(Photo courtesy of marielleleenen)

A lot of you (myself included) have been wondering what’s up with the utility work going on lately in Dumbo. Christie Rizk, the reporter covering Dumbo at The Brooklyn Paper wrote “You can thank Keyspan for all the torn up streets in DUMBO lately. The gas company is installing new high-pressure lines and upgrading its services for all the new residents moving into the neighborhood…” in last week’s edition. I also called Tucker Reed, the Executive Director at the Dumbo Improvement District to see if the construction will be restoring the Belgian blocks. Several readers have written in concerned that the sidewalks are not being restored to its original state.

Tucker tells me that there is a policy to make the replacement of Belgian blocks mandatory for all contractors for all repairs on the streets. Additionally, he wants us to look out for the Dumbo Improvement District’s new Spring 2007 newsletter that has information on the utility work. The newsletter is not yet on the Dumbo Improvement District’s website, but here’s what the Spring 2007 newsletter states:

“You may have noticed the tremendous amount of utility work going on in DUMBO these days. Keyspan Energy Corporation is upgrading and installing new utility lines all throughout the neighborhood to replace the current, horribly outdated infrastructure. It is a necessary inconvenience that should be completed over the next few weeks. At which point, Keyspan will be responsible for replacing all of the sidewalks and streetbeds that they have torn up in kind.

A side benefit of the Keyspan work is that they are moving many of the utility lines from our roadbeds to run them underneath our sidewalks. Moving the lines will clear the roadbeds for City projects to rehabilitate and refurbish the Belgian block streets in the neighborhood that are in desperate need of repair.

To date, the City has not committed capital funding to fix our streets. However, over the coming year, we will be pushing the City tirelessly to begin undertaking these long overdue repairs. Please keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities to assist us in these efforts. Preserving the historic character of our streetscapes, while ensuring that they are safe and well maintained, is of the utmost importance to the continued growth of our community.”

More signs that Dumbo is growing and the Dumbo BID is planning for the influx of population this summer. Write to Tucker Reed at tucker@dumbonyc.org if you have concerns about the repair work not being up to standards.

Michael Alan invites you to draw, paint, sculpt, create the last Friday in May and every Friday in June at Retreat.
This workshop will feature 1-2 of your favorite nude female Draw-a-thon Theater models a performance artists doing dramatic and intense short shows, gestures, 15s and long poses in a more intimate and relaxed setting. This is a great opportunity to make art and become a part of the Draw-a-thon community.

When: Friday May 25th and all 5 fridays in June
Where: Retreat, 147 Front Street, DUMBO Brooklyn
Time: 8pm-12am
Cost: $12 per session or $50 for the month of June

Where is Clumber Corner? Dog owners are probably familiar with this place. The answer is after the jump below.
Read the rest of this entry »

 155 Water Street, 5/20/2007

 155 Water Street, 5/20/2007

I know Brownstoner had a posting about 155 Water Street on Tuesday, but I have few other photos I took over the weekend. Not sure what developer Josh Guttman is planning on doing with the space (condos? rentals? commercial lofts?), but when the planned Pearl Street Triangle is completed, whoever occupies the building will have a pedestrian plaza in front of the building. Even better if a rumored Greenmarket comes to the plaza.

{BIS Job: “Install Windows In Existing Openings”}
{BISweb on 155 Water Street, BISweb on nyc.gov}
{In DUMBO a Parking Lot Will Become a Piazza, 23May2007, streetsblog.org}

 Photo courtesy of Neighborhoodies

A few Dumbo retail news:

1. 20 Jay Street: According to neighborhoodies.com, they’re planning a retail store on 20 Jay Street: “Our newest store opens June 1st on Jay Street in Brooklyn! As you can see we already took out a former concrete wall on the exterior and fit it with another glass front. … Notice too the progress in clearing the interior. …We’ll keep adding photos as work progresses…” Neighborhoodies is headquartered in Dumbo on 45 Main Street.
2. 14 Jay Street: Aswoon/Susan Woods (www.aswoon.com) is going to be opening a store/showroom at the corner of Jay & John Streets at 14 Jay Street.
3. 20 Jay Street: A doggy day care will open on Plymouth Street in 20 Jay Street building. All dog owners in the neighborhood will have a place for their dogs to be pampered.
4. 67 Washington Street: The Two Trees Real Estate office and their new website, twotreesre.com is open for business. Previously reported on March 29 here on DumboNYC.
5. 70 Washington Street: There’s some activity on the retail level in this building on the Front Street side across the street from Bo Concepts. Drywall has been put in and the space is being cleared out. No word yet on what this will become. Stay tuned…

 (Photo by Jane Walentas)

With Spring’s arrival, Jane’s Carousel is now open for viewing on weekends (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 12noon to 6:00pm). Jane Walentas envisions the carousel to be part of the Brooklyn Bridge Park. Park planners say they’re still in discussions about the inclusion of the carousel. Mrs. Walentas says she’s already talking to architects about the design for the building where it’ll be housed. She says she envisions a bright, glassy pavilion so the carousel can be seen even from across the river.

Jane’s Carousel
Jane’s Carousel location: Brooklyn Bridge Park, DUMBO, between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges on the East River, Entrance at Dock Street or Main Street

56 Water St. Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY

{The Carousel News and Trader Talks About Jane’s Carousel, 19Jan2007, DumboNYC}
{To the Children of Dumbo: Experience Jane’s Carousel 12/8, 8Dec2006, DumboNYC}
{A Chat With Jane At The Carousel Opening, 16Oct2006, DumboNYC}

 (Photo by Austin Mann Photography)

It’s easy to believe that the neighborhood, Dumbo, was coined by developers who wanted a cool sounding acronym like SoHo, NoHo, or Tribeca. But in fact, Dumbo was named by residents and artist loft tenants in the late 1970s who were looking for an uncool, anti-marketing name to protect their turf from developers who they thought were going to ruin the character of the neighborhood. Some things never change. After DumboNYC wrote an article titled Dumbo, the Historic District With the Modern Name, a long time resident sent an email and introduced me to Crane Davis.

