Red Hook History

Feature Story, Red Hook History

Nino Pantano has been around forever! by Nathan Weiser

Nino Pantano is an 81-year-old lifelong South Brooklyn resident and a man of many passions, accomplishments and interests. He has lived much of his life in and near the Columbia Waterfront District, where his father, Sam Pantano, owned Pantano’s Shoes at 215 Columbia Street. Nino’s grandfather gave Sam the shoe store as a wedding gift during the depression. In those […]

Red Hook History, Red Hook Houses

With camaraderie, Red Hook can only continue to improve, by Lazarus Jackson

Red Hook, Brooklyn has been my home for four years via Long Island, Queens, and Harlem. Of all the neighborhoods I have lived in, Red Hook easily best represents the epitome of what it means to be a New Yorker. We are a blue collar, hard-nosed, resilient, and resourceful neighborhood. Some people believe Red Hook is a forgotten piece of […]

Red Hook History

Daniel J. Defonte’s Way, a new Red Hook street, by Kimberly Gail Price

In 1922, Nicky Defonte opened a sandwich shop on Columbia Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn. After his retirement, the family business was passed along to his sons, Danny and Vito. Through decades of change, the sandwich stop still stands. One man is hoping to honor their legacy.   Angel Conde, better known as “Spanky,” started hanging around Defontes when he […]

History, Red Hook History

Red Hook History: When the Pointers & the Creekers divided Red Hook, by Connor Eugene Gaudet

During much of the 19th century, most of Red Hook east of Dwight Street was basically underwater. Even while they built up the criss-crossing grid of streets, the lots between graded roads were dominated by marshes and tidal pools. To fill it in, the owner, William Beard, leased it out to “carters,” who would pick up people’s garbage and the […]

Feature Story, Red Hook History

Red Hook today is firmly rooted in Red Hook of the past, by Mary Ann Pietanza

It was barely a few days before Christmas when my son, John reminded me that we had not yet bought fish for our traditional Christmas Eve Fish Fest. I admit, I was dragging my foot about the whole holiday in general since the only surviving patriarch in our family was hospital bound with a stroke – and then, a serious […]