Here’s what they had to say about Dumbo: “This slab-serif display font fully represents DUMBO in all it’s glory. With it’s waterfront parks, expensive apartments and breathtaking views, DUMBO is home to many digital agencies, creative groups, art galleries and non-profit organizations.”

Join Jam On DUMBO this Sunday as part of their 2012 Winter Concert Series, held at Superfine restaurant, 126 Front Street, Brooklyn.

For each of the two (remaining) concerts, doors open at 4 pm, and the bands will play from 4:30-5:30 pm. Tickets are $20 per family, available at the door (cash only). Superfine will be providing a special kids menu before and after the concerts, and there will be free face-painting and balloons for the kids!

TWO CONCERTS LEFT:
Here’s the lineup:

• Sunday, February 12, 2012: Still Saffire
• Sunday, March 11, 2012: Shine and the Moonbeams

This year’s concert series will raise money for their free Summer Family Music Festival in 2012, as well as our 2012 community outreach projects, including Music Week at P.S. 307 (for more details on that project, check out our website, www.jamondumbo.com).

3rd Seminar: Wednesday February 15, 2012 at 12.00 EST / 17.00 GMT

“War, Politics, Fashion”

Dumbo based VII Photo and Blue Barn Pictures have teamed up to create free web seminar series in which VII photographers talk about their expansion into new areas of creative and commercial work. The third seminar (of five) is by photographer Christopher Morris who has embraced conflict photography, political coverage, portraiture and fashion during his career. Christopher will lead the workshop through the process of working in several platforms. He will demonstrate his assignment process, which typically includes shooting stills in color while simultaneously shooting mono video from which he can subsequently edit stills for additional markets.

From VII:

CHRISTOPHER MORRIS, one of the founding members of VII, will lead the third of VII’s Visual Journey seminars, in which he will talk about his process of working in several platforms simultaneously and learning to see afresh in each. He will demonstrate his assignment process, which typically includes shooting stills in color while simultaneously shooting video from which he subsequently edits stills for additional markets.

Christopher Morris’ first career was established as a conflict photographer responsible for some of the seminal images of the 1990’s; his second career was made in Washington where he developed a new and insightful style of political coverage. And since 2009 he has forged yet another career in fashion. He has worked for leading fashion magazines in Europe, been commissioned directly by fashion houses, most recently Robert Cavalli and won the “The Look” award for editorial fashion photography.

To register, go to viiphoto.com/news/the-visual-journeys-seminars.

Previously:
{VII and Blue Barn Pictures Visual Journey Seminars}

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

• Cultivate Brooklyn’s talent w/ @NYUPOLY’s proposal, 03Feb2012, NYDN
• Vinegar Hill House’s Caesar salad, 02Feb2012, BK Paper
• Dumbo-Based SocialGuide, a TV Guide for the Twitter Era, 30Jan2012, Betabeat
• Downtown Brooklyn’s Growth, 02Feb2012, Metro
• Would You Like a Beer With That Movie?, 02Feb2012, WSJ
• 50 Bridge win settlement from notorious developer Joshua Guttman, 01Feb2012, TRD
• Invstors See Opportunity in Brooklyn, 02Feb2012, REWeekly
• Tech Boom Upgrades Expectations in Brooklyn, 03Feb2012, NY1
• 220 Water St Apartments Now Renting, 03Feb2012, Brownstoner
• Recasting a Brooklyn Warehouse, 30Jan2012, WSJ
• End of a (Short) Era: Morton’s Closes in Downtown BK, 02Feb2012, Brownstoner
• Settlement in Lawsuit Over Defects at 50 Bridge Street, 01Feb2012, Brownstoner

Writer Kay S. Hymowitz’s article titled How Brooklyn Got Its Groove Back on City Journal is a fascinating read into what changes took place in the past few decades that brought Brooklyn to the forefront of the creative-class in NYC. Ms. Hymowitz asks, “How did the Brooklyn of the Lehanes and crack houses turn into what it is today—home to celebrities like Maggie Gyllenhaal and Adrian Grenier, to Michelin-starred chefs, and to more writers per square foot than any place outside Yaddo? How did the borough become a destination for tour buses showing off some of the most desirable real estate in the city, even the country?”

