I Know a Place | Pioneer Works | 159 Pioneer Street, Red Hook, Brooklyn
I grew up in a rural area on an unrelenting march to suburbia; the kind of neighborhood that has changed the “city” section of its mailing address several times over the last few decades. For the most part, my school friends and I lived in single family homes surrounded by cattle and horses, which were slowly replaced by more single family homes as lots were sold off, sometimes slowly, sometimes all at once.
Any area like this sees its fair share of teenage malcontents, who through a combination of mischief, boredom, and an underlying sense that something is being taken away (despite often being the progeny of those who once did the taking) revenge themselves on the relentless march of time by tagging mailboxes and playing music too loud while driving around the newly paved streets in Derry’s dad’s 1997 Honda Civic.
The sun isn’t yet down. Somebody has a pack of cigarettes they stole from their older sister. We swerve the car and knock over a trash can sitting at the end of a newly built, tasteful red-brick driveway. Jack, riding shotgun, laughs. Later, we will go to The Foundation.
