I never really knew much about Red Hook before travelling there, so I didn’t particularly have many expectations or conceived notions about the area. Perhaps my first surprise was learning how difficult it was to actually reach Red Hook. The most common way to get to Red Hook is by taking the bus and walking further into the area. I decided to take the shuttle bus from Borough Hall to the IKEA and begin my observations around and within the building itself.

I reached the IKEA at around 5pm on February 18th. The streets themselves were pretty void of people except for those lining up to get on the bus or those who were walking into the store. I feel like this probably had a lot to do with the fact that it was freezing cold outside. Across from IKEA was a patch of green space in front of another building as well as a lot full of buses. Many of the lots that I could see from the distance had graffiti on the gates. IKEA actually seemed to contrast its surroundings quite a lot. It seemed to be a huge reason that people were coming to Red Hook in the first place. Most of the buildings that were within spotting distance from IKEA had “For Rent” signs and generally seemed like older buildings.

Since there weren’t many people outside, I decided to go inside of the store to see the different individuals that possibly lived around the area. I noticed there were a lot of families with young children in the stores, many Hispanic and Caucasian. There were also many couples in their twenties looking around. I don’t know how clearly these observations represent the population of the area since the main public transportation routes to Red Hook stopped right in front of the store. Many of the visitors of the store might possibly be from other areas.

By around 6pm, I decided to start walking further down Bread St. Most of the contents of the street confirmed the images that I saw from afar. The streets were mostly covered with older buildings in between large lots that were filled with buses, cars and the like. Again, I feel like the lack of individuals I saw wandering about most likely had to do with the fiercely cold weather. Although the area that I was walking through seemed slightly barren, I feel like there would be more people roaming about during summer or perhaps earlier in the day.

As I was taking the shuttle bus back to Borough Hall around 7pm, I saw a lot of apartment buildings clustered together, but I couldn’t clearly get the street names. The apartment buildings seemed to be in the same condition as most of the other buildings.

However, I feel like the most surprising thing about Red Hook, is the view. When you look far out into the distance, you can clearly see the Statue of Liberty and a really beautiful glimpse of the Verrazano Bridge.