DUMBO, not the elephant

New York has a bridge of renown
In the borough of Brooklyn; but down
In D.C. it's been dissed
By the monument list.
Not an icon? Hey, get outta town!
[Courtesy of Chris Doyle for OEDILF]

---

Today I walked beneath the Brooklyn Bridge. I'll reserve a better, less overcast day to walk across into Manhattan. I heard about the neighborhood of DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) from one of my roommates who used to walk out of his apartment and look up at the bridge, every morning. On some maps, the area is called Fulton Landing. For reference, the area lies just west of Borough Hall and the County Court.

Without a map in hand, or any means of reference beside the subway map that I perused while in the station, I decided to go exploring. I'd heard of a great pizza place in this vicinity, Grimaldi's—who uses a coal-fired oven—from several "Top 10" Lists about Brooklyn. After three minutes of walking down toward the East River, I saw Grimaldi's ahead of me. Unfortunately, the establishment only sells whole pizzas and accepts just cash (which I didn't have very much on me). Thus, my lunch plans were foiled, for now.

Just a hundred yards from Grimaldi's stands the base of the Brooklyn Bridge. I walked around to the other side and up one of the side streets to the DUMBO district, with its high-rising lofts, apartments, and offices. I suspect, though I could be entirely wrong, that this is where the less-alternative, not-as-hipster-esque crowd lives/works once they grow up and choose to stay in Brooklyn. A lot of warehouses that have been converted for the arts—both galleries and theaters. Oh, it's a bonus if you're a Jehovah's Witness, too.

A majority of the buildings in the area are owned by the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, the real estate arm of the religion. The Watchtower, the official newspaper for Jehovah's Witness, is located in this area—both the editorial offices and actual printing warehouse—and housing for over 3,000 Witnesses, too.

After shpatsiring around the neighborhood for a few minutes, I headed back toward the Brooklyn Bridge and toward another area: Brooklyn Heights (remember from the American Army's retreat two blog posts ago). I only checked out this quiet, cobblestoned, red-bricked, and Brooklyn-chic neighborhood for a few minutes before I found my train and headed back to Crown Heights to meet my new mattress for delivery.

Henry and Clark Streets in Brooklyn Heights seemed very cool and I will return another time, perhaps when I bring cash to Grimaldi's, to check them out.