Red Hook is red hot. It’s surprising, because Red Hook has suffered as few neighborhoods have, and, not long ago, had a fearsome reputation as a no man’s land. Also, mass transit desperately underserves Red Hook — not a standard part of the recipe for redhotness. It’s unsurprising, because, after all, those panoramic views of the Upper Bay know no equal. And New Yorkers love the industrial chic of SoHo, TriBeCa, DUMBO, and Williamsburg. Red Hook once was one of the hardestworking waterfronts on Earth. Most of the boats are gone. Ikea filled in the great graving dock. But the buildings — warehouses, mainly, of the same vintages as those in DUMBO — and the gritty streetscapes endure. Brick warehouses of the 1860s combine with razor-wired lots, neat row houses, and stunning views for an unbeatable edgy chic, lately enlivened by good restaurants, boutiques, and, of course, Fairway.

For the curious, here’s what I suggest. Begin at Carroll and Van Brunt streets. It’s a few blocks from the Carroll Street station of the F and G trains. You can also get there via the B63 bus from Brooklyn’s Borough Hall. You’re near the southern end of the Red Hook Containerport, one of only two such facilities in the city. Containerization, with its bigger ships and need for vast open lots, spelled the end of Manhattan’s and Brooklyn’s freight shipping industries after World War II. Since freight shipping was what Red Hook was all about, the area declined. Then the city announced it was going to condemn a great deal of land to build a big container port in Red Hook. This ramped up the exodus. When the city scaled back its plans, much of Red Hook was like a ghost town.

Walk south on Van Brunt to Bowne Street and take a right. Here’s the entrance to the much ballyhooed cruise-ship terminal that handles the Queen Mary, among other vessels. There’s not much to see when a big ship’s not in dock. But do note that this is the historic Atlantic Basin, established in the 1840s by Daniel Richards, James Stranahan, and others as the nation’s then largest dock and warehouse facility for oceangoing ships. The improbably big reinforced-concrete warehouses along Imlay Street read: “New York Dock Co.” That operator of docks, warehouses, and waterfront railways was one of New York City’s largest private landowners.

Continue south to Verona Street and take a left to Richards Street. The lovely Visitation Church dates from 1896–97. Across Richards from the church is Coffey Park, on the other side of which begin the vast Red Hook Houses. The Housing Authority completed the 27-building project in 1939. The small park marks the division of Red Hook’s “front” — the housing project — and “back” — the waterfront area that’s now witnessing gentrification.

Head back to Van Brunt and take a left. Van Brunt’s the “high street,” with several interesting eateries, such as 360 between Wolcott and Sullivan, and Good Fork between Van Dyke and Coffey. At the foot of Van Brunt, past Beard Street, stands the 1860s Red Hook Stores, a majestic warehouse beautifully restored by Greg O’Connell, who believed in Red Hook’s rebirth when others thought it was a joke. Fairway, a gargantuan outpost of the Upper West Side food store that opened in 1940, has occupied the warehouse’s base for exactly one year. Upstairs are live-work loft apartments. Other similar warehouses represent Red Hook’s handsomest architecture. The Beard Street Stores, across Van Brunt, are one of the city’s last two remaining warehouse piers. (The other is nearby Pier 41 at the foot of Van Dyke Street.) These warehouses front on Erie Basin, built in the 1860s. Look to the east and you can still see the old grain elevators that once stored Midwest grain shipped via the Erie Canal.

From Fairway return to Beard Street. Take a left to Conover, then a right to Coffey Street. Take a left. Time Out magazine’s oft-quoted feature on the “best blocks in New York” ranked Coffey between Conover and Ferris streets as number eight — and for a person with the right kind of urban sensibility, the mix of row houses, factories, and trees makes it easy to see why. The kicker is when you reach Ferris and around the bend extends a spectacular long pier, built in 1997, jutting into the bay from Lynden Miller-designed gardens. The Louis Valentino Pier, named for a hero firefighter, offers fishing and views, the latter as heart-stopping as anything in New York.

fmorrone@nysun.com