Manhattan Bridge as framed by Beacon Tower to the left and J Condo to the right (Photo by Josh Derr)

We’ve posted a lot of Josh Derr’s photos on DumboNYC over the years. We obviously like his documentation of Dumbo and its buildings over the years. He’s also a contributor to the website from time to time. Love it or hate it, Dumbo as a neighborhood is changing – the people, buildings, businesses. And these changes have especially accelerated very quickly in the past 10 years. That’s when Josh first came to Dumbo, according to a recent article in the Brooklyn Rail. He sees what we see – change. Some are good, while others negatively impact the neighborhood dynamic forever. Josh’s photos show the beauty of Dumbo’s classic industrial buildings, new structures, and streetscapes, even with their flaws, cracks, and defects.

{JOSHUA DERR: Bearing Witness to Gentrification, The Brooklyn Rail}
{dumbonyc.com/tag/jderr}

We featured Kathy Gurland, founder of cancer consulting organization called PEG’S Group last year (also a Dumbo-based business and resident of Vinegar Hill). PEG’S Group is an independent group of Cancer Navigation Consultants™ who provide Personal Education, Guidance and Support for people affected by cancer.

Yesterday’s NY Times health blog featured Kathy Gurland and discusses her upcoming article for Women and Cancer Magazine to be published in December. Congratulations to Kathy! for more information or visit them at www.pegsgroup.com.

Trunk is having a grand opening celebration of their new store in Dumbo on Thursday, November 12 from 6-10pm. They are “a fusion of fashion, art and furniture focusing on design and craftsmanship of locally made products.” The store features everything from clothing and jewelry, to furniture and home goods. The binding concept is that everything in the store is made locally, and made extremely well.

They are showcasing “Have a Seat”:
Unique chairs made locally. Curated by BIANCA TOSCANO.
Featuring works by today’s innovators in art + design. Works by Uhuru Design, Nightwood, Miron Lior, Eco Systems, Scott Behr of TMR.

Featured Collections by:
Aimee g (Clothing)
Mel En Stel (Clothing)
SAMOY LENKO (Clothing)
Ryann (Sustainable Clothing)
Radka Design (Jewelry)
Lauren Wimmer Jewelry
Marjorie Victor Jewelry
Lorenza Jewelry
Charm NYC (Hats)
Corrente (Handbags)

Welcome to Dumbo and good luck!

Trunk (trunkbrooklyn.com)
68 Jay Street, #101, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Tel: 718-522-6488
info@trunkbrooklyn.com

(Photos courtesy of Trunk)

Previously: {Dumbo Retail News 20Oct2009}

Videographer Greg Malcolm checking in with another in his series of Why I Love Brooklyn. This time he cuts a segment of The Brooklyn Promenade, the best view towards lower Manhattan. Once the Brooklyn Bridge Park is completed, we’ll have an even better view of both the Park and lower Manhattan. Several sections including Pier 1 and 6 is planned for opepning in 2010 in the 85-acre Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Check out Greg’s other videos on YouTube and his blog at whyilovebk.blogspot.com.

Previously:
{Why I Love Dumbo: Zakka, 02Nov2009}
{Why I Love Dumbo by Greg Malcolm, 29Jul2009}

I love that we’re getting all sorts of squashes and cruciferous with the recent CSA’s, but I have to say I’m running out of ideas on how to use them all up. So as the gourds sat on my counter, looking too pretty to eat, I decided to consult my fellow food bloggers to see who had any good ideas. Low and behold there are LOTS of squash recipes going ’round the ether so it wasn’t long before I stumbled upon a recipe for pumpkin risotto with fried sage. Delicious, right? But I didn’t have fresh sage in the house, or pumpkin for that matter, so I thought I would just modify the idea.

I split the acorn squash in half, and after cleaning out all the seeds I drizzled olive oil, salt and pepper and put a little square of butter in it’s belly for good measure before popping into a preheated oven at 400°. While that cooked I got a basic risotto going, using a good bouillon instead of stock, a splash of red wine (we were out of white – so it did the trick) some shallots and garlic all sauteed to golden brown.

