By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Captain Tom Smith was interviewed over lunch in the galley of the MARY A. WHALEN in 2016. For part of his long career, he worked for the same company that owned The MARY, then a working oil tanker, now the flagship of PortSide NewYork....
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
During Spring semester 2024, PortSide is working with a Pratt Institute graduate student class on "participatory plannning" taught by Beth Bingham. We recommended Wally Bazemore as a resource for the class, and he came to speak during a session...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
In 2017, the inauguration of the NYC Ferry service was a big deal in the mind of Oscar Pagan , enough so that he drove from Staten Island back to Red Hook where he grew up to experience this big change for the neighborhood. He came to PortSide...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
There is an interview and short video in Spanish at the bottom beneath the photos. Carolina Salguero of PortSide interviewed Antonio "Tony" Piraquive who ran the Red Hook Coffee Shop for years, until 2020. We then threw a goodbye party for him...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Shannon Geis spent months researching the history of Red Hook, reading old newspapers, and, "most importantly, speaking with the people of Red Hook about how they view the community and where they see themselves in it." Her interviews took...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Hear notable marine engineer and architect Dr. Charles R. Cushing talk about the rescue of the MARY A. WHALEN. Cushing has played a significant role in maritime history during 60+ years, including being one of the architects of...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Captain Rich Naruszewicz started his career in 1978 as a deckhand. He worked on the MARY A. WHALEN for three years in the early 90s and now is a captain of one of the few remaining oil tankers in the New York Harbor the Chandra B . He was...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Heidi Benedikt - part 1: audio element. Heidi Benedikt - part 2: audio element. Synopsis of interview with Heidi Benedikt, former crew member of the MARY A. WHALEN. Recording times in parenthesis are aproximate. (0:10) The delegate of the...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Gary Shiflett, currently a fleet manager, used to work for Ira S. Bushey and Sons and Eklof Marine. In 2016, while standing in the galley of PortSide NewYork's MARY A. WHALEN - a "Bushey boat" - he told of some of his memories...
Interviewed in 2013 at age 19, Rasheed Johnson, a resident of NYCHA’s Red Hook houses, talks about how the neighborhood has changed in the past 8 years since he got here. Development has eliminated all his “hang out spots” except for Valentino...
