(Photo by Ben Cobb)

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

• Ludo Lefebvre Plans Dumbo Popup Restaurant, 21Jul11, Curbed
• Three Digital Firms Sign Dumbo Leases, 28Jul11, citybiz
• Olek Featured on CBS, 28Jul11, Bowery Boogie
• Halstead replaces Elliman at 109 Gold, 25Jul11, TRD
• Mysterious Green Door in DUMBO Beckons, 29Jul11, BK Eagle
• The Hunt: From Dumbo to Williamsburg, 29Jul11, NYT
• Squadron Announces Major Progress on Old Fulton Street, 28Jul11, BK Eagle
• Is Planning Bad for Business?, 27Jul11, Inc
• Dumbo Vacancy Rate at 5%, 24Jul11, Crain’s
• Jane’s Carousel Getting Glassy, 28Jul11, Brownstoner
• Brooklyn Roasting Company Now Serving Drinks, 26Jul11, Brownstoner

The Belgian blocks on Water Street are being installed. Looking good! The photos below are courtesy of Dumbo Improvement District.

Following last week’s incident, we received a few emails from residents on Gold Street and on York Street that there were more gunshots at Farragut Homes last night. According to one emailer, they “heard around 30 gunshots over at Farragut last night around 1:40am last night.”

According to SpotCrime, there was a shooting on Jul 18 (which is consistent with last week’s post), but does not show anything from last night:

The Gothamist map also does not show an incident. Did anyone else hear this? If so, please call the 84th Precinct (718-875-6811) or 311.

What: ÆRA Fundraiser Premier Performance
When: July 28, 2011, doors 7pm, starts 8pm
Where: Galapagos Art Space, 16 Main St, Dumbo, Brooklyn

ÆRA is a Dumbo based non-profit aerial dance company founded by Jen James, Kyle McBeth, Yaroo Yang and Kyra Johannesen. ÆRA aims to expand the performance environment by creating a unique shared experience with their audience. As an aerial dance company, ÆRA combines original choreography and custom designed three-dimensional structures that utilize mediums such as fabric, poles, and ropes in addition to other technologies to create a multifaceted experience of performance art. ÆRA’s goal is to create experiential art through aerial dance.

This evening’s program is a fundraiser performance premiering new works by ÆRA.

For more information on ÆRA and to purchase tickets visit Galapagos Art Space.

Brownstoner and Brooklyn Heights Blog have ‘open threads’, and since some of you asked for one here, we’ll have one each week starting today. Let’s talk about anything, but please keep it as polite as possible.

We’ve featured Dumbo based indie pop band, “The Well-Informed” previously. They were interviewed on the Brooklyn Independent Television program recently. Congrats Evan and Paul!

Previously:
{Music Video: We’re Only Dreaming, 24Jun2011}
{Brooklyn Sundry: Episode at Baco Café, 20Apr2011}

The New York Times explains why some historic districts are missing the brown street signs. (They colored them “terra cotta” because they thought that color would blend well with any background). However as many as 37 districts lack the distinctive brown “historic district” street signs, out of a total of 104 districts and 16 district extensions. The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the districts but they do not pay for the signs. The Dumbo neighborhood won its historic desigation in January 2008. However, three and a half years later, Dumbo still does not have these signs.

According to the article:

The signs, where they exist, are paid in part by a nonprofit organization, the Landmarks Preservation Foundation, that works with the commission to underwrite historical markers.

Elisabeth de Bourbon, a spokeswoman for the commission, said the signs do not come automatically as soon as a historic district is designated. “There’s nothing that happens if they don’t get in touch with us,” she said. “We don’t proactively go into neighborhoods to install signs.”

Though some community groups have not yet informed the Landmarks Preservation Commission that they are missing the signs, others, including Douglaston Hill, Dumbo and the extension to the already-designated Greenwich Village, say they haven’t seen any progress even after making the request.

Apparently, the neighborhood must raise most of the money for the signs themselves. The foundation grants each historic district $400 for the signs, which cost $55 each to manufacture, according to the commission.