30-35 minutes later the squash was done, and it was scooped and folded into the cooked risotto. Right before serving I tossed in a handful of fresh arugula to wilt and not cook, and grated in some fresh Parmesan. The green in the veg added the perfect pop of color and a much needed peppery flavor. The rice was cheesy and savory, an ideal counterpoint to the naturally sweet and buttery squash. Dinner was SO filling and really tasty that I’d make it again in a heartbeat. However, if I don’t do something with all that broccoli I just got it’s going to be taking over the apartment. Anyone have any bright ideas?

P.S. in case you did want to try your hand at the Pumpkin Sage risotto, get the full recipe here: verysmallanna.com/2009/01/i-love-risotto/

(Photo from The Architect’s Newspaper)

[UPDATE: Acconci Studio has returned our email who stated that the studio is not closed. I am getting further details and will update this post.]

This is old news from the summer, but we just found out that Vito Acconci, the Dumbo Brooklyn-based architect, landscape architect, and installation artist closed his Dumbo studio due to the recession, according to an interview by The Architect’s Newspaper. Acconci Studio was located in 20 Jay Street (#215), and founded in 1988 focusing on theoretical design and building. Acconci has designed the United Bamboo store in Tokyo in 2003 and collaborated on concept designs for interactive art vehicle Mister Artsee in 2006 among others. Mr. Acconci tells The Architect’s Newspaper interview why he had to close his studio:

“The contradictory thing is that at a time when there are these architectural projects that we have the possibility of doing, how do we keep the studio active on a day-to-day basis? We don’t have money constantly coming in, we have money that comes in spurts, but we can’t pay people’s salary every two weeks, rent, insurance, etc. I think it costs approximately $50,000 a month to keep the studio going, and we certainly don’t make anything near that amount now.”

“…There were six designers, an office manager, and someone who took care of press. Sometimes we also had interns who came in to deal with the archives. The economic crisis made a big difference. At first, I thought it wouldn’t affect us, because we never made a lot of money. But it really has. One of the reasons is that we have never consistently supported ourselves from the architecture. We also depended on the sale of my artwork and without this we wouldn’t have survived. It’s a very difficult time for architecture projects to exist, but it might be a harder time for art sales.”

It’s unfortunate that such a high profile studio that has been in Dumbo for so long is closing. Best of luck to Vito Acconci.

Acconci Studio (acconci.com)
20 Jay Street, #215, Brooklyn, NY 11201
studio@acconci.com

{Recession Tales: Vito Acconci, The Architect’s Newspaper}
{Vito Acconci Wikipedia page}

We posted Greg’s previous video on why he loves Dumbo. Here’s another one where he checks out Zakka, the independent book and design store from Japan in Dumbo Brooklyn. Check out Greg’s other videos on YouTube and his blog at whyilovebk.blogspot.com.

Zakka Corp.
155 Plymouth Street, Dumbo Brooklyn
www.zakkacorp.com

Having some friends over for a little TV watching mid week? Want to make a yummy snack without spending too much time or money? Forget spending over 5 buckaroos at the bodega for store bought hummus. I’ll show you how easy it really is.

Lemons? Check. Can of chick peas? Check. Garlic? Check. Tahini? Well, I did have to make a run to the store for that, but honestly tahini never seems to go bad. So I’d say that was a good investment. Plus, it’ll give me an excuse to finally try my friend Barbara’s insanely delicious and hearty tahini cookie recipe.

Drain a 16 oz. can of chickpeas but keep 1/4 cup of the liquid from the can and set aside. In a blender (if you don’t have a Cuisinart you can use a regular blender) combine chickpeas, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1.5 tbsp tahini, juice from 1 lemon, 2 tablespoons olive oil and a pinch of good salt. Add the liquid you’ve saved from the can and blend until smooth. Or a little chunky, depending on how you like it.

We drizzled some olive oil, paprika, salt and pepper on some sliced up pitas and baked in the oven to crisp up. Accompanied with the hummus and some good olives this is a major hit.