She answers them by showing how Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Dumbo, grew from being an industrial area into a creative-class gentrified neighborhood and “one of the wealthiest and fastest-growing neighborhoods in Brooklyn”.

In 1981, though, developer David Walentas took a look at the brick warehouses and factories (most dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries) and, taking a cue from his recent development successes in another former industrial area, Soho, bought 11 of them—almost an entire neighborhood. Or what he hoped might someday become a neighborhood: like Red Hook, Dumbo was still zoned solely for manufacturing, despite manufacturers’ indifference to the area. Walentas had to wait 17 years for the city to pronounce Dumbo “mixed-use” and for the area to come alive.

Walentas’s prescience—and patience—put him in an unusual position. Like many successful developers, he was able to make a lot of money: space in the buildings he bought for $6 per square foot now sometimes sells for $1,000 per square foot. But unlike other developers, Walentas owned so much of a neighborhood that he could play God. Also, since he was making so much money from the properties overall, he could give rent breaks to commercial tenants that he viewed as desirable—for instance, upscale retailers like West Elm, the modern-furniture outlet, and Jacques Torres, a high-end chocolatier—while refusing chains like Duane Reade, which, he felt, set the wrong, down-market tone.

Read the article for more about Dumbo’s digital-media marketing and startup firms, Williamsburg’s gentrification, and Park Slope’s literary center.

Looks like the viral marketing group at thinkmodo have done it again. They’ve created a marketing campaign for a new movie, Chronicle that’s gone viral. Three human shaped RC planes were launched around Dumbo Brooklyn to make it look like real people were flying.

According to Techcrunch, Michael Krivicka from Thinkmodo explains “Since the three main characters of the movie have the ability to fly, we came up with the idea of staging a few “flying people” sightings around NYC. We achieved that illusion by having 3 custom-made aircraft (which were shaped like human beings) fly above designated areas in NYC and NJ.”

Thanks to the many people who have sent this video to us.

The First Thursday Dumbo Gallery Walk is tonight, Thursday, February 2, 2012, between 6-9pm. The gallery walk is free.

For gallery listing, go to dumbo.is/itineraries/127.

From Dumbo.Is:

Come out for February’s First Thursday Gallery Walk, a festive night in DUMBO that offers visitors the opportunity to see gallery shows from a variety of disciplines. Retail businesses also join the festivities with extended hours and in-store events; two to note – Olga Guanabara and TRUNK.

Local bars and restaurants also get in on the action – AlMar has 2 for 1 drink specials from 4-6PM. The Gallery Cafe offers a $29 per person, 3-course meal and half-priced bottles of wine. Water Street Restaurant & Lounge has 2 for 1 cosmos for ladies at the bar. Superfine’s Happy Hour features $3.50 select tap beers, $3.50 well cocktails & $3 Bud/Bud Light.

The Dumbo Brooklyn location of One Girl Cookies officially opened today. They offering their classic collection cookies, chocolate collection, whoopie pies, and cakes and cupcakes. They will also serve a breakfast and lunch menu soon. Welcome to the neighborhood!

One Girl Cookies (onegirlcookies.com/dumbo)
33 Main St (at Water St) Dumbo, Brooklyn NY 11201
Mon–Fri 7am–6pm; Sat, Sun 9am–6pm

Previously:
{One Girl Cookies Construction Update, 26Jan2012}
{One Girl Cookies Opening in Dumbo, 02Sep2011}

(Photo from Gothamist)

Shake Shack, the popular burger stand that opened in 2004 in Madison Square Park in NYC by Danny Meyer opened its first Brooklyn location in December 2011 and its seventh in NYC. But there’s a little bit of Brooklyn in every location. CounterEvolution, the Dumbo Broolyn based growing business uses reclaimed wood to create one-of-a-kind handmade tables and seating for Shake Shack. CounterEvolution owner Jim Malone created the tables and one wall at the Brooklyn Shake Shack using reclaimed wood from bowling lanes.