Crane Davis is a writer and producer who lived on Washington Street in Dumbo from 1976 through 2006. In the 1980′s, he served as president of the Fulton Ferry Local Development Corporation. He recently retired to a home in the Hudson Valley near Woodstock. Crane is today’s guest writer. He lets us in on what the area now known as Dumbo used to be, and how he and a few others named Dumbo.

Click below to read Crane’s story. Read the rest of this entry »

 (Photo from NY Times)

 (Photo from NY Times)

The NY Times updates us on Old Fulton Street:

THE Brooklyn block leading down to the Fulton Ferry Landing, a neglected little row of brick structures at 1-25 Old Fulton Street, has looked like a ghost town for years, even while a boom has swept through Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo on either side.

Now change is around the corner, as the new 85-acre Brooklyn Bridge Park moves ahead, its L shape wrapping around the waterfront from Atlantic Avenue to Jay Street, with Old Fulton Street as its apex.

This neglected row will become the gateway to one of New York’s most spectacular parks, but there is a trade-off: the plan also calls for the demolition of the art moderne Department of Purchase building, at the foot of the street.

DumboNYC previously featured 11, 13, and 15 Old Fulton Street buildings (which are still on the market). The article says “The building at No. 5 Old Fulton was a tobacco warehouse for a time, and at No. 11, Robert R. Story made saddles, harnesses and engine hoses…At No. 15, Valentine, Bergen & Company operated a wholesale grocery, which sold a fruit vinegar with a maiden on the label declaring, “I am soulfully intense.”..By 1898, No. 11 Old Fulton Street was a lodging house.”

Over the last five years Dumbo has become as expensive as Brooklyn Heights. But right next door, Old Fulton Street is still just that — old.

Most of the storefronts are empty, although pizza lovers sometimes stack up outside Grimaldi’s (formerly Patsy’s) at No. 19. The ferry dock can be crowded when New York Waterways starts ferry service — this year, that happened in late April — but generally the brick row has an old-time, melancholy air.

According to the article the Purchase building demolition will begin in the fall and the site will become open parkland. The building had been used by the city’s Office of Emergency Management and currently by the chief medical examiner.

{From Ghost Town to Park Gateway, 20May2007, NY Times}
{Three Vacant Buildings on Old Fulton Street, 18Jan2007, DumboNYC}

 Pier at the Corner of Adams and John Street, Dumbo Brooklyn, 4/2007

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

• The Land ‘Lord’. Witnesses Cash in on Brooklyn, 5/14/07, New York Post
• Borough Of Design, 5/15/07, NY Sun
• Recycle-A-Bicycle in Dumbo, 5/15/07, The New York Observer
• ‘BKLYN DESIGN’ Show: The Reasons for Its Success, 5/16/07, Brooklyn Daily Eagle
• Developers Educate the Public on the New 110 Livingston, 5/17/07, New York Sun
• Walentas Support for MoMa, 5/16/07, Bloomberg
• JEHOVAH’S LUXE PLAN TO TURN PROPHET, 5/17/07, New York Post
• At DUMBO Meeting, Encouraging Signs of Historic Designation, 5/17/07, Brooklyn Daily Eagle
• School’s Out: Brooklyn Brewery PigFest 07 Pictures, 5/17/07, backyardchef.blogspot.com
• Trailer Trash in Dumbo, 5/16/07, McBrooklyn
• New Place for Dumbo’ites to Put All Their Money, 5/18/07, Brooklyn Record
• DUMBO Designation Efforts Continue to Gain Traction, 5/18/07, Historic Districts Council Newsstand
• Bklyn Designs 2007 Review by Apartmenttherapy, 5/18/07, Apartmenttherapy.com

Vinegar Hill is a usually a quiet neighborhood, (one of my favorites) but early morning on Wednesday, residents were awakened by a police chase that ended in a crushed cab and an arrest. I’ll let the resident who emailed me tell the story:

Last night, at 4:17 A.M., within earshot of the building at 91 Hudson Ave, there was a bang that sounded like the shelling of Vinegar Hill. I shot upright in terror and ran to the window but I couldn’t see anything. There was some angry shouting out of view, and then within 30 seconds a police car sped down Front St. and turned left on Hudson Ave. More shouting. Then my first floor neighbors came outside. People asked, “Are you okay?” A voice said, “They caught the guy.” Someone said, “Will it catch on fire?” “No, that’s the radiator.” Huh?

Apparently, a guy stole someone’s cab in Manhattan and drove it away. Then the cabbie got into another cab, chased it over to Brooklyn, and must have called the police en route. Then when the carjacker got to the end of Front Street, he couldn’t round the turn, smashed into the front door of my building, then got out of the car and tried to run away but he was caught by the police. Everyone was okay, but the car was pretty smushed.

A few minutes later, four police cars were outside of my building, then firetrucks. The firefighters had to get in through the back of the first floor apartment, because there was a taxi pinning our front gate shut. They spent the next hour or so removing the gate from the roughed-up front of our building so we wouldn’t be trapped.

Not sure how long the car chase was, but it’s fortunate that no one got injured. Vinegar Hill is now back to its normal peaceful neighborhood.

[Thanks Benno and Luis for the tip and photos]