![]() Some parts of Red Hook were mostly Italian back then, but where I lived it was mixed. There were a lot of kids in the neighborhood. It seemed like there was always a game going on outside. There were no computers or video games back then of course so the streets were always filled with kids. One of my biggest memories is of playing stick ball in the streets. As a kid you could always find some work to do after school, to have money for the movies or whatever. The docks were always bustling, and between those and the factories there was plenty of work for whoever needed it. I remember, besides being a place of recreation, Red Hook was quite the industrial town back then. We would wait for them to finish and then take their beer bottles once they were gone so we could go cash them in for pocket money. The kids would go find where the dock or factory workers were eating their Defonte’s sandwiches and bottle of beer for lunch. If you got hungry you went to Defonte’s for a sandwich, which, believe it or not, cost only about 15 cents back then. In Red Hook, as a kid, you could always keep busy back then. Then there was Visitation Hall over on Verona Street that hosted dances with music and basketball games, stuff like that. Wood shop classes and carpentry classes for the boys, and cooking classes for the girls. I remember they had a lot of after school classes for the kids. They had something for everybody they had CYO programs there, and everything was open to the public free of charge. There was also the Community Center over near where the Red Hook Houses are now. If I remember correctly, a flick would cost you about 25 cents back then. There was the Pioneer Theatre down on Pioneer Street, and the Happy Hour Theatre over on Columbia Street. When we weren’t swimming we had a lot of other things to do too. It use to be more like a beach so that we could just walk right up to the water. Lots of swimming, and just hanging out down there. Pete has been instrumental over the years in organizing local sports.Īs kids we were always very active on the docks. We had a lot of parks, and we always had the water… Pete Morales standing with Pat Sones at this year’s opening of the Red Hook Little league. “That was truly abstract.“Back when I was a kid Red Hook was an area of recreation. “Don’t let our lack of any response fool you,” one host said, searching for a compliment to sum up his performance. Minutes later, an open-mike session began, and a rapt group beheld a tap dancer in red tights and a black tutu, moving her hands with erotic flair to Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmas Time.” Another participant spent much of his set running the microphone cable between his thighs and mumbling half-formed thoughts. “I don’t always ask my clients what their sign is, but usually I can tell,” she explained to her astonished pupils. ![]() On another night, a clutch of hopeful psychics gathered around their teacher after a two-hour lesson in tarot. ![]() ![]() Cubacub went outside for air at intermission, followed by several other audience members, most of whom then ordered glasses of whiskey before heading back to their seats for an essay about eating habits, read over acoustic guitar. She received especially supportive applause from Sky Cubacub, a gender-nonconforming fashion designer who had recently dressed Pussy for a show at the Whitney. A well-attended event showcasing women and gender-nonconforming artists called “Am I Write, Ladies?” featured Cerebral Pussy, who has cerebral palsy and who undressed for her “Tiny Tim” burlesque act. Early-career artists sometimes need a liquid leg up, and patrons and performers alike are encouraged to carry their pints of beer and cider from the bar, through swinging double doors, into the venue space, where rows of stackable chairs and a stage await them. Every night, much of that excess spills into outer-borough spots like the Footlight, a new dive in Ridgewood. It often feels like the city is boiling over with aspiring talents. ![]()
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