DUMBO is a Brooklyn neighbourhood on the edge of the East River, right in the area of the two bridges that link Brooklyn to Manhattan. The name is a playful acronym, "Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass", which is more or less where it sits.

What is curious is the origin of the nickname. It was coined by the residents themselves in the 1970s, and the intention was precisely for it to sound ugly and dull, to scare off real estate investors and keep the area from becoming fashionable. It all went wrong in that respect, since today it is one of the most expensive and coveted addresses in New York.

Before that, in the nineteenth century, it was pure factory ground, a district of warehouses and industry at the water's edge, with cobblestone streets and red brick buildings. In time, those warehouses turned into lofts, while others became galleries or offices.