Water Street, (DUMBO) Brooklyn (February, 2010)
(See more photos from the “Literature Versus Traffic” project @ luzinterruptus)
Archive for the ‘DUMBO’ Category
Travel Photo of the Day: Brooklyn (DUMBO), New York – Literature Versus Traffic
Posted in Books, Brooklyn, DUMBO, New York City, Photography, U.S. Travel on February 28, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Water Under the Bridges: Joshua Derr’s Photographs of DUMBO, Brooklyn
Posted in Architecture, Brooklyn, DUMBO, New York City, Photography, Urban Affairs on December 15, 2009| Leave a Comment »
“Despite a six-day-a-week work schedule, Derr always makes time to take pictures. His images of DUMBO, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Red Hook, and Brooklyn Heights can be seen on Flickr — and purchased through Imagekind — and have appeared in the Gothamist, the New York Times, and Brooklyn Heights blog. They’ve also been published on dumbonyc.com and used in the promotional materials of Arts at St. Ann’s and the DUMBO Neighborhood Association. . . .
“‘DUMBO was rough when I arrived,’ he begins. ‘There is a building complex on Sand Street that is owned by The Watchtower where about 900 staff live. When I first moved in, the area was not as refined as it is now, with galleries, shops, and brand name stores. Before, there were art collectives and there was more of an artist presence in the community. Right up the street there was the Between the Bridges Bar, which looked like a dive. I guess something was lost, and something gained.’
“Among the losses, Derr says, is DUMBO’s once-gritty feel—the abandoned warehouses and factories, broken concrete, and glass shards that used to litter the ground. He is saddened, he says, by the destruction of numerous art deco structures, one of which, the Purchase Building, was knocked down to create a parking lot that now houses the Brooklyn Flea each Sunday.” (more @ The Brooklyn Rail, via Dumbo NYC)
Designing Brooklyn: 7th Annual BKLYN DESIGNS Show Opens Tomorrow
Posted in Arts & Crafts, Brooklyn, Business, Design, DUMBO, Museums & Exhibitions, New York City, Urban Affairs on May 7, 2009| Leave a Comment »
“TOMORROW, the seventh annual show of designs created in Brooklyn — Bklyn Designs — will open in Dumbo, drawing renewed attention to this neighborhood of former factories and warehouses, and its vibrant design scene.
“Over the last six years, the juried show, which features contemporary furnishings, lighting and accessories designed, and in most cases made, in Brooklyn, has grown from a Chamber of Commerce exercise in borough boosterism into a high-profile event and an effective springboard for local designers. This year, it has 45 exhibitors and is attracting attendees from as far away as Milan, the Netherlands and Japan.
“The show in Dumbo offers a good place to begin exploring what Brooklyn offers in the way of home furnishings. Just as the borough has become a center for locally produced, handcrafted food, it has also developed a broad population of independent, often artisanal designers.” (cont’d @ NY Times)
DUMBO Dock Street Project Update – City Planning Commission OKs Smaller Building
Posted in Architecture, Brooklyn, DUMBO, New York City, Urban Affairs on April 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »
“The City Planning Commission voted overwhelmingly to support a controversial tower next to the Brooklyn Bridge — though the building’s 18-story wing will be shaved by one story.
“In addition, Jed Walentas’s 325-unit Dock Street proposal — which features a ‘green’ design, plus 65 below-market-rate rentals and a public middle school — would lose two to three stories from the part [sic] its 10-story wing closest to the bridge.
“The vote to rezone Walentas’s lot from manufacturing to residential was 11-2, but despite the landslide, Planning Commission Chairwoman Amanda Burden described the proposal as ‘the most difficult to come before the commission in many years.’ . . .