According to privately run Historic Districts Council, “the initial signs for the then-80-plus historic district were funded by an anonymous donor with the intention that the City would provide appropriate signage as new districts were designated. This was agreed-upon but failed to be kept in practice, and unfortunately now, communities are responsible for providing funds for their own street signs, often through discretionary city council or private funding. This strikes us as a rather sad state of affairs, quite like asked to pay to print your diploma – but we suppose that happens too.”

Based on this, the neighborhood should contact City Councilman Stephen Levin to set aside funding for Dumbo’s new signs.

As one commenter in the NY Times article states, “The Department of Transportation is in the process of changing all City street signs from all-caps to signs with only the first letter capitalized. One would hope that the Landmarks Preservation Commission could coordinate with this fellow City agency to have the terra cotta-type street signs put up in historic districts currently without them at the time that DOT would be replacing the green signs regardless. This would, in theory, save DOT the cost of manufacturing green signs that aren’t needed while also providing these districts with the special signs they desire.” However, we’ve started spotting the new DOT signs in certain areas of Dumbo:

(Photo courtesy of Josh Derr).

More history about the brown historic signs from Historic Districts Council after the jump:
Read the rest of this entry »

(Photo by Josh Derr)

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

• You Know You’re in Dumbo When…, 20Jul11, AD60
• Find (or Host) a Local Co-Working Space w/ Loosecubes, 19Jul11, RRW
• St. Ann’s Warehouse: Thanks For Your Support, ‘No Winners’ In This Saga, 18Jul11, BHB
• RFP on the Way For Bridge Park Hotel, Housing, 18Jul11, BK Eagle
• Federal Judge Orders return of the Tobacco Warehouse to Public Parkland, 15Jul11, FFLA
• St. Ann’s Warehouse Says It’s Leaving Dumbo, 20Jul11, WNYC
• Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1 Ready for Housing and a Hotel, 19Jul11, Curbed
• Tobacco Warehouse: Opportunity Destroyed, 19Jul11, BK Eagle
• Top Chef Masters Chef Ludo Lefebvre in Dumbo?, 22Jul11, Gothamist
• Brooklyn Gold vs The Addison vs Gair2, 18Jul11, Curbed
• Hints of Soap and Steel Remain at Dumbo’s Kirkman Lofts, 21Jul11, Curbed

This weekend and next- come and check out the up and coming indie fashion and accessories designers. Grab some great last minute summer deals on dresses, tees, bikinis, bracelets, earrings, necklaces and more.

From designers who are eco-friendly to others that focus on bringing work back to the USA. Imilla features Margaret Miller, Umsteigen, Tiffany Lawrence, A Perfume Organic, Doucette Duvall and Nona e Rose, among others.

When? This weekend and next, July 23-24, 2011 and July 30-31, 2011 from 10a-7p.
Where? Imilla Road, 10 Jay Street Suite 418, Brooklyn (DUMBO) NY, 11201
How? Take the F train to York Street, walk 3 block north.

Eager to Please By Danny Dresden
Thursday, July 21st, 2011
46 Bridge St in DUMBO
6:30-9:00PM

COST: *Event is free.
*Signed books, posters, graphic prints will be available to purchase.

WHO: Have you ever spooned with your parrot, or had an adult sibling who only talks like Mr. T, or have a mother who irons dollar bills? For Danny Dresden, the answers are yes, yes and unfortunately, yes. London Squared Productions is proud to introduce you to the peculiar world of the Dresden Family with the launch of their newest comic graphic novel, and interactive graphic web novel, Eager To Please.

WHAT: London Square Productions will officially launch the new book in Brooklyn with a book signing, reading, short film screenings, and meet and greet with the author this summer. Books, posters, and graphic print signings will be available at event.

Based on the outlandish world of the Dresdens, Eager To Please is presented in a 200 page 8’x10’ graphic novel with eight chapters including: My Sister’s Loser Boyfriends, Our Crappy Town, Hail Cesar, and more. Residing in a small town within Long Island, NY, the Dresden Family takes readers on an bizarre journey growing up within their dysfunctional family. The kind of journey most families can relate with.

In conjunction with the comic graphic novel, London Squared Productions has also launched an online interactive graphic novel, featuring additional audio and visual enhancements, giving readers an extra quirky experience of the Dresden life.

Eager To Please, the comic graphic novel is available now at: eager-to-please.com/comicpage_v13.html