DumboNYC has just passed its one year mark. Shortly after the Vanity Fair photo spread for Jun Watanabe’s fall menswear collection, I was cross posted on Curbed, Brownstoner, and Gawker. The spike in traffic crashed the server and I had to quickly move it to my current hosting service, asmallorange.

DumboNYC.com now receives 28,000 to 32,000 unique visitors per month and 55,000 to 65,000 page views per month. The site is regularly featured in NYMag, Curbed, Brownstoner, The NYTimes City Room Blog, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, The Brooklyn Paper, and Gowanus Lounge. Thank you to all who have made a connection.

In a little over one year, Dumbo has changed. From the start of this site, my goal has been to learn about the changes happening in this neighborhood and community. I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey as much as I have.

Last but certainly not least, thank you readers for visiting and contributing to the site. This site would not be what it is today without your knowledge and insights. Here’s to continued learning and positive change in Dumbo.

Cheers!
-hideyoshi

It’s obvious that parking is a touchy issue in NYC, with deeded parking spots going for $225,000 in Manhattan. Dumbo’s spots aren’t quite that high, yet, but in this small neighborhood, a change in parking signs and regulations bring out angry reactions in some. The Dept of Transportation has updated signs overnight, and the repurposing of the Pearl Street Triangle from a parking triangle to a pedestrian park started heated discussions in earlier posts about Pearl St. Triangle beginning work and its progress.

The dozen or so spaces lost to the Pearl Street Triangle have been reclaimed with a few changes in parking regulations in three areas:

1. Pearl Street (Between Plymouth and Water Street) is now a “No Parking Fridays 8-9:30am” area.
2. Pearl Street (Between Front and York Street) is now a “No Parking Fridays 8-9:30am” area.
3. Anchorage Pl (against the Pearl Street Triangle) is now a “2 Hour Parking 9am-7pm except Sun” area.

Below is a rough Google Map that shows their approximate locations (in red). I’ll also try update the map with street regulations. Please check back on the Location page for parking updates with the below GMap.

Parking Restrictions in Dumbo
(Note: The street regulations are regularly updated by the Department of Transportation. Therefore, there is no guarantee that the below map is accurate. It is intended as a general guide. Please check street signs.)


{GMaps View Larger Map}

1) Almondine Bakery – is offering a few new items:

• Crepes with choices of mixed fruit, chocolate spread, banana, or home made jam.
• Chocolate and coffee viennois – chocolate, vanilla ice cream, and whipped cream.
• Not new, but they also have daily specials of home made ice cream and sorbets

Crepes offered Friday night after hours 7-9pm and on Sunday 2-6pm. almondinebakery.com

2) Blanc & Rouge – Free wine tastings on Wednesdays 6-9pm:

• Wed, Aug 22 – Unusual Iberian Wines for Everyone – Everyone knows the basic red Rioja, but do you know the other grapes of Iberia? Work on your Spanish and Portugese wine savvy. We’ll taste: Unusual Spanish and Portugese Rarities.
• Wed, Aug 29 – Provencal Picnic Wines – You still have time to enjoy a picnic or two before summer’s end! Let us help you find the perfect picnic wine. We’ll taste: Red, White, and Rose from Provence.

brwine.com

3) Hecho En Dumbo – hechoendumbo.com. Hecho En Dumbo is an event occurring every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night at the Dumbo General Store (aka Café/Bar). The kitchen is open from 7pm to 1am.

Kirsten Dunst in Spiderman 2 (Photo: Columbia Pictures)

There will be a movie shoot at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park (Google map, corner of Main and Plymouth Streets) in Dumbo on Wednesday, August 15th at 7PM for a few hours. Come by and be an extra in the movie “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People.” You’ll be in a scene with Simon Pegg (“Shaun of the Dead,” “Hot Fuzz”) and Kirsten Dunst (“Spiderman I, II, III,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”)

There’s a notice to email DUMBOMOVIE@gmail.com if you want to be an extra, but I’ve heard that you can just show up to watch:

Bring friends, and picnic blankets. There will be free refreshments and a surprise raffle. The film is directed by ROBERT WEIDE (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) and produced by STEPHEN WOOLLEY (“Interview With the Vampire”) and also stars JEFF BRIDGES (“The Big Lebowski”), MEGAN FOX (“Transformers”), GILLIAN ANDERSON (“The X-Files”), and DANNY HUSTON (“Children of Men”).

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, is about a British writer’s (Simon Pegg) struggle to fit in at a high-profile magazine in New York. Based on Toby Young’s memoir “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People”. The release date is sometime in 2008.

{IMBD: How to Lose Friends & Alienate People}
{kirsten-dunst.org}
Previously:
{“Chuck and Larry” Movie Shooting in Dumbo Today, DumboNYC}

Lots of activity at Dumbo’s J Condo. Our friends there have passed on some updates from Hudson Company, the developer, to the owners:

• There have been 85 closings through the 14th floor and closing letters have been sent through the 19th floor.
• J Condo anticipates receiving a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy for the remainder of the building (24th floor and above) by the end of the month.
• They are averaging a floor per week in terms of scheduling punchlist walkthroughs and closings.
• The parking garage is now open and parking spaces are $300 per month and $350 for SUVs (inclusive of taxes).
• “The winning artists that residents voted for during the Project DUMBO event have installed their artwork in the building. “Horizontal Splash Pink” by Jenny Hankwitz is in the Lobby; “Honey, Leaves, Nectar” by Annette Rusin is the Media Room; and “Creatures in Rhumbaland” by Eleanora Kupencow is in the Children’s Play Room.”