“In ordering a height reduction and the cut-out section from the mid-rise portion of the building, the Commission seemed to at least be partially swayed by a late push by Brooklyn Bridge historian David McCullough, who visited the fabled span this month to call for the Walentas proposal to not only be halted, but for other buildings around the bridge to be demolished for a national park.” (more @ The Brooklyn Paper)
Even so, celebrity opposition to the project continues to grow. Dumbo NYC reports:
“We received word from [Dumbo Neighborhood Alliance (DNA)] that in addition to David McCullough, several celebrities will be starring in supporting roles in their grass roots campaign. Gabriel Byrne of The Usual Suspects and HBO’s In Treatment, Helen Hunt of As Good as It Gets and Mad About You, Gary Sinise of The Green Mile and Forrest Gump, Ana Gasteyer of Saturday Night Live and Mean Girls, Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker Ken Burns of Brooklyn Bridge and The Civil War fame and Skipp Sudduth of Third Watch and Law & Order have all added their support to the opposition of the proposed 18-story building.” (more @ Dumbo NYC)
Update
1st Annual “Walking Tour of New York’s Independent Bookstores” Scheduled for May 2nd
Posted in Books, Brooklyn, Business, DUMBO, Literature, New York City, U.S. Travel, Urban Affairs on April 8, 2009| Leave a Comment »
On Saturday, May 2nd, “The Millions.com” will lead their first annual “Walking Tour of New York’s Independent Bookstores.” The 11-stop itinerary begins in the East Village, continues through NoLita and SOHO, crosses the Brooklyn Bridge into DUMBO, and ends after 4 or so hours of walking and book-browsing in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
The complete, 11-stop itinerary includes:
- St. Mark’s Bookshop (31 3rd Avenue at 9th Street).
- The Strand (828 Broadway at East 12th.)
- Partners & Crime Mystery Booksellers (44 Greenwich Avenue at Charles Street)
- Three Lives & Co. (154 West 10th Street at Waverly Place)
- Housing Works Used Book Cafe (126 Crosby St. between Prince and Houston)
- McNally Jackson (formerly McNally Robinson) (52 Prince St. between Mulberry and Lafayette)
- Bluestockings (172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington)
- Melville House Bookstore (145 Plymouth Street at Pearl Street, Brooklyn)
- BookCourt (163 Court St. between Pacific and Dean)
- Freebird Books & Goods (123 Columbia St. between Kane & Degraw)
- WORD (126 Franklin Street at Milton Street, Brooklyn)
Additional information on the event can be found here.
A full-size Google map of the tour, with walking directions, can be found here.
Related: Literary DUMBO: An Afternoon Walk Under the Bridges in Search of Books
DUMBO Dock Street Project Update – Historian David McCullough Rallies Opposition
Posted in Architecture, Brooklyn, DUMBO, New York City, Urban Affairs on April 2, 2009| 2 Comments »
“In the latest chapter of a hot dispute over the building of a proposed tower near the Brooklyn Bridge, the historian and Brooklyn Bridge expert David McCullough is voicing his opposition to the plan.
“At a news conference on Wednesday, Mr. McCullough spoke to a crowd of more than 50 local advocates and politicians about why he opposed plans by the developer Two Trees Management to construct a tower called Dock Street Dumbo, so close to the Brooklyn Bridge.
“While Mr. McCullough lives in Maine, he used to live near the bridge, and also spent extensive amounts of time near the site of the bridge when researching the Battle of Brooklyn for his book ‘1776′ and the bridge itself for ‘The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge.’ He also worked with Ken Burns on a documentary of the Brooklyn Bridge.
“‘It’s one of the most important structures in our country,’ he said. The construction of the proposed tower is ‘upstaging what should not be upstaged. The magic of the bridge’s image is diminished. It’s wrecked.'” (more @ NY Times)
A letter from McCullough to Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz opposing the Dock Street Project, penned in January, 2009, can be found here.
A video of McCullough calling for a halt to construction plans near the Brooklyn Bridge, which he says would obscure the monument and damage a forgotten historical site nearby, can be found here.
Related
R.I.P. – Robert Guskind (1958-2009)
Posted in Brooklyn, DUMBO, New York City, Obituaries, Urban Affairs, World Wide Web, Writers & Writing on March 5, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Bob Guskind, the legendary Brooklyn blogger and founder of Gowanus Lounge, has died:
“After days of speculation inside and outside the blogosphere, much-liked journalist Robert Guskind died on Wednesday, the city Medical Examiner confirmed this morning. . . .
“In his prime, Guskind’s blog focussed a keen eye on city development projects with an objectivity and a level of reporting rare in the blog world.” (via The Brooklyn Paper)
The following video of Bob Guskind is via newyorkshitty, a blog about Greenpoint, Brooklyn:
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Memorials to Guskind on other Brooklyn blogs can be found at: Dumbo NYC, Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn.
Guskind’s “flikr” photostream, featuring numerous sets of Brooklyn neighborhoods, can be found here.
Flatbush Gardener is maintaining a running list of online tributes to Guskind. The list gets longer by the hour.
Nora’s Last Scene: Mabou Mines’ Dollhouse Ends Final Run
Posted in Actors & Acting, Brooklyn, DUMBO, Literature, New York City, Performing Arts, Plays & Playwrights, Sex & Gender, Theater, Writers & Writing on March 2, 2009| 1 Comment »
Mabou Mines’ Dollhouse, which first opened in late 2003 at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, returned to St. Ann’s last month after five years of touring the world, for what is likely the final staging of the celebrated adaptation of Ibsen’s “protofeminist” classic, A Doll’s House. This exhilarating, bawdy and broadly comic production, in which the male actors are all “little people,” standing between 40 and 53 inches tall, and the women are all nearly 6 feet tall, closes next Sunday, March 8th.
An interview with Mabou Mines co-founder and Dollhouse director Lee Breuer can be found here.
A slideshow of images from the current run can be found here; or watch the promotional video –
Vodpod videos no longer available.
The original New York Times review from 2003 can be found here.
DUMBO Dock Street Project Update – Brooklyn Borough President Says Yes . . . But
Posted in Architecture, Brooklyn, DUMBO, New York City, Urban Affairs on February 26, 2009| Leave a Comment »
“The Brooklyn borough president, Marty Markowitz, has jumped into a contentious debate over a proposed development near the Brooklyn Bridge, saying that he supports the project but would like to see it modified.
“In a letter to the Department of City Planning, Mr. Markowitz wrote that he supported the proposed tower, called Dock Street Dumbo, which would include shops, rental apartments and a new middle school, but wants to make sure that the tower did not affect the public views of the bridge.” (via NY Times)
The New York Times article, which was posted on DumboNYC.com, also reported that Markowitz suggested the developer, Two Trees Management Company, make the tower taller — 25 stories instead of 18 — but Markowitz contacted the Dumbo blogger to correct the record, noting that his recommendation is not necessarily to build higher, but that as of right, Two Trees can build up to 25 stories on the site.
Markowitz’s office released a statement recommending that the City Planning Commission and the City Council support the multi-use concept proposed by Two Trees Management while rejecting the building as currently configured. Markowitz’s full statement can be found here (.pdf).
[It has not escaped notice by Dumbo locals that just last night, the borough president kicked off his re-election campaign at an art space in Dumbo owned by the Dock Street developer. Presumably cake was served at the event, which Markowitz worked hard both to have and eat.]
Brooklyn’s New Culinary Movement
Posted in Brooklyn, Business, DUMBO, Food & Wine, New York City, U.S. Travel on February 25, 2009| Leave a Comment »
“These days, with a kitchen and a bit of ambition, you can start to make a name for yourself in Brooklyn. The borough has become an incubator for a culinary-minded generation whose idea of fun is learning how to make something delicious and finding a way to sell it.
“These Brooklynites, most in their 20s and 30s, are hand-making pickles, cheeses and chocolates the way others form bands and artists’ collectives. They have a sense of community and an appreciation for traditional methods and flavors. They also share an aesthetic that’s equal parts 19th and 21st century, with a taste for bold graphics, salvaged wood and, for the men, scruffy beards.” (via NY Times)
Related: edible Brooklyn
A Patisserie Grows in Brooklyn: Almondine Bakery & The Rise of DUMBO
Posted in Architecture, Brooklyn, DUMBO, Food & Wine, New York City, Television, U.S. Travel, Urban Affairs on February 13, 2009| Leave a Comment »
As reported in a New York Magazine article still much-discussed by DUMBO locals, Steven Kaplan, a Professor of European History at Cornell University and the “world’s preeminent French-bread scholar,” after a blind tasting of 13 of New York City’s finest baguettes, chose Almondine Bakery‘s eponymous baguette as the city’s best.
Scoring a 14.65 (on a scale of 21), the Almondine baguette, said Kaplan, “has a nice look, nice resonance, and a nice song . . . It has a little bit of fruit, a peachy, buttery quality in its nose . . . [and] achieves a good marriage of crust and crumb.”
But before Almondine’s now famous dough could rise, the abandoned four-story warehouse and pepper factory now occupied by the bakery had to be gutted, rehabilitated and adapted for commercial and residential use. In 2003, Bob Vila, late of the This Old House home improvement and repair television series, devoted the entire season of his Home Again series to the transformation of this c. 1850s building unused since the 1950s.
More than just a chronicle of a single restoration project, the videos from the DUMBO series (clips from all 13 episodes can be found here) offer some of the best footage available of the development of the Brooklyn neighborhood that in the past several years has become a must-see destination on the New York City tourist circuit.
Update: Best of New York: Eating: Best Bakery (via “2009 Best of New York” issue of New York Magazine)
DUMBO Dock Street Project Update – Murdoch for the Defense
Posted in Architecture, Brooklyn, DUMBO, Magazines & Newspapers, Media & Advertising, New York City, Urban Affairs on February 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »
In a recent editorial, “A Con Grows In B’klyn,” Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post, like The Brooklyn Paper before it, voiced its support for the controversial 18-story residential building and public middle school that opponents argue will forever block views of the historic Brooklyn Bridge. But unlike The Brooklyn Paper, which published a measured, point-by-point rebuttal to critics of the project, Post writer Steve Cuozzo reveled in denouncing what he called the “farcical arguments” and “blatantly bogus claims” of the “cranky opposition.”
Singled out for particular abuse were City Councilman David Yassky, the New York Times, and the organization “Save the Brooklyn Bridge” which Cuozzo accused of printing and distributing misleading and “fake” images of the planned tower.
[The best and most up-to-date chronicling of the DUMBO Dock Street Project, including local opinion (pro and con), can be found at DumboNYC.com.]
DUMBO Dock Street Project – Update
Posted in Architecture, Brooklyn, DUMBO, New York City, Urban Affairs on January 28, 2009| Leave a Comment »
“Opponents of a controversial residential tower proposed to rise next to the Brooklyn Bridge brought their case to Borough President Markowitz on Tuesday night, bitterly describing developer Jed Walentas’s project as bad public policy and a disastrous way to treat the fabled and legendary span.” (via The Brooklyn Paper)
[Notable among the opposition was two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author David McCullough whose 1972 history of the Brooklyn Bridge, “The Great Bridge,” remains, alongside Alan Trachtenberg’s “Brooklyn Bridge: Fact and Symbol” one of the essential texts for understanding the cultural context of the bridge’s construction. A letter from McCullough was read by a representative from the Simon & Schuster publishing house.]
Wondering if a New School in Brooklyn Is Worth Blocking the View
Posted in Architecture, Brooklyn, DUMBO, New York City, Urban Affairs on January 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »
In the years since the felling of the World Trade Center towers, the Brooklyn Bridge has taken on an increasing symbolic importance to New Yorkers. The bridge is now used as a backdrop for almost every local television news broadcast while the adjacent state and city parks along the East River in DUMBO, Brooklyn are regularly used as settings for fashion and other advertising photography and for television shows of various stripes. The relationship between developers, preservationists and those favoring the construction of a new middle school, is a contentious one that likely won’t be resolved any time soon. Even if the proposed development gains the necessary approvals, it is not clear when, or if, the project will ever be completed. One need look no further than the oft-delayed and scaled-back plans for the Atlantic Yards development in downtown Brooklyn to know that the battle to preserve the sanctity of the Brooklyn Bridge will be a long one.
Wondering if a New School in Brooklyn Is Worth Blocking the View (via New York Times)
Related
Brooklyn Redux
Posted in Brooklyn, DUMBO, New York City on October 13, 2007| Leave a Comment »
A year ago August, Beth and I bought a condo — a “pied-a-terre” — in the gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood known by the Disney-esque acronym, “DUMBO” (Down Under The Manhattan Bridge Overpass). Having returned to my roots (sort of), albeit part-time, after 26 years of happy exile in New England (I was born in Brooklyn but grew up in Forest Hills, Queens; and we’ll continue to maintain a home in Northampton, Massachusetts), I’m intending to do some writing about my re-discovery of the borough — and city — of my childhood where, as fate of course would have it, both my adult children now reside. As is often the case when I promise myself to get serious about my writing, we’ll see.
The 'Not-So-Rough' Guide 