Main Street, Dumbo, with view of Manhattan Bridge. The Walentas Building, 1 Main Street to the right. 2/14/07 (Photo by DumboNYC)

 Corner of Plymouth and Jay Street, Dumbo, Brooklyn NY (Photo courtesy of shaw_patric)

 Dumbo, corner of Washington and Front Street August, 06 (Photo by DumboNYC)

[DumboNYC.com is on vacation for the holidays. In the meantime, take a look at some photos of Dumbo Brooklyn, read the Dumbo top 10 recap of 2006, or submit a story or event about Dumbo. Have a happy holidays!]

 Dumbo, corner of Front and York Street August, 06 (Photo by DumboNYC)

[DumboNYC.com is on vacation for the holidays. In the meantime, take a look at some photos of Dumbo Brooklyn, read the Dumbo top 10 recap of 2006, or submit a story or event about Dumbo. Have a happy holidays!]

  100 Jay Street, Retail level, 11/5/06 (stitched photo)
  (Click for larger version)

If you’ve walked around the Dumbo Brooklyn neighborhood, you probably have seen this vintage green car. The car seems to match the old cobblestone streets and the pre-war buildings (now converted to condos). You can now buy it for $7500. The owner bought it from its original owner, a retired cab-driver. Many Dumbo residents and visitors have taken photos of the car and is somewhat of a “celebrity” in Dumbo. So owner, why are you selling? Too bad, ’cause it would’ve matched the proposed trolley going up and down Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Some additional photos by Dottie admirers:

  Photo by mulia

  Photo by danivance

  Photo by justinyc

  Photo by bugged_out_cars

  Photo by mad_pixelist

  Photo by dr.snitch

{Checker 1977 – unique ‘NYC state of mind’ opportunity – $7500, Craigslist.org}

For the second in the series of “Dumbo Streetscapes Then and Now”, we are looking at photos down Plymouth Street west from Pearl Street. In the 68 year old photo, circa 1938, you’ll notice that the brown brick building on the right side of the photos is still in its original form (more or less) on the corner of Plymouth and Adams Streets. This building used to be part of Arbuckle Coffee Co. The Arbuckle Coffee Mill also occupied the Empire Stores for a number of years. In the foreground is Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge tower is at the center of the photos. The Belgian block street is mostly paved over, but some eroded areas still show the original street blocks.

On the back: “Plymouth Street, west from Pearl Street, showing at the right of the Arbuckle Bros. Coffee Co. building. In order is also shown the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge.
April 4, 1938″

Percy Loomis Sperr, 1890-1964 — Photographer

   1938

   September, 2006

{New York Public Library photo of Plymouth Street West Pearl Street}
{Dumbo Then and Now: Washington and York Street}

It’s a sad thing to see something that’s been around for 75 years taken down floor by floor, especially when the structures are as cool as the four aligned smokestacks in Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn. Two smokestacks at the ConEd plant are coming down slowly. As mentioned in a NY Times story on August 6, 2006, ConEd is dismantling three of the five stacks. “Only two are needed now because the plant is using fewer boilers to generate steam. The job will take about four months but will begin to alter the view immediately.”

 Click photo for close-up. ConEd Plant Smokestacks, Vinegar Hill, August 22, 2006

 Click photo for close-up. ConEd Plant Smokestacks, Vinegar Hill, September 17, 2006

  Photo taken on 8/22/06

  Photo taken on 9/17/06

The story shows Nicholas Evans-Cato’s painting of the Brooklyn waterfront, a panorama that includes the Williamsburg Bridge, several new condominium buildings and a quintet of towering brick smokestacks from the ConEd Hudson Avenue Generating Station on the edge of Vinegar Hill.

 Click photo for close-up. Nicholas Evans-Cato, Amphitheatre, oil on linen, 42 x 70″, 2006

For those who are interested in viewing his painting, there is a showing at the George Billis Gallery (info below). Soon enough, we will only have his painting and our memories of the smokestacks. In the meantime if you want to see the smokestacks before they’re gone, hurry!

Nicholas Evans-Cato at George Billis Gallery NY
October 10 – November 11, 2006
Reception: Thursday, October 12, 6 – 8 PM
Georgebillis.com
511 West 25th Street, New York, NY

Related: Artist Paints Dumbo Landscape, DumboNYC.com

   We will always remember…

New York Public Library has a nice collection of old photographs of New York streets. There are some Brooklyn photos from the Dumbo and Vinegar Hill areas in the 1800′s and early 1900s. The area was known as Fulton Landing where the ferry dropped off passengers from Manhattan. Once the Brooklyn Bridge was built in the 1883, followed by the Manhattan Bridge in the 1909, Fulton Landing became a commercial area and Brooklyn Heights the residential area. To put things into historical perspective, take a look at the before and after.

For the first in the series of “Dumbo Streetscapes Then and Now”, we are looking north on Washington Street with York Street in the foreground. In the old photo, circa 1926, you’ll notice that 70 Washington Street and 81 Washington Street (Thompson Water Meter) buildings are still around, but the dark brick building on the near right corner of York and Washington is gone, to make way for the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Notice the old overpass between the Gair buildings past Front Street, no longer there. Also the electric wires have now moved underground.

1926

August 26, 2006

{New York Public Library photo of Washington Street and York Street}