How to Spend the Best Day Ever in Dumbo

The story goes that the residents of Dumbo chose the neighborhood’s name (an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) in an effort to keep developers away. Their logic: Who would want to spend any time in a place with such a ridiculous name? Well, Dumbo by any other name would still be a waterfront community that boasts public art, nightlife, great food and unique architecture. Here’s how to spend a perfect day in the cobblestone-lined nabe.

Start your day with an early morning yoga class. We love Abhaya Yoga’s cozy studio and highly skilled staff, who will make you feel like you’re part of the community. If you find yourself in Dumbo on a Tuesday, take your sun salutations outdoors and join Sputnik Yoga for a donation-based practice on the Empire Stores rooftop (weather permitting).

Abhaya: 32 Pearl St. (at Plymouth St.) • Empire Stores: 53-83 Water St. (between Main and Dock sts.)

DUMBO Walls is a public art exhibition featuring international artists who have transformed many of the neighborhood's brick walls into colorful masterpieces. Larger-than-life works by DALeast, Eltono, MOMO and Yuko Shimizu are displayed on the sides of buildings and under overpasses throughout the neighborhood but most are clustered around Jay Street under the Manhattan Bridge.

York St. (between Washington and Pearl sts.)

The cool younger sibling of the neighborhood mainstay Vinegar Hill House, VHH Foods offers a limited but tasty menu that includes creative pastries and more substantial items like gluten-free breakfast tacos, avocado toast, kale and leek quiche and ready-made salads. You’ll also find elevated coffee concoctions, like one with egg cream, vanilla and Aleppo pepper. Oh, and everything is available to go, so mentally bookmark that for warmer days.

55 Water St. (at Main St.)

You know the one.

Intersection of Washington St. and Water St.

If the name doesn’t make it obvious, Beat the Bomb is a game where you try to defuse a paint bomb in one hour or get splattered with neon colors. Players wear hazmat suits and use logic, speed, teamwork and tenacity to defeat the “security system.” It’s like an Escape Room meets the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards (in other words, it sounds amazing).

247 Water St., Suite 106; beatthebomb.com

Dumbo’s waterfront dining scene has really stepped up its game lately, and Celestine is the latest addition. The floor-to-ceiling windows allow for some insane views of Manhattan—not that you'll notice because you'll be too busy ogling the colorful pan-Mediterranean food, like roasted cauliflower, prepared in the wood-burning oven and drizzled with brown butter and lemon, and the tender harissa-braised beef cheeks with latkes, fig and farmer’s cheese. 

1 John St. (at Pearl St.)