According to the CounterEvolution website, CounterEvolution began in 2007 when Jim, a life-long musician and songwriter who was at the time producing cartoons for children’s television, needed to make a change. (He was also the original director of the English-language version of Pokemon.). We’ve admired his tables since we saw them at the first Brooklyn Flea and at BKLYN Designs. CounterEvolution has been at 10 Jay Street in Dumbo for three years, but is moving near the Navy Yards in Brooklyn later next month. We caught up with Jim.

Q: Can you give us a short description of counterevolution’s philosophy?

A: We strive to elevate the artistic possibilities of reclaimed wood and other materials through unique designs and quality craftsmanship.

Q: How did it get started and how long have you been in Dumbo?

A: We started with a few postings on Craigslist then began showing at the Brooklyn Flea just as they were getting started. We had a lot of support from design blogs early on and that really helped get the word out. We’ve had a showroom in Dumbo for 3 years.

Q: How did your partnership with Shake Shack start?

A: They found us through our work at Starbucks and Sweetgreen. Our first location was Miami Beach and we’ve been fortunate to partner with them through their expansion. Our most recent Shake Shack was downtown Brooklyn where we did the tables and a large wall installation.

Q: What were some challenges you faced early on? Current challenges?

A: We started just as the banks stopped lending in late 2007. So, financing was an early obstacle and remains a challenge as we seek to expand our retail sales in a slow economic climate.

(Photo of Jim Malone. Photo credit: Sandra Kress)

Thanks Jim and looking forward to seeing your beautiful pieces in upcoming locations soon.

CounterEvolution (counterev.com)

Permit # TV-82: Monday, 1/30/2012 between 6am-2am

Filming for SMASH is back today in Dumbo Brooklyn. They were in the neighborhood last week.

According to the IMDB summary of SMASH, “There is more drama behind the scenes than on stage, as the team prepares an ambitious Broadway musical on the life of Marilyn Monroe.” SMASH stars Debra Messing, Jack Davenport, and Katharine McPhee.

All filming posts are tagged here: DumboNYC.com/tag/filming

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

• Punto Bianco, Dumbo’s Latest Lunch Spot, 26Jan2012, Gothamist
• Chocolate Earth Opens at 145 Front Street, 28Jan2012, Gothamist
• Esquire Magazine Partners with the Kleiers, 27Jan2012, Gather
• The Revised DOT proposal for Fulton Ferry Traffic Calming, 27Jan2012, FultonFerry
• Brooklyn Bridge in 1904, 25Jan2012, Shorpy
• Big Spaceship’s Taco Finder, 22Jan2012, BK Paper
• 11-15 Old Fulton Street Loft Conversion Opportunity, 24Jan2012, LoopNet
• David Lombino Lands at Two Trees, 25Jan2012, Crains
• Bids Sought for 3-Building Conversion Project in Fulton Ferry, 25Jan2012, BK Eagle
• Huge Is No. 9 on the Ad Age Agency A-List, 23Jan2012, AdAge
• Tweaked Design for 30 Henry Turned Out, 27Jan2012, Brownstoner
• 205 Water Street 40% Sold, 27Jan2012, Brownstoner
• 70 Washington Street, #4LC, 1550sqft, $1,380,000, 26Jan2012, Brownstoner
• Conversion Coming to 72 Poplar Street in the Heights, 26Jan2012, Brownstoner
• At-Risk Old Fulton Buildings ISO a New Owner, 24Jan2012, Brownstoner
• 70 Washington Street, #11G, $2,025,000, SOLD, 24Jan2012, Brownstoner
• Baluchi’s to Open on Henry St, 25Jan2012, McBrooklyn

Conde Nast Traveler magazine has a feature article about Brooklyn’s literary scene: “All great cities have their defining tribes, whose mores and tastes permeate the urban landscape. Los Angeles has its movie people, Paris has its fashion designers–and New York Has always had its writers. Boris Kachka maps their new stomping ground.”

In a related feature of the article, there’s a slideshow of “Brooklyn Writers’ Favorite Local Haunts“. A few of Dumbo’s bookstores pictured – powerhouse Books (37 Main St), P.S. Bookshop (76 Front St), and Melville House (145 Plymouth St).

