Getting there:

easy: Take the F or G train to the Smith–9th Sts station and catch bus B77 right outside. It carries you past the housing projects to Red Hook’s (relatively) glitzy Van Brunt strip. Other alternatives are the A, C or F train to Jay St–Borough Hall, and the 2, 3, 4 or 5 train to Borough Hall; then get on the B61, which stops at the corner of Jay and Willoughby Streets and trundles down Columbia Street onto Van Brunt Street.

breezy: On weekends, New York Water Taxi operates an hourly service between Pier 11 (South Street at Wall Street) and the Beard Street Pier terminus at Van Brunt Street. A one-way trip costs between $5 and $10 (nywatertaxi.com).

lazy: For a rather reasonable $20 (from downtown Manhattan) or $22 (from midtown) one way, Eastern Car Service (718-499-6227) will collect you and drop you anywhere in Red Hook—or take you back at closing time.

Arts and attractions

1. When a gallery opens on your once-sleepy block, you can usually count the days until you’re priced out of your apartment. But the Kentler International Drawing Space opened in 1990, so you can’t blame it for all the recent changes in the neighborhood. This local stalwart—which took its name from a dry-goods business that occupied the spot from 1877 until 1977—quietly offers a showcase for young artists’ works on paper. And some high-powered types are stopping by: The organizer of the show opening Friday 2 is Carter Foster, curator of drawings at the Whitney.
353 Van Brunt St between Dikeman and Wolcott Sts (718-875-2098, kentlergallery.org)

2. David Sharps bought Lehigh Valley Railroad Barge #79 for a dollar in 1985. It was sunk in the Hudson and its hull had accumulated 300 tons of mud. Sharps was a professional clown and juggler, and he estimates he’s “raised and spent half a million” on what’s now The Waterfront Museum and Showboat Barge. It’s like a floating ballroom—Sharps rents the 90-foot boat for wedding receptions—docked at the end of Conover Street. A wide array of acts perform during the CIRCUSundays in June program; Friday nights in July are devoted to the Sunset Music Series, entering its 11th season.
290 Conover St at Pier 44 (718-624-4719, waterfrontmuseum.org); museum open Thursdays 4–8pm.

3. The Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition’s 25,000-foot exhibition space is in a Civil War–era warehouse on the pier just south of the new Fairway megasupermarket. So if you’re already down there to pick up that hunk of Époisses de Bourgogne cheese, check out BWAC’s spring show, “Transformations,” which runs until June 18. Better yet, go on BWAC’s open tour of 75 studios Saturday 3 and Sunday 4.
499 Van Brunt St at Beard St Pier (718-596-2507, bwac.org)

4. Dance Theatre Etcetera impresario Martha Bowers founded the Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival in 1994, back when there wasn’t much there there, to unify the neighborhood and celebrate its youth and diversity. This year, thousands will gather at Beard Street Pier for performers including local Latin funk band Radio Mundial, improv troupe Hip Hop Commedia and the dance ensemble Urban Bush Women. You can get there easily; the New York Water Taxi makes weekend stops at the pier hourly from 11am to 6pm.
The festival runs Sat 3 noon–6pm on Van Brunt St between the Beard St Pier and Reed St. For more info, visit dancetheatreetcetera.org. For New York Water Taxi fares and schedules, visit nywatertaxi.com.

5. On June 29, the outdoor pool at the Sol Goldman Recreation Center will again turn into a bustling oasis, with crowds of people filing through its Deco-accented entrance. One section of the pool is an urban lap-swimmer’s dream; the rest is reserved for less-structured water activities. Don’t splash, don’t run and don’t touch anyone: The lifeguards run a tight ship, and their admonishments are so frequent that they become this pool’s jolting soundtrack.
155 Bay St between Clinton and Henry Sts (718-722-3211)

Louis J. Valentino Jr. Park and Pier

6. The Louis J. Valentino Jr. Park and Pier still offers the best spots on dry land to view Lady Liberty (not to mention the Fourth of July fireworks). The pier is frequented by anglers looking for an out-of-the-way place, and by the Gowanus Dredgers, who launch their canoes and kayaks here in the warmer months.
Coffey St at Ferris St. Call 311 or visit nycgovparks.org

