DUMBO Apartments

Neighborhood Description

DUMBO, an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, is a Brooklyn neighborhood where artists and yuppies collide.

The residential DUMBO apartments are occupied primarily by professionals, aside from a penthouse where Mos Def resides. The warehouse work spaces still host many artists and double as storage spaces for Manhattanites and businesses.

DUMBO borders the East River and extends into Vinegar Hill. The neighborhood was once known as Fulton Landing after the ferry stop that connected it to Manhattan before the Manhattan Bridge was built. At that time, the area was predominantly industrial: a manufacturing district that consisted of housing warehouses and factories that made machinery, paper boxes, and soap pads. In fact, the cardboard box was invented in the Robert Gair building on Washington Street that is currently the location of Etsy. After deindustrialization occurred, the area became residential as artists and other individuals seeking large, inexpensive spaces arrived in the 1970s. The name DUMBO was coined in 1978 by residents who thought that the goofy, unappealing name might repel commercial developers. Nonetheless, as housing became more expensive in Manhattan, DUMBO became more and more gentrified.

Today, DUMBO is home to over 1,140 people, many of whom are prosperous artists. The neighborhood is also home to various art galleries, the Jacques Torres Chocolate Factory, the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and other wonderful restaurants and bars including the River Café and Pete’s Downtown Restaurant. Fulton Landing is also a popular place of congregation with its recently built carousel and beautiful view of Manhattan. The landing serves as a venue for social events like “movies with a view” and Bargemusic, a floating classical music festival.

DUMBO has made a handful of appearances in popular culture including Jerry Seinfeld’s joke that residents “added an O” to the acronym DUMB so as not to be known as such. DUMBO was also a featured location in Stanley Kubrick’s film Killer Kiss, as well as in the hit TV series Gossip Girl as the place of residence for the Humphrey family.

The center piece of the neighborhood, unsurprisingly, is the Manhattan Bridge underneath which DUMBO and the neighborhood park make their home. On the weekends, people from all over Brooklyn and Manhattan come to the area to lounge in the park looking out on Manhattan. On the weekends, galleries open their doors to pedestrians and the Brooklyn Flea market pops up. While a bit quiet with locals during the week, on Saturday and Sunday the pedestrian traffic is everwhere.

Visitors and residents can still access DUMBO by ferry from the Fulton Slip at Fulton Landing. NYC Subway stations are located at York Street (F train) and High Street (A/C trains). Bus service is provided by the B25, B67, and B69. Additionally, visitors and residents can access the Brooklyn Bridge walkway from DUMBO’s Washington Street.