Last evening while waiting for the train I met a young man who wore brown wingtips, gray peacoat, Yankees beanie, and a v-neck sweater over plaid. He held a Heineken keg can and looked around warily as we chatted before cracking it and taking a deep pull.

As the train exhaled I asked him where do you live. With a grimace he replied the Upper East. You should move to Brooklyn, I said.

When we sat on the crowded 5 train and he opened his bag to hand me one of his CDs I noticed that his notebooks had the name Sascha Gray on it. I chuckled while he fondled the pockets and finally extracted the blur-faced CD in white paper and plastic sleeve.

Soon thereafter we had our formal introductions and I laughed. The deep irony, I inveighed, is that after you blow up and her breasts begin to sag, people will think it was a reference to the porn star. And that will probably help you, although you spell your names differently. How bizarre, how bizarre, I pondered, thinking about the layers of significance this would have to a young musician in our postmodern era.

Red Hook is arguably the most American neighborhood in Brooklyn. And it may also be the hardest to reach (out of all those you’d want to). But there is plenty to do.

There are lots of restaurants on Van Brunt St., from lobster to American bistro style. Hope & Anchor offers tasty Brooklyn style eats at moderate prices and their wait-staff loves wide gesticulations.  Down the block, Baked is a great place to sip a macchiato and eat homemade cookies, or if you prefer something a tad lighter, walk on to Pier 41 for some Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pie. Al Roker says it’s the best.

And stroll the antebellum docks to admire the Statue of Liberty from a different point of view. The Holland style warehouses with their iron-wrought doors are also home to a Fairway market, which is a must-visit even if you aren’t doing any food shopping.

How to get there: From the F or G train at the Carroll St. station take the M61 bus. If you’d prefer to walk, steer clear of the largest projects in Brooklyn on Mill St. Instead head south to the Red Hook ballfields where you can find some of the city’s best South American food.