Eating

7. For more  than 25 years, Steve Tarpin has been making Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pies the same way—with only freshly squeezed juice. If you can find his unassuming storefront on Pier 41, snag that frozen chocolate-dipped key lime pie novelty on a stick, the Swingle, or your own miniature pie.
204 Van Dyke St at Pier 41 (718-858-5333, stevesauthentic.com)

8. Every weekend from spring to early fall in Red Hook Park, Central and South American locals set up griddles and grills to serve Pan-Latin street food. At the makeshift food bazaar, within a bevy of blue-tarp tents, women fashion tortillas for toothsome quesadillas and fry up El Salvadoran pupusas (hot corn patties oozing with cheese), and families eat amid the billowing smoke. Few items cost more than $5—and if you’re monolingual, relax: Some vendors have signs in English.
Red Hook Park, 155 Bay St between Clinton and Henry Sts

9. “It’s simple, but it’s interesting,” says Ben Schneider of the eclectic menu at The Good Fork, the cozy brick-walled space he’s opened with his wife, Sohui Kim. Regulars and bus commuters alike head to this newcomer for affordable dishes like bitter greens and roasted beets, with a glamorous latke-like apple potato cake topped with goat cheese and caramelized onions ($8).
391 Van Brunt St between Coffey and Van Dyke Sts (718-643-6636)

Baked

10. After cofounding West Village sweet spot the Chocolate Bar, Matt Lewis decided to bring his sugar skills to Brooklyn last year. Along with Renato Poliafito and Rafi Avramovitz, he opened the retro bakery Baked, where cool kids and young moms hang out in bright-orange chairs and indulge in old-school confections like the Diner Double Dark layer cake, mixed-berry bars and jumbo marshmallows. Dieters can enjoy a strong caffeine fix.
359 Van Brunt St at Wolcott St (718-222-0345)

11. Stray south of Carroll Gardens into the DMZ just below the BQE and you’ll be rewarded, improbably, with premium meats, cheeses and the finest Italian hero you’ve ever wrapped your gums around. Founded more than 80 years ago to feed hungry longshoremen, Defonte’s Sandwich Shop still serves ’em up long and loaded; try anything with the thinly sliced, ambrosial eggplant and creamy mozzarella. Authenticity is vouched for by a wall of celeb headshots, including those of Al Pacino, “Jimmy” Gandolfini and…could it be? Yup, the ultimate endorsement: Frank.
379 Columbia St at Luquer St (718-855-6982)

12. Those waiting for a table at the Good Fork can soon lounge in a warm wine bar. Monica Byrne, former chef at the Liberty Heights Tap Room (see No. 19), has joined forces with stage manager Leisah Swenson and public defender Tina Luongo to open Tini in mid- to late June. The newcomer will showcase artisanal cheeses and organic produce from the Red Hook Community Farm.
414 Van Brunt St at Coffey St (no phone yet). For more about the farm and Added Value, the nonprofit that started it, see "Farm aid."

13. Foodies can thank Hope & Anchor for Van Brunt Street’s reputation as an emerging restaurant row. When this stylish diner opened in 2002, the neighborhood was a culinary wasteland. These days, seats are constantly filled with people chowing down on the famed juicy burgers and chicken potpies or all-day breakfast fare.
347 Van Brunt St at Wolcott St (718-237-0276)

14. When Alsace native Arnaud Erhart opened 360 in 2003, he had one motive: to feed friends and neighbors. Along the way, he prompted Manhattanites to venture to Red Hook with his attractive market-driven prix-fixe menu. A few of his chefs have found new homes and the three courses now set you back $25, but his dedication to farm-fresh ingredients (chilled pea soup with watercress and mint; roasted Coonshee Farms chicken breast with homemade Thai curry and basmati rice) has never wavered.
360 Van Brunt St between Sullivan and Wolcott Sts (718-246-0360)

15. The area west of the BQE and north of the Gowanus Expressway is nominally undefined (realtors give it cachet by calling it “Carroll Gardens West”), but many locals consider it part of Red Hook. Whatever. We just like to eat there. Ferdinando’s Focacceria (151 Union St, 718-855-1545) has been an institution since 1904, but those craving $1.65 sliders hang across the street at no-frills Schnäck (122 Union St, 718-855-2879). The chalkboard menu at Bouillabaisse 126 (126 Union St, 718-855-4405) touts sophisticated seafood like roasted salmon with mustard seeds and peppercorns. Hankerings for Thai grub are indulged at Teeda (218 Columbia St, 718-643-2737), sushi is sliced at Kotobuki Bistro (192 Columbia St, 718-246-7980),and Aussie- and New Zealand–style meat pies are cooked at Down Under Bakery (DUB) Pies (193 Columbia St, 646-202-9412). Those craving rugalach head next door to Margaret Palca Bakes (191 Columbia St, 718 802-9771), which also serves pastries and hearty sandwiches.The street’s biggest draw might be Alma (187 Columbia St, 718-643-5400), where poblano rellenos just taste better in one of the coveted rooftop seats.

