This was the twelfth annual Open House New York weekend, where New Yorkers get to prowl around, crawl through and visit places in the city that are normally closed to the public. It’s a great way to see the behind the scenes operations of the city, see architects’ and artists’ studios and offices, tour incredible architecture, learn about history, see entrepreneurship in action.

I spend a lot of time in Brooklyn and Saturday provided me with entré to:

1. The Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Here we learned about some young folks who got together and started a distillary in a beautiful old red brick building from the mid 1800’s that became the place where 70,000 people came during WW II for their pay checks.

We learned about how the many groups of immigrants that came to New York brought their brewing skills with them: beers were brewed by the Germans and are grain-based while other groups brewed with fruits and created wines and liquors.

There was so much information provided during this tour that it is impossible to recall let alone share, but suffice it to say that all of the brewing, distilling and drinking led to wars over taxation, and ultimately to Prohibition in 1920.

 

On to lunch across the way in Vinegar Hill, an old Irish immigrant neighborhood, a landmark area  paved with cobblestones.

Lunch at The Vinegar Hill House/72 Hudson Ave/Brooklyn, NY 11201
between Water St & Front St in Vinegar Hill

A tiny, old rustic place that serves good food!

 

The Vinegar Hill Historic District

 

And the food:

 

A visit to Steve’s Key Lime Pie, the real thing. Steve moved to a nearby pier location as Hurricane Sandy flooded him out.

 

On to site 2,  The Red Hook Winery

Some young entrepreneurs have gotten together and created a winery specializing in small batches of special vintages. They overcame getting flooded out by Hurricane Sandy. They are on a pier on the water which was about nine feet under water. We had almost an hour tour and lecture along with a tasting.

 

Site 3: Recycling!  It’s gotta go somewhere and hey, we want a better environment …

This is a great visitor’s center, education center and the place where Brooklyn’s Sanitation trucks line up and drop off tons of paper, metal, glass. It gets sorted and recylced.

This is how they do it!

Sims Municipal Recycling

 

 

The education center

 

 

Don’t forget to recycle!