Sounds like closings are moving quickly and new residents have moved in, as previously reported here. For the most part, the closings have gone smooth and new owners seem happy with the service.

A hot topic in the ‘J’ is that some units are being rented out to local businesses which isn’t sitting well with residents. Should they be allowed to use the common facilities, gym, etc? After all, they’re not paying for it. How have other buildings handled this?

Finally, the Chase Bank branch on Front Street is close to opening, as reported by brownstoner. However, Bridge Apothecary, the pharmacy on Jay Street doesn’t look close to being done. (Anyone know when that’s going to open?)

The joys of a new condo in NYC! J Condo’ers, welcome to Dumbo!

Previously:
{J Condo Progress (8/22/06)}
{J Condo Ready For Move-Ins and Resales}
{JCondo Views From the 32nd Floor and ProJect Dumbo Winners}

As reported on Tuesday, Dumbo Historic District was calendared by the Landmark Preservation Commission. According to today’s The New York Sun article, the LPC voted 8-0 to formally consider creating a historic district in DUMBO:

If approved by the commissioners in a vote later this year, 55 buildings in the roughly 15-square-block area would be granted landmark status, strictly limiting alterations that could be made to existing buildings and the type and style of any new proposed developments. Perhaps as much as any New York City neighborhood, DUMBO has undergone a residential building boom in recent years, transforming the once rundown industrial area into a sought after hotspot, complete with new luxury condo towers, art galleries, and restaurants.

Preservationists say that DUMBO, like many of the waterfront neighborhoods along the East River, is in danger of losing its original, industrial character. Some landlords and residents, however, wonder why the city would move toward attaching any kind of additional restrictions on an area that has been revolutionized by real estate development. A co-owner of two buildings in the proposed historic district, Peter Forman, said he opposes the designation. “Landmarking obviously imposes a burden on landowners,” he said.

“You’ve got a neighborhood that everyone loves. It’s been built successfully without landmarking, and my argument is that we don’t need landmarking,” Mr. Forman said.

He said factors such as land use and density could be regulated by zoning rather than landmarking, and that recent development, far from imperiling the neighborhood, has “made the area very desirable.”

“I look at the neighborhood and I saw wow, what we have today is pretty nice. I guess I’m not too concerned about it being destroyed,” he said. “I think that market forces can work better at developing the neighborhood appropriately just as it has successfully over the past 30 years.”

Click for the rest of the article on nysun.com.

{The ‘Burden’ of Making DUMBO a Historic District, 26July2007, NYSun}
{Dumbo Historic District to Be Calendared Today, 24July2007, DumboNYC}

 Dumbo Streetart (Photo by petroleumjelliffe)

If you’re reading DumboNYC using an RSS reader, you’re missing out on some heated discussions on the Pearl Street Triangle, Dumbo bums (where did they disappear to?), and the Dock Street building. You can subscribe to the comments feed to tap into the comments: dumbonyc.com/comments/feed. Thank you all who take the time to voice your opinions. I usually don’t have all sides to every story I post, so I try to reserve judgment until I get the facts. But I enjoy hearing more from everyone about their thoughts as there are many people who have lived in Dumbo a long time and have some great perspectives based on your experiences and facts. I even get some laughs from some of your posts. Your comments are also heard by more ‘influential’ people in the neighborhood. I occasionally forward some relevant threads to DNA, Dumbo BID, local business owners, our councilman, and others.

Please keep commenting so we can all see what is important for you. However, be civil and try not to flame anyone. We are a diverse bunch and there are going to be differences in opinions. But we’re all neighbors and should try to get along. No profanities too, as the website software is pretty aggressive filtering out comments based on keywords. So I hope all the people who email me and try to comment with offers of replica watches, ringtones, Viagra, and “enlargement procedures” will take note. Plus, Dumbo doesn’t need any fake stuff.
     -Hideyoshi

For a resident and someone who’s written about Dumbo for at least a year, I find the above question is pretty obvious. But I’m certainly no expert. I’ve always known Dumbo to be Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. The naming of Dumbo was conceived by resident artists as a way to make the area sound silly and unattractive to people looking to buy real estate here. But when reader sent in the question that Dumbo could stand for Down Under the Manhattan and Brooklyn Overpasses, it makes more sense than the more well known version because Dumbo is generally between the bridges:

“I’ve always understood DUMBO to stand for “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.” Of course, if you think about it, “Bridge” and “Overpass” are redundant and it sounds like there is an overpass that goes OVER the Manhattan Bridge. A colleague of mine whose friends are friends with Jed Walentas, told me that she read an article on the Walentas family where DUMBO was defined as “Down Under the Manhattan and Brooklyn Overpasses,” which makes more sense. And, if you google that meaning, you get quite a few hits.”

So which is it?