Corlears Hook

Let's say you found yourself unexpectedly in 19th century New York with an urge to steal cargo off a freighter, consort with a prostitute, get yourself stabbed, or some combination of these three. Your best bet is to make your way down to a projection of land in the southeast quadrant of the Lower East Side known as Corlears Hook.

Originally a marshland used by Lenape Indians to beach their canoes, Corlears Hook was transformed into a farm by the Van Corlaer family after the Dutch took charge of the island. The name was later anglicized to Corlears. ("Hoek" is Dutch for "point" or "corner.") The area was strategically suitable for a harbor so cargo docks eventually glutted the shoreline. By the 1800s the area had deteriorated into a slum of bars, brothels, and tenements. The streetwalkers who worked the red light district of "The Hook" eventually came to be known as "hookers." By the end of the century gangs of hoodlums like The Short Tail Gang and Monk Eastman's boys ran rampant, terrorizing the harbor's shipyard docks.

Anyone familiar with New York knows nothing stays the same for long. The 20th century brought about idealists intent on cleaning up the shoreline. In the 1930s Robert Moses built an esplanade along the river, replacing the docks and providing some greenery to the overwhelmingly brown tenements. A decade later an amphitheater was constructed as a venue for Shakespeare and Greek classics to be performed. The last of the tenements had vanished by the 1950s to be replaced by the monstrous East River housing project.

I headed down on a mild Saturday afternoon seeking river pirates and prostitutes. Instead I found several dogwalkers, girls on roller skates, joggers, a professorial father playing with his kids, and a softball game in progress.


The entrance to Corlears Hook Park. A pedestrian walkway over the FDR Drive leads to the East River Park.




The amphitheater built by Robert Moses in 1941.




The amphitheater had badly fallen into disrepair by the '70s, but was rebuilt by the city in 2001.


Seal sculpture art by G. Augustine Lynas.




The Williamsburg Bridge, which opened in 1903.


The iconic Domino Sugar factory is visible beneath the bridge.






If you've read Caleb Carr's The Alienist (or even if you haven't) this is the anchoring tower of the Williamsburg Bridge on which our heroes discover the first murder victim which kicks off the entire investigation.


Another view of the anchoring tower. As you can see, police are still on the scene, which indicates the killer has struck once again after all these years.