PortSide NewYork's home is the ship MARY A. WHALEN. She is an oil tanker, so we have activities branded with the word “tanker” in the list below. See our webpage Calendar for scheduled events.
Hours
TankerTime is M-F 10am to 6pm, and usually later when the office staff works late, unless a special alert is posted here.
Sat-Sun, 1-6pm, and later with the return of our popular Second Sundays TankerTime with Mediterranean music to occur May through September, 7-10pm.
Hours can change if we have an offsite or are painting the ship deck, so check back before visiting!
TankerTime = enjoy the deck with tables, chairs, hammocks. We will soon set up the free kids library in the BookTent and put free art supplies on the ArtTable. The cold wet spring has delayed this. Once summer heat arrives, we set up a kiddie pool or two. Since the pandemic, we have less funding and crew to staff weekend TankerTime. Please volunteer to help staff weekend #TankerTime.
TankerFlicks = when we screen movies on deck
TankerTunes = concerts and music jams
TankerTours = tours of the ship including the interior
The MARY is home to world-famous ship cat Chiclet, so please keep dogs on a leash. BYOB and food. We do not have a restaurant (yet).
Where we are
Google Maps map pin for directions to us is here.
The MARY is docked on Pier 11, Atlantic Basin next to Red Hook/Atlantic Basin NYC ferry stop, near the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Enter Atlantic Basin by bike or foot at the corner of Pioneer and Conover Streets, and by car at the corner of Bowne and Imlay Streets. The Atlantic Basin entrance at Ferris and King Street is only open dawn to dusk and not open one cruise ship days.
40°40'50.0"N 74°00'45.0"W (google map)
How to get here
Take the NYC Ferry right to us.
Citibike dock "Pioneer St & Van Brunt St" is half a block away.
We are next to the Brooklyn Greenway at Pioneer and Conover Streets.
We are a block and a half from Van Brunt Street where the B61 bus stops. Go to our Red Hook WaterStories website and click the map, then click the map layer "MTA bus stations" to see where we are relative to the bus stations.
By Car
Cab/car service/Uber drivers usually can't figure out how to get into Atlantic Basin, so head to 159 Pioneer Street, the address for Pioneer Works. With your back to Pioneer Works, look to your left. You will see PortSide signs on the chain link fence around Atlantic Basin terminal, and a pedestrian gate, with the ship visible behind it. If you really want to drive straight to the ship, tell your driver to follow signs for the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal from Imlay and Bowne Streets. Once inside Atlantic Basin (marked Brooklyn Cruise Terminal), the roadway turns left, drive past the 3-block long warehouse on your right where lots of trucks and buses are parked. Turn right at the end of that long Pier 11 warehouse, and you will see our ship, red with white trim and a buff smokestack.
By Water
The NYC Ferry stop for Red Hook Atlantic Basin is parallel to our ship MARY A. WHALEN.
From New York Water Taxi at IKEA is a long walk (left on Beard, right on Van Brunt, left on Pioneer) or you can take the B61 bus to the Pioneer Street stop.
Subway & Bus:
Take the A train to Jay Street Borough hall. Exit the subway station, walk two blocks south on Jay St, across Fulton, to the bus stop on the left (east) side of the street at the Smith St and Livingston Street stop and take the B61 bus heading to Red Hook.
Take the 2,3,4,5 or R to the Borough Hall station. Exit onto Joralemon Street, walk past the Brooklyn Law School to and turn right onto Boerum Place, to the B61 bus shelter.
Get off the B61 bus at Van Brunt and Verona Streets. Continue south on Van Brunt, take a right on Pioneer and enter the gate in the chain link fence at the corner of Conover Street.
Subway & Walk - Two Routes:
1) Going more through Red Hook:
Take F/G to Smith & 9th Street stop. Take a right out of the station to Smith St. Cross Smith, turn left and walk one short block to Garnet Street. Follow that across Hamilton Avenue (under the BQE) where it turns into Mill Street. Walk through NYCHA public housing. Enter Coffey Park at Dwight St. and continue straight across the park to exit at Pioneer Street. Walk down Pioneer Street two blocks to the corner of Pioneer and Conover Street and enter a gate/gap in the chain link fence there. The ship is ahead of you and slightly to your right.
2) Going more through Carroll Gardens:
It's about a 30 minute walk from the F or G at to Carroll St. There is a pedestrian bridge on Summit Street over the BQE that isn't featured on some maps. Exit the front of the train (if you were coming from Manhattan or Queens). From the station, take a right on 2nd Place, walk 3 blocks to Henry Street. Right on Henry, left on Summit Street (which is the extension of First Place). Cross the BQE via the pedestrian bridge that is slightly to your right at the end of the first block. Walk down Summit Street two blocks to Van Brunt. Take a left and go to the fourth block on the right (there are more on the left), Pioneer Street. Take a right at Pioneer, go one block and and enter a small pedestrian gate in the chain link fence there. The ship is ahead of you and slightly to your right.