Drinking

16. Tonya LeNell Smothers refers to her store, LeNell’s, as a “wine and spirit boutique,” but boozers know it as bourbon central. She sells more than 100 varieties of Kentucky’s finest, a few dozen Irish, American and Canadian whiskeys, plus a healthy supply of other potables. Smothers, an Alabama native, focuses on family-owned wineries and distilleries and hosts regular tastings and events. Her establishment’s phone number pretty well sums up the store’s vibe: 877-NO-SNOBS.
416 Van Brunt St between Coffey and Van Dyke Sts (718-360-0838, lenells.com)

The Hook

17. The Hook could never exist in Manhattan or one of Brooklyn’s denser neighborhoods; the location—on a craggy block that’s remote even here—is what makes the venue work. In the absence of a walk-by crowd looking to just hang out, a genuine community has flourished: Bands from the city and outlying areas love the warm, muscular sound and expansive stage, and no one in the audience (capacity: 400) is there by accident. The outdoor space behind the club can hold about 100 smokers (during the summer, a grill often smokes too). For bigger shows, The Hook even runs a free shuttle bus from the Carroll Street F and G stop.
18 Commerce St between Columbia and Richards Sts (718-797-3007)

18.  Opened by four friends who simply wanted a bar in their neighborhood they could count on to be open every night, Bait & Tackle sits in the former home of, what else, a bait and tackle shop. The spot is quirkily decorated with taxidermy, as well as a barber chair and an inviting bar. In addition to an array of beers, B&T displays an impressive collection of whiskeys and bourbons, courtesy of nearby source LeNell’s (see No. 16). When you’re done, head next door to toss some horseshoes (and toss down some more liquor) at Pioneer Bar-B-Q.
Bait & Tackle, 320 Van Brunt St at Pioneer St (718-797-4892)
Pioneer Bar-B-Q, 318 Van Brunt St at Pioneer St (718-701-2189)

19. The adjacent Sixpoint Craft Ale Brewery affords Liberty Heights Tap Room the distinct ability to offer a rotating selection of the beer maker’s 13 house brews. Open Thursday through Sunday, the Tap Room also has a full menu with burgers and brick-oven pizzas, a pool table, a roof deck and an open-mike night on Thursdays starting at 8:30. (The venue is becoming known for its kids’-band jams.) Stop by Sixpoint on Saturdays at 1pm for a free tour and tasting before settling in next door.
34 Van Dyke St at Dwight St (718-246-8050)

Local color

20. Every morning, sculptor Cheryl Stewart updates the eye-grabbing handmade sign in front of her cream-colored house at 53 Coffey Street, which on May 24 read: 4 years 252 days since 9-11-01 where is osama bin laden? “I am horrified by the Bush administration’s determination to wage war on a country that never attacked us, while the perpetrator of the crime remains at large,” Stewart says. She started keeping her tally in the winter of 2002, on the 511th day. “Rain and snow have taken their toll,” she says of her plywood-and-paint statement. “I’ve had to make the sign over three times already.”

21. Trolleys haven’t run in Brooklyn since the 1950s, but Arthur Melnick thinks they’ll rise again. Melnick worked with quixotic rail fan Bob Diamond, who by 2002 had amassed 16 trolley cars and laid about a quarter mile of working track and overhead wire near the Beard Street pier. Then matching funds promised by the DOT were withdrawn, Diamond quit the project in a flurry of lawsuits, and everything stalled. Three dilapidated trolley cars still sit on the derelict track, the one in the rear so scabbed with rust it looks like it rolled out of the harbor. But Melnick has kept at it, forming the Brooklyn City Streetcar Company “to bring the trolleys back. They’re fuel-efficient, don’t give off greenhouse gases and they’re quieter than buses.” One good sign: Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez has secured funding for a feasibility study of the trolley system.

