The DUMBO Arts Festival today announced that AT&T will join Two Trees Management Company as a major sponsor of the 2011 event – to be held this year from September 23-25, 2011 in various sites in and around Dumbo Brooklyn. According to a press release (PDF 60kb), last year’s festival attracted more than 200,000 visitors, with the participation of more than 500 artists, 100 studios, 50 galleries and stages and 100 programming partners.

“AT&T is proud to be the presenting sponsor of this year’s DUMBO Arts Festival, as few events in the city reach as many people and offer so much access to art, music, literature and emerging technology,” said Tom DeVito, vice president and general manager for AT&T in New York and New Jersey. “Dumbo is important to us, and that is why, in addition to supporting great events like the festival, we are consistently improving our network’s performance here to make sure you have the best wireless voice and mobile broadband experience.”

AT&T will be integrated into various aspects of the festival, including sponsoring a signature installation that will be a cornerstone of this year’s artistic programming. Dozens of guides with Wi-Fi-enabled tablets and spread out across DUMBO will direct, teach and interact with festival-goers using the robust AT&T network. The festival will include a new lounge with amenities powered by AT&T, including charging stations and AT&T Wi-Fi-enabled products featuring an interactive festival map.

A preview of one of the performance art and music events is called “Wet Exit,” organized by artist Janet Biggs (renderings above). Smack Mellon will present the premiere of multi-media artist Janet Biggs’ powerful new work exploring chaos and control. Biggs merges the fierce athleticism of fighting kayaks with pounding drum beats and the siren-like chords of a violinist amongst a landscape of large-scale video projections in her new multi-media performance WET EXIT.

The DUMBO Arts Festival will again be produced by Dalzell Productions.

Festival hours:
Friday, Sept. 23, 6-9pm
Saturday, Sept. 24, 12-8pm
Sunday, Sept. 25, 12-6pm
All outdoor projections are open from 6 p.m. to midnight all three nights.

For more information, please visit dumboartsfestival.com. To get the latest updates on artists and exhibitors, follow the festival on Facebook and Twitter (@dumboartsfest).

These photos by Josh Derr of Dumbo’s Stabber Alley (at the base of the Manhattan Bridge) got some new graffiti, Gothamist first reported. Stabber Alley got some recent fame when people competed for mayorship on Foursquare last year.

The complete tag reads “No tiene dinero pero tengo mi corazon…”, which according to Gothamist translates to “You have no money but I have heart…” which doesn’t apply to many of Dumbo’s residents, at least according to the latest census.

(Photo not from 1872, but shows Main Street in 1927. courtesy New York Public Library)

One of our readers, EPC (@epc), came across this old 139 year article from the Brooklyn Eagle (July 2, 1872) about Main Street in Brooklyn: I was digging through the Brooklyn Public Library scans of the Brooklyn Eagle and came across this column (can’t tell if it’s opinion/editorial if they even made that distinction) from Page 2 of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle for July 1, 1872. The first couple of paragraphs are the best, then it sort of slides into gross caricatures of Jews. Here’s the first two paragraphs:

MAIN STREET
“It is a peculiarity of Main street wherever you find a Main street, that it never is the main street. Doubtless it once was the main street, but cities grow, and men may come and men may go, while Main street sinks into the general rut of bye streets, and its place is usurped by upstart thoroughfares with no distinguishing name. So of Main street, Brooklyn. Time was when it occupied the place Fulton street holds now, and it is not impossible that the march of local improvement may again invest it with a factitious importance (as leading from somewhere to somewhere else). But at present there is not a street in this broad city of so little commercial or social importance as Main street.”

“To speak truth, it is an unsavory thoroughfare. Cologne itself, the city of seven distinct smells, can produce a thoroughfare to vie with Main street in all that is evil smelling and febrifacient — but Brooklyn can with difficulty do so. By day the garbage of a thousand tenement houses is thrown in the street; that is a physical disease. By night its corners are infested by loafers and its sidewalks people by ward politicians; that is a social disease. Altogether, as you might infer, Main stret is in a bad way. And yet there are many good people who live in Main street, and many better people (in a social sense) who have lived in Main street, and can look back upon their tenement house experiences from the bow windows of their brownstone fronts. I was about to say that there are those of Main street who example all the Christian virtues, but I bethink me that most of its residents are Jews.”

The last paragraph describes Main Street’s merchants:

“There are no pawnshops in Main street, but their place is supplied for all practical purposes by the second hand clothing stores, of which there are certainly enough and to spare. The other industries represented in the street are thee of the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker, with a slight tinge of the legitimate rum dealer and the illicit whiskey distiller. But these are nothing of themselves. The life of Main street is the Catherine Ferry, and while that remains Main street will hold its own as a peculiar and distinctive thoroughfare.”

