Dumbo is starting to get some press from faraway lands, in this case, from Scotland. The writer discusses his experience with the Big Apple Greeter Program, a free service, founded in 1992 to help address “New York’s daunting reputation for crime and costliness”. Operated by volunteers who love their city so much they are happy to spend their time showing it off, the service aims to allow visitors to “see New York through the eyes of a New Yorker”. The greeters take you to their favorite neighborhoods. One neighborhood he took the writer was to Dumbo:

So I found myself Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, among converted warehouses and dock storehouses that now house emerging theatre companies and artists’ studios. Elliott led the way through decrepit lanes of the sort a stranger would probably avoid without a guide. As a police helicopter whirred overhead, we munched on sideplate-sized cookies, layered with squidgy chocolate and still hot from the baker’s oven…

Sounds like they visited Dumbo’s Almondine bakery. For those who haven’t tried their chocolate chip cookies, they’re thin and crispy but with a chewy center.

{Big Apple corps, The Scotsman, Aug 12, 2006}