DUMBO Brooklyn: The Best Food, Art & Manhattan Bridge Views

DUMBO — Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass — is Brooklyn's most photographed neighbourhood and, behind the photography, one of its most substantive: a former industrial district of 19th century brick warehouses that was transformed starting in the 1970s by artists seeking large, cheap space, and subsequently by technology companies, galleries, restaurants, and the specific type of affluent resident who arrives after the artists and before the chain stores. The result is a neighbourhood with genuine history, serious art institutions, and views of the Manhattan Bridge that are among the most reproduced urban images in the world.

The Manhattan Bridge view from Washington Street, looking south with the bridge centred between the brick warehouse buildings on either side, is the city's most reliably Instagrammed urban frame. What makes it worth the cliché is that the view is genuinely extraordinary: the bridge's steel lattice framing the Manhattan skyline, with DUMBO's cobblestone streets in the foreground. Early morning (6–8am) on a clear day before the photography crowd arrives is the optimal combination.

The real DUMBO is a few minutes beyond the postcard view. Brooklyn Bridge Park runs along the waterfront from the Manhattan Bridge south past the Brooklyn Bridge — Pier 1 and Pier 6 have excellent playgrounds, seasonal ferry connections, and the best views of the lower Manhattan skyline from any angle. Jane's Carousel, a restored 1922 carousel in a glass pavilion designed by Jean Nouvel, operates in the park and is joyfully anachronistic. St. Ann's Warehouse theatre produces some of New York's most important experimental work.

For food: Time Out Market New York in the old Empire Stores warehouse has the best density of quality food options per square foot in Brooklyn. Grimaldi's Pizza under the bridge and Juliana's around the corner are the pizza pilgrimage options. Superfine has been the neighbourhood's community restaurant since 2000.