Again, not entirely sure how factual it was meant to be then, but it’s an interesting contrast to Main Street of today (which is even shorter than it was in 1872).

Thanks Ed for the tip! Note above photo of Main Street is from the New York Public Library: “Main Street, north from a point sount of Prospect Street. In the background, a section of Manhattan Bridge (November 1, 1927)”

(Brooklyn Eagle (July 2, 1872) (PDF)
{Dumbo Then and Now, series, DumboNYC}

(2009 photo by Josh Derr)

For the third consecutive year, (just like last year, and the year before that), the Macy’s 35th Annual Fourth of July Fireworks will be over the Hudson River this year in 2011. Unless you have access to a rooftop in Dumbo, you won’t be able to see the Hudson River fireworks. On July 4, there will be more than 40,000 fireworks fired from six barges positioned from 20th to 55th streets on the West side of Manhattan starting at 9pm.

{The 2011 Macy’s 4th of July Firewords}
{Macy’s July 4, 2011 fireworks return to Hudson River, NewYorkology}

Previously:
{No Macy’s Fireworks on July 4, 2010 in Brooklyn, 25Jun2010}
{No Macy’s Fireworks on July 4 2009 in Brooklyn, 02Jul2009}
{Fireworks in Midtown from Brooklyn 2009, 07Jul2009}
{July 4 2008 Celebrations in Dumbo, 03Jul2008}
{Happy 4th of July 2008 Brooklyn!, 04Jul2008}
{Happy July 4, 2007}
{Img: July 2006 Fireworks at the Brooklyn Bridge}

The following are selected links from this past week on blogs and websites with discussion about Dumbo (and its neighboring areas):

• CrossFit Dumbo Will Get You in Shape, 21Jun11, NY1
• Purchase Building’s Boiler House Lives On, 24Jun11, McBrooklyn
• Dumbo’s Voltaic Systems Powers iPads w Sun, 24Jun11, BK Paper
• (Some) Dumbo Mom’s Light Up, 23Jun11, Gothamist
• Summer’s Start Marked With Mural in DUMBO, 22Jun11, BK Eagle
• Dumbo’s Gair2 More Than 50% Rented, 23Jun11, Brownstoner
• 3 of NY State’s Best High Schools In Brooklyn, 21Jun11, McBrooklyn
• Floating Pool Initiative Surpasses Fundraising Goal, 22Jun11, Brownstoner
• 1 Main St, #6G & #6H, Sold at $2.9MM, 21Jun11, Brownstoner
• A Huge Floating Pool Off Brooklyn Bridge Park?, 20Jun11, Brownstoner

Dumbo based indie pop band, “The Well-Informed” just published a new music video, We’re Only Dreaming. The video features 215 Plymouth Street building (in and out).

Previously:
{Brooklyn Sundry: Episode at Baco Café, 20Apr2011}

The 2011 Brooklyn DIY Business Association Conference will be held on June 26 at the DUMBO Loft (155 Water Street) and Etsy Labs (55 Washington St, Suite 712).

From DIYBA:

For the first Brooklyn DIY Business Association Conference, we’re bringing together the independent music industry, freelance communicators, innovators of art and craft, Internet and tech gurus, and business and service providers for a day of inspiration, information, empowerment, and networking.

Conference attendees will attend four action-packed panels and—based on the information you provide in a goal-based registration survey—will engage in an affinity group and a DIYT (Do-It-Yourself-Together) incubator group.

A full-day pass is $125 per person and includes breakfast, lunch, and evening cocktails.

Splashlife.com will give a $1,000 microgrant to one attendee of the Brooklyn DIY Business Association Conference, on June 26.

More than 30 creative leaders will be speaking at the Brooklyn DIY Business Association Conference, including:

• Andrew Wagner, ReadyMade Editor-in-Chief
• Grace Bonney, Design*Sponge Founder and Editor-in-Chief
• Dean Haspiel, Illustrator for HBO’s Bored To Death, creator of Billy Dogma, Street Code, and ACT-I-VATE for web comics
• Susan Gregg Koger, Modcloth.com Chief Creative Officer?
• Melissa Helmbrecht, Splashlife.com CEO
• Shaina Feinberg, This American Life contributor, audio producer, writer, and comedian Dave Hill’s editorial director
• Danielle Maveal, Etsy Education Coordinator?
• Gregory Jackson, touring and session bassist for various artists, including Amy Winehouse, Jay-Z, and Erykah Badu
• Molly Neuman, Senior Director of Label Relations for eMusic; Owner, Simple Social Graces Discos and Kitchen, and former drummer of Bratmobile
• Evie Nagy, Managing Editor of Rollingstone.com
• Mary S. Butler, Senior Content Strategist for Razorfish?
• Ryan J. Davis, Huffington Post blogger, political pundit on The Hill, Social Media Director for Blue State Digital
• Caroline Suh, Director of Frontrunners and frontrunner of Iconoclasts
• Jessica H. Lawrence, Managing Director at New York Tech Meetup

For full conference schedule, go to diybusinessassociation.com.

