Red Hook is a neighborhood of the Borough of Brooklyn, New York, USA. Before annexation into Brooklyn, Red Hook was a separate village. It is named for the red clay soil and the point of land projecting into the East River. The village was settled by the Dutch colonists of New Amsterdam in 1636, and named Roode Hoek. In Dutch "Hoek" means "point" or "corner" and not the English hook (i.e. NOT something curved or bent). Today, the area is home to about 11,000 people.

Red Hook is part of the area known as South Brooklyn. It is actually a peninsula formed by the Gowanus Canal at the southern edge of Downtown Brooklyn, and is north of the geographic center of the borough. Red Hook is connected to Manhattan by the vehicles-only Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, whose toll plaza and approaches separate it from Carroll Gardens to the north. Subway service in the area is sparse, with the IND Culver Line ( and trains) running along Smith Street and Ninth Street. The B61 bus runs as a 24-hour service from Red Hook through Downtown Brooklyn, Clinton Hill, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint, terminating at Long Island City, Queens. The B77 bus connects with the and trains at the Smith-Ninth Streets station.

Red Hook was the setting for the H. P. Lovecraft story The Horror at Red Hook and Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge.

Red Hook is planned to be the site of the world's largest IKEA, which is replacing a historic 19th-century dry dock. Local residents worry though that the new IKEA will bring heavy traffic problems and a sort of development focused on attracting outsiders. The MTA has promised to extend the B61 bus to the IKEA when it is open to the public. Red Hook contains several parks, including Red Hook Park. In the spring of 2006, the new Carnival Cruise Lines Terminal opened in Red Hook, bringing additional tourists to Brooklyn.

Red Hook is the only part of New York City that, on land, has a full frontal view of the Statue of Liberty, which was oriented to face Prospect Park.

External links

• NYCfoto.com - Photos of Red Hook
• B61 Productions - A Red Hook centered blog

Brooklyn neighborhoods

Red Hook