The above recipe makes more hummus than you can eat, so be sure to bring some to work the next day for a little baby carrot dipping action. Oh, and some gum too – I can guarantee garlic breath with this one. Enjoy!
-BB

Did you know that over 1,200 adults with disabilities come to Dumbo Brooklyn every single day to receive support services? While many people are familiar with the League Artist Natural Design Gallery (aka the LAND) on 67 Front Street, not many people realize that it’s a small branch of The League Treatment Center located on 30 Washington Street. Also in the neighborhood is AHRC which has two Dumbo facilities, Dean O’Hare Adult Day Center on 113 Water Street and Stephen B. Siegel Adult Day Center at 18 Adams Street. Additionally, F.E.G.S. is around the corner at 199 Jay Street.

These organizations are united in providing services aimed at one thing, community inclusion. Across the country, programs are working towards “deinstitutionalization” which includes assisting people with disabilities to become full-fledged participants and contributors within their communities. Services frequently include money, social and vocational skills training in natural, everyday settings. People with disabilities shop, dine, visit galleries, volunteer and work – sometimes with staff assistance and sometimes independently.

We spoke with a psychologist who works with the adults with disabilities who provided some simple ways to make Dumbo more disability friendly:

There are three major ways to be more disability friendly. (1) Improve your awareness. Understand the different type of disabilities that exist. Learn how to communicate with people who are nonverbal. Befriend a person with a disability. (2) Two is about disability etiquette, such as when you can touch someone’s wheelchair? Or how do you politely avoid a well-meaning hug? And when is it ok to laugh? (3) Lastly, include people with disabilities in the community. Are you a gallery owner or a retailer in Dumbo? Mail invites to programs, or speak to a program supervisor. If you need volunteers (e.g. mailings, shreddings, set-up), call up one of the programs in the neighborhood.

If you work or live in Dumbo, please reach out to our community of people with disabilities. For more information, contact:

• The League Treatment Center (leaguetreatment.org), 30 Washington St., (718) 643-5300 or email info@leaguetreatment.org
• AHRC (ahrcnyc.org), (718) 237-4587 or email anton@ahrcnyc.org
  • Dean O’Hare Adult Day Center, 113 Water St.
  • Stephen B. Siegel Adult Day Center, 18 Adams St.
• F.E.G.S. (fegs.org), 199 Jay St., (Sandra P. and Frederick P. Rose Center) (718) 488-0100 Ext. 346/344 or email info@fegs.org

Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve put up a new comment system that will hopefully make comments more ‘reader-friendly’. For a while now, some comments were starting to get on people’s nerves, myself included. I know readers here are intelligent, funny, and passionate about the neighborhood, so I thank everyone here who participates and contributes to the discussions. (And all your emails too!). Commenting should be fun and informative. But when comments start to turn people away from commenting themselves, the site stops becoming an open forum and turns into a soap box for a handful.

The new commenting system allows you to do the following:

• Flag an inapprorpriate comment – If a comment is flagged multiple times, the comment becomes dark or not displayed. This allows the community to decide what’s inappropriate and displayed.
• Sort comments by rating, popularity, or newest/oldest.
• User registration for verified identities/profiles. This prevents commenting using someone else’s online identity. You can still register anonymously, but your comments will be consistent with your online name or handle.
• Real-time discussions: View the chatter with real-time posting and updating. With rich interactive features such as threaded replies and comment replies, your discussions never feel dull. (Ok, this one is a marketing point from Disqus.

Currently, anyone can comment without registering, allowing for easier discussions. But registering allows you to do things such as click on “like”, which increases the comment visibility by making it popular or use your Twitter account for posting. Registering also gives you a persona and as you accumulate points, your comments are more influential to the site. Eventually, we will be able to see the top commenters and can become a better online community.

As I’ve stated in the past, I’m counting on everyone to stick to comment etiquette, like a civil conversation in a person’s home:
- stay on topic
- contribute new information to the discussion
- don’t comment for the sake of commenting
- remember that nobody likes a know-it-all
- cite your sources
- be courteous
- do not feed the trolls

We’re still tweaking the site with the comments (and there are probably some bugs), so you’ll see some quirks, but for the most part, the comment system is working as far as I know, and over time, we hope this brings out better discussions for the Dumbo community. Please let me know how this is working. If you have any feedback, I’m always open to ideas. Thank you for your patience on this.
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