Those with memories of the “old” Red Hook will remember the abandoned cars that used to be left on Red Hook and the tendency they have to catch fire. A dedicated GL reader emailed us to reminisce and to point out that, in addition to a traffic light and other alterations, Beard Street is changing in advance of the coming of the big blue-and-yellow Ikea. He writes:

An abandon car lasted a record 4 days on Beard Street this week without getting torched, then disappeared without leaving any debris behind. This compared to my favorite Red Hook car-torching story: A van (filled with Water Taxi fliers) sat on Beard for a week, and we were all amazed it didn’t get torched. Then one morning we woke to see the street swarming with firemen. Naturally, we assumed the van had been set ablaze. Instead, when I went to look, it turned out the firemen were using the van to practice with the Jaws of Life. Basically, they cut the van into pieces, then left the pieces on the side of the road, and went home. Well, coming home from Sunny’s that night, I noticed a familiar smell as I stumbled upon the wreckage of the van, and guess what? Not to be out done, somebody had torched the chopped up remains of the van.

Will auto infernos be a thing of the past when Beard Street goes fully Swedish? Stay tuned.