On Dumbo, Author Boris Kachka writes:

“The death of publishing is lamented right alongside the death of the literary party, and in that arena, too, Brooklyn (particularly DUMBO, the neighborhood just east of the Brooklyn Bridge) is proving the naysayers wrong. A couple of upstart book publishers have bookstores at ground level—in the tradition of bygone spots like Scribner’s in Manhattan. PowerHouse Arena is a lofty and beautiful gallery/bookstore as well as a publisher (37 Main St.; 718-666-3049), and tiny Melville House has a little storefront—possibly the only shop in New York devoted exclusively to independent presses (145 Plymouth St.; 718-722-9204). P.S. Bookshop isn’t affiliated with a publisher but offers one of the borough’s most comprehensive selections of used books—in a new, larger location—and is definitely worth a lengthy browse (76 Front St.; 718-222-3340).”

Check out the article for more on the literary scene in Brooklyn.

The paper on the windows of the One Girl Cookies – Dumbo location was removed this morning (at the 1 Main Street building). Peeking inside, the space is looking great with high loft ceilings and open counters.

From the Time Out NY listing:
“Turning Dumbo’s Water Street into Sugar Row, this 32-seat bakeshop—a spin-off of the Cobble Hill original—joins pastry standouts Almondine and Jacques Torres on the block. Wife-and-husband team Dawn Casale and David Crofton turn out homestyle treats, like whoopie pies, cupcakes and sandwich cookies.”

One Girl Cookies (onegirlcookies.com/dumbo)
33 Main St (at Water St) Dumbo, Brooklyn NY 11201
Mon–Fri 7am–6pm; Sat, Sun 9am–6pm

Previously: {One Girl Cookies Opening in Dumbo, 02Sep2011}

From time to time we get complaints about Dumbo in our inbox. And by time to time, we mean daily. Some are valid, while others are misdirected anger. Some complaints have been consistent over time (7+ years) and some are new. We normally don’t like to dwell on negatives, but maybe something good can come from listing these. Here are a few choice quotes (emailed to us or as a comment on this website) grouped by topic and frequency in the past month or so.

1. Building alarms: “Any idea what’s going on with the middle of the night alarms being set off? Saw a light flashing at 2:45am in front of Foragers. This has been going on every night for weeks.” (email)
2. Filming in Dumbo: “There should be a balance here that simply does not exist. We are not just a back lot for film crews to use for free- we are a living, breathing, neighborhood that do not need these shoots invading our space.” (source)
3. Lunch/Dining options: “Please Please bring us some more decent food options. Landlords, let the food and beverage establishments come in, they will only make your properties more valuable and your tenants happier!” (source)
4. Gentrification: “I applied for an apartment at 25 Washington Street for middle income earners, but was sold out. How can one get an apartment in Dumbo that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg?” and “Why are rentals in DUMBO so damn expensive? I can’t find anything under $3000. HELP!” (emails) [Ed: Median price for rentals in Dumbo are nearly $4,300, according to Streeteasy]
5. Parking: “Parking in Dumbo used to be easy, but with construction and yuppies moving in, good luck finding a spot.” (reference) [Ed: This complaint has been consistent over time regardless of construction.]
6. Residential building management: [Ed: All of these are complaints about building management. Rather than naming names, contact your building manager.]
7. Dogs and Kids: “The number of dogs and kids in Dumbo are past the annoying stage. What’s the best building without dogs or kids?” (email) [Ed: Umm, none?]

We also get complaints about this website – “why don’t you feature us? Where’s the article about xyz? Your posts are biased.” As mentioned in the about page, this site is run by one person (not affiliated with real estate, the Dumbo BID or art galleries). “We” can’t do it without the tips and emails from you, but sometimes I cannot answer all emails. Thank you. Also the ads are served on the site to support the community. Ad revenue is recycled back into Dumbo non-profits and organizations. Guest posters are welcome!

We used to get a lot of complaints about the street construction, but once Washington Street and Water Street were completed, the complaints stopped. There are others, but if you have a constructive one that we can bring to attention to local officials, neighborhood groups, or businesses, please comment below.

Are you tired of lugging your laundry to the cleaners, especially during the cold and wet winters and muggy summers? This was the thought that SpotlessCity co-founder Sonny Bajwa had before thinking that there must be an easier way to take care of his laundry errands. So he created SpotlessCity.

SpotlessCity lets people find every dry cleaner and laundromat in their area, and schedule pickups & deliveries from the cleaner of their choice directly through the site. The pickups and deliveries are absolutely free, so customers always pay the same exact amount that they would if they dropped their clothes off at the store themselves. It’s sort of a GrubHub.com or SeamlessWeb.com for your laundry and dry cleaning.

They launched the site a few weeks ago in Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn and planning to expand to more neighborhoods throughout NYC soon. We caught up with Sonny recently:

Q: Why did you decide to start in Dumbo/BK Heights?

A: Our company is based in Downtown Brooklyn and our entire team lives in Brooklyn, so we always knew we wanted to launch the service here first. When it came to choosing neighborhoods to start in, Dumbo and Brooklyn Heights were natural choices. Even aside from being the two residential neighborhoods closest to our office, which made them convenient, a number of reasons make them a great launching pad for SpotlessCity.

Dumbo is a very entrepreneurial neighborhood that is full of professionals, which means that there are many residents who need their dry cleaning and laundry done and who are willing to try out new services online. In fact, it’s not only the residents who are entrepreneurial; we found one of our first partner dry cleaners in Dumbo — a very savvy and forward looking cleaner that was excited about being part of something new.

Brooklyn Heights is another great neighborhood with a large number of professionals, but none of the people living in those beautiful brownstones and townhouses have doormen, so they could definitely use our service.

We’re planning to expand further in these neighborhoods and then throughout NYC.

Q: How did SpotlessCity begin?

A: I came up with the idea for SpotlessCity late last year after my wife and I divided up our errands and I got stuck with taking care of the dry cleaning. I noticed pretty quickly that while I was out lugging laundry down the street in the snow, she was able to handle all of her errands — like getting the groceries and ordering dinner — by curling up with her laptop and placing orders online. Naturally, I tried to trade chores, but when she wouldn’t let me, I just kept thinking, “why can’t I do this errand online too?”

I ran the idea by some friends, started doing research and talking to dry cleaners. Pretty soon, we got a team together and raised some seed money. Now we’re proud to welcome everyone to SpotlessCity!

Q: What are the challenges you are or will face in growing SpotlessCity?

A: When trying to launch a lean startup, every day brings new challenges that we have to figure out how to tackle! I’ll share a couple –

First: getting our message across to customers effectively. Explaining our concept has been a little trickier than we thought, perhaps because it’s new. Some people confuse us with “Internet dry cleaners” — companies that have swapped a brick-and-mortar storefront for a website. They’re essentially dry cleaners on the Internet competing with local dry cleaners.

We don’t compete with local dry cleaners, we partner with them. In fact, we don’t actually do any dry cleaning or laundry. We’re more of a SeamlessWeb of dry cleaning and laundry. Our mission is to help local dry cleaners connect with their customers online, and let people choose a dry cleaner and schedule their pickup and delivery online.

Second: communicating with some dry cleaners. Earlier this year, we hit the streets and started talking to dry cleaners to get feedback on our idea and whether it was something they’d be interested in signing up for. We learned pretty quickly that a huge number of New York dry cleaners are originally from Korea and weren’t interested in talking to what they perceived to be door-to-door salesmen (I guess that’s what we looked like!).

After getting the cold shoulder a few times, we stopped and recruited a Korean-American friend to come out with us on our research trip. Before we knew it, he was chatting it up with the dry cleaners in Korean, shaking hands with them, and we got all the feedback we wanted.

Congrats to Sonny and SpotlessCity on their launch. If you want to try out their service, you can get 10% off their dry cleaning and laundry with this code: DumboNYCReaders (valid until 1/31/2012 + pickups & deliveries are ALWAYS free). Also see BrooklynHeightsBlog’s article about them.