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Dumbo based HowAboutWe is a new way to find dates with interests you have in common with others. Instead of browsing fake dating profiles and pics from other dating sites, HowAboutWe matches new dates that match your interests. You post your favorite dating ideas (“How about we…”), find dates in your area from people who like doing what you’re doing, make plans around the “How about we…” activity you’ve already posted, and connect offline.

HowAboutWe created an infographic on the 10 most popular neighborhoods for first dates in NYC. They culled data from over 100,000 dates posted on their site and found that Hell’s Kitchen is the most popular neighborhood in the city for a first date. Dumbo was one of two Brooklyn neighborhoods (Williamsburg the other) in the top 10 neighborhoods for first dates in all of NYC.

Some of the most popular date spots in Dumbo, according to HowAboutWe staff:

• The Transit Museum (How about we hop on an old subway car at the New York Transit Museum)
• Grimaldi’s Pizza (How about we wait in line for Grimaldi’s and see if it’s really New York’s best pizza)
• ReRun Theater at ReBar (How about we catch a flick at ReRun theater — who cares what’s playing, it’s all about the concessions)
• Galapagos Art Space (How about we check out the famous Floating Kabarette show?)

We’ve heard some good first date stories in Brooklyn Bridge Park, 1st Thursdays Dumbo Gallery Walks, and even under The Archway (though you’d have to shout for your date to be heard when trains run overhead). What are your favorite dating ideas or locations in Dumbo (and nearby areas)?

Related:
{Dumbo Dating Profiles, 11Feb2011}
{How to Impress a Woman? Go to Dumbo!, 15Nov2006}

The New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Dumbo Improvement District (Dumbo BID) installed a new mural “Intersection” by the team of Brooklyn artists Heidy Garay, Mikell Fine Isles and Sam Vernon.

From the Dumbo BID press release: ““Intersection,” a site-specific piece that is part of the pARTners track of NYC DOT’s Urban Art Program, shows lines of seven colors meeting the corrugated vertical lines of the fence behind it. The concept mimics and bends the lines of the fence creating a colorful graphic that symbolizes the constant movement of DUMBO. The design is an abstracted interpretation of intersecting train tracks and the familiar New York City subway map and also references the cross-sections of cultures and people who view it. While the mural was directed by Garay, Isles and Vernon, they were joined by fellow Brooklyn-based artists and friends bring the mural to life from their workshop in Red Hook Studios. To learn more about the mural-making process and the artists, visit intersection-mural.tumblr.com.”

“Intersection” is the second mural commissioned by the Dumbo BID. In 2008, the Dumbo BID and the New York City Department of Transportation installed the first mural in the same location, by artist Tattfoo Tan, as part of the DOT’s Temporary Art Program to enliven neighborhoods by working with local artists.

Photo credit: Doneliza Joaquin (on Dumbo BID Facebook page)
Full press release from Dumbo BID (PDF, 1.04MB)

Previously:
{Front Street Mural RFP, 09Jun2010}
{Front St Mural Taken Down, 05Aug2009}
{Dumbo Mural by Tattfoo and PS307 Children on Front Street, 29Feb2008}

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Pomme, a children’s store in Dumbo is having an open house, trunk show, and party tomorrow, Wednesday, June 22. The new owners are featuring a trunkshow of Vilebrequin swim trunks for boys and dads, Dutch bicycles by Adeline Adeline, and selection of clothes by Bonton, Dagmar Daley, Atsuko et Akiko, Anais and I, and other new toys and books.

3:30 Music Together – ages 4 months to 4 years
4:30 Bija Kids Yoga – crawlers to 5 years
5:30 Pomme Arts – ages 4-8

All day tomorrow and a party from 5-7pm with cake pops, crafts, drinks, and facepainting.

pomme (pommenyc.com)
81 Washington Street, Brooklyn NY 11201
718.855.0623
info@pommenyc.com

Open 7 days a week, 11am-7pm