, CT. The car on …

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A walk around Red Hook in 5 snapshots

Red Hook is a funky neighborhood full of history, and a favorite place for photographers and artists to visit. Greg O’Connell Jr. sent our photographer, Mitch Waxman, out to snap some pictures on a beautiful Spring day. Red Hook, as always, is a neighborhood in transition. Sometimes it seems as if you can see …

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Spring comes to Red Hook

It’s been a long and hard winter for Red Hook Waterfront, but with the return of warmer weather, Red Hook is starting to bloom again, and you couldn’t ask for a better time to pay us a visit. The entire neighborhood is sweeping up, painting the stoop, and the kids are outside playing again. …

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The Red Hook Criterium + pouring rain = a day of epic bike and running races

On Saturday, March 29, some of the most dedicated cyclists and runners from Brooklyn and around the world gathered at Red Hook’s Brooklyn Cruise Terminal for a race like no other. Pouring rain didn’t stop these athletic, talented lunatics from running, or racing full-tilt on fixed-gear track bikes without brakes. The reason for this …

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Neighbors and Friends: Red Hook Rise

O’Connell On-Site Manager Ray Hall, and his brother Earl, founded Red Hook Rise in 1994 with the goal of creating safer streets for kids in the Red Hook houses. The brothers grew up in NYCHA Housing, and count many of the neighborhood parents as friends. Red Hook Rise is not just a hobby for them — …

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Neighbors and Friends: Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition

At The O’Connell Organization, we know that there’s more to a neighborhood than just a collection of buildings. An impressive number of artists have chosen Red Hook as a home, as evidenced by  the Brooklyn Waterfront Artist’s Coalition, or BWAC. BWAC founding president John Strohbeen (left) came to the Red Hook waterfront in 1978, part of …

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Neighbors and Friends: Dance Theatre Etcetera

Dance Theatre Etcetera is a community organization dedicated to “pursuing social justice through the arts,” offering art education programs before, during, and after school. Since 1994, its founder Martha Bowers has been guiding the group. A dancer and choreographer who has performed such site-specific works as 1993’s “On the Waterfront,” she was motivated by …

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Neighbors and Friends: The Waterfront Museum

When you visit the Red Hook waterfront, one of the first things you’ll notice is a bright red historic barge docked at Pier 44, near the Fairway Supermarket at the Red Hook Stores building. That’s where The Waterfront Museum is found, a non-profit 501(c)3 tax-exempt charitable organization run by David Sharps. Sharps, after working …

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