This neighborhood, in a former industrial area along the river, is named for its location -- Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. Residential lofts, artists' studios, and galleries were the first to occupy what were once warehouses. The formerly underused Brooklyn waterfront area now has two landscaped parks -- Brooklyn Bridge Park and