22. Beside the dock of the Revere sugar factory—now a fire-ravaged rat’s nest of corroded metal—sits Lightship No. 84, resting on the floor of the Erie Basin. All you can see above the water are two masts. According to The New York Times, the 135-foot ship was launched in 1907 and had a 58-year stint as part of a fleet of mobile lighthouses.The circumstances are difficult to determine, but No. 84 turned up here in the mid-’90s. The Waterfront Museum’s David Sharps (see No. 2) says rain slowly caused it to sink until water rushed over the side, at which point the 683-ton beast plummeted.

Sunny Balzano

23.  Sunny’s Bar has been around since the 1890s, but it became the heart of the local creative community in 1982, when Sunny Balzano, right, returned and took over the joint that had been in his family for generations. Having escaped the dissolute ’hood at 16, he became an artist and actor, living in Los Angeles, Soho (“It was a world away”) and Bombay, before returning to care for his ailing father. “When I came back, the longshoremen had gone and the neighborhood was bombed-out—you could always smell fire,” he recalls. “But this little corner survived and the artists began to move in.” Balzano threw parties and staged music and theater events for the newcomers, and soon staunch old-timers were mixing with performers and painters. Today, the nautical-bric-a-brac–adorned tavern is run by Balzano’s artist wife, Tone (who hosts the Saturday night bluegrass jam). Sunny, who’s in his seventies, sits at the bar greeting friends—seemingly everyone who comes through the door—with a hug. Outsiders weren’t always welcome in the enclave, though. “It used to be clannish,” Balzano says. “Now it’s a pretty village. My friend says Red Hook is like a hot chick in coveralls.”
253 Conover St between Beard and Reed Sts (718-625-8211). Open Wed, Fri, Sat from 8pm. Local bands play on Fridays; the bluegrass jam is on Saturdays; this month’s regular edition of the Sunday’s at Sunny’s reading series is Sun 4 at 3pm. On June 11, a special extra reading for the new short-story anthology Hard Boiled Brooklyn will start at 3pm.

24. “I’ve been in love with cars since I was five,” says Gino Lucci, the founder and president of Picture Cars East. “I live and breathe automobiles.” Lucci, 59, is a true son of Red Hook—his business has been on Huntington Street since 1970. Now he customizes and rents vehicles to film, TV, advertising and video productions; the pristine 1966 Mustang Tom Cruise drove in War of the Worlds came from Lucci’s personal collection. PCE also provides drivers; Lucci himself is a SAG member who specializes in precision driving. Watch for him on the Speed TV network, when the reality series Shooting Cars debuts this summer.
72 Huntington St between Henry and Hicks Sts (718-852-2300, pixxcars.com). For more of this interview, click here.

Shopping

25. The gallery-like Brooklyn Collective is a cooperative boutique that brings together the work of area artists and artisans. A rotating cast of photographers, painters, jewelry and fashion designers share the rent on the space, which is peppered with mini-exhibits devoted to each, including a shelf of hand-painted canvas shoes from Species by the Thousands and guitar straps by designer Missy Broome that come emblazoned with lyrics such as i like it when you call me big poppa.
198 Columbia St between DeGraw and Sackett Sts (718-596-6231)

Atlantis

26. Equal parts furniture rehabber and antiques shop, Atlantis offers restoration and repair services, and also carries ready-to-buy goods from yesteryear, including reupholstered slipper chairs, hula-girl-adorned glassware sets and midcentury lamps—which are displayed on the sidewalk in front of the store on fair-weather weekends.
351 Van Brunt St between Dikeman and Wolcott Sts (718-858-8816)

27. A hybrid beauty parlor–boutique, the sleek four-station Jet Set Salon not only gives locals a voguish place to get their hair cut (from $60), colored (from $85) and styled, it also sells a cache of chic jewelry, hats and handbags to wear postsnipping.
220 Columbia St between Sackett and Union Sts (718-797-3398)

Reported by Alia Akkam, Dan Avery, Marissa Patlingrao Cooley, James Oliver Cury, Maxwell Foxman, Gabriella Gershenson, Howard Halle, Bill Keith, Clare Lambe, Michael Miller, Chrissy Raia, Joshua Rothkopf, Elisabeth Vincentelli, Virginia Vitzthum and Mike Wolf.

For more stories on and photos of Red Hook, visit timeoutnewyork.com.