Tag: manhattan bridge

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The View From DUMBO

Washington and Water streets, Brooklyn.

Washington and Water streets in Brooklyn’s DUMBO district is a favorite destination for social media shooters capturing the view of the Empire State Building between the legs of the Manhattan Bridge.

A friend of mine commented recently that this area, now so popular with tourists, was not so long ago the kind of neighborhood where bodies might be dumped. I’m not sure that’s true, but he did prompt me to go back and look at when DUMBO became a thing.

The official story — yes, official, promulgated by the Dumbo Business Improvement District — is that local residents came up with the name in 1978. Some accounts say that the name was meant to be off-putting to real-estate developers who might seek to gentrify the area.

The earliest media mention I can readily find appeared as an item in the Dec. 13, 1981, edition of the New York Daily News:

“First there was SoHo, which stood for South of Houston. Then Tribeca, for Triangle Below Canal. Now an area of lofts and small businesses near Brooklyn Heights that is beginning to attract artist has been unofficially christened the District Underneath the Manhattan Bridge Overpass.”

Note the variation: “District Underneath” rather than “Down Under.” The original name may well have been “district” given the fact residents reportedly considered an alternate name: “District Around the Navy Yard Annex,” or DANYA.

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Road Blog: Late Starts, and Walking New York

Advantage to flying east from the western edge of the continent late in the morning: One can enjoy a leisurely morning. Coffee. Walking the dog. Getting the house a little ready for the neighbors (hi, Marie and Steve) who will be looking after things (and the dog) while we’re gone. Finishing packing.

Disadvantage to the late start: You reach your destination pretty late. And even later if your plane is delayed, the way ours was yesterday. We climbed off the jet around 11:45 or so and reached my brother’s place a little after 1 in the morning. The fatigue of the late hour was offset by the exhilaration of finding a parking space within a block of his apartment building near the Brooklyn Bridge.

The late arrival meant we were up until all hours talking with John, my sister-in-law Dawn, nephew Sean, and niece Leah. Then we had a late start this morning (or some of us did–John and Dawn were up pretty early). Eventually, Kate and I went out with Eamon and Sakura (our son and daughter-in-law) and Sean and Leah for lunch, a hike across the Brooklyn Bridge, a visit to the World Trade Center memorial, another hike up to Chinatown for dinner (with John and Dawn), then the eight of us finished with a stroll back to Brooklyn by way of the Manhattan Bridge.

Weather: beautiful. Warm and just enough humidity to remind us what that is without beating us over the head with it. Experiences: wow, were the streets crowded. I need more time to absorb the World Trade Center site. All I can say now is that the site is somber and restrained; that was a pleasant surprise.

Here’s a clutch of pictures from the day:

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Bridge Walk

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I’ve been in New York for the past couple of days on a work assignment–attending a conference on transportation reporting sponsored by WNYC. One of the best parts of being in the city is walking; in particular, walking from my brother John’s place at the Brooklyn landing of the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan. I went over and back yesterday. And today, I walked over to WNYC, in what I think is West Greenwich Village, and then back to John’s by way of the Manhattan Bridge.

The Manhattan Bridge crosses the East River just to the north of the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s striking in its own way, but rougher, less venerable feeling, more industrial, without the cathedral air of the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s also far less frequented by pedestrians. After dark this evening, it was almost lonely up there after the crowds I’ve seen on the other span. A good place from which to watch the crescent moon set.