How Dumbo Got Its Name
Earlier this week, the blog DumboNYC ran a very interesting post about the origins of the neighborhood name Dumbo. As opposed to the being the concoction of real estate developers and politicians, the name came out of a drunken brainstorming session among several artists in the area in the late 1970s. One of those artists,…
Earlier this week, the blog DumboNYC ran a very interesting post about the origins of the neighborhood name Dumbo. As opposed to the being the concoction of real estate developers and politicians, the name came out of a drunken brainstorming session among several artists in the area in the late 1970s. One of those artists, Crane Davis, described how it all went down:
In 1978, as the inevitability of development became apparent, the community decided that, if we were to die, at least we should be buried under a name of our choosing. A naming committee consisting of Selby Beebe, Crane Davis, Monte Davis and John Donovan was appointed. After much sitting around and drinking beer, to a point where none of us could remember who had suggested what, we came up with two alternatives:
DUMBO: Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass
DANYA: District Around the Navy Yard Annex
The choice was presented to the community at a huge loft party and the results weren’t even close. It was DUMBO by a landslide. Everyone agreed that it had just the right kind of Dadaist anti-marketing positioning to protect our turf from developers: who, after all, would spend a million dollars for a loft in a place called DUMBO?
Who, indeed.
Hah.
How Dumbo Got Its Name [Dumbo NYC]
Photo by Hoot Owl
This story is totally preposterous. Like Jeremy said, there is no way anyone knew Dumbo would become what it is today in 1978.
Most of Manhattan was undesirable, and to live on the Bowery was to REALLY slum worse than anywhere in the country. A townhouse in Park Slope was actually more expensive than Chelsea, and both neighborhoods were hardly expensive.
Yeah, I call bullshit
whatever i’m calling it danya or whatever from now on, what a bunch of self important crap from artists that never became anything
DUMBO is just too cute a name, if they wanted to discourage development they chould have called it pisstown, or vomit hill.
Sounds just like the story told on F TROOP when the tribe got it’s name: “Where the heck are we?”
I’m glad they didn’t go with DANYA… just doesn’t have that ‘ring’ to it!
Their anti-gentrification plan might have worked if they simply named it Down Under the Manhattan Bridge. Imagine saying…”yeah, I live in DUMB”.
um, isn’t anybody gonna ask Al to elaborate on his admission of producing snuff films?
They knew development was coming — in 1978? They had a 20-year-long mourning party? Give me a break.
It is a great name, it had to be artists that thought it up. But I think they may hve been too drunk to remember that the name Dumbo has, to most Americans, very sweet and homey associations with flying elephants. Very kid-friendly. They should have known.
I was at the neighborhood naming loft party. It is accurate. However the name D.U.M.B.O. may have been loosely used in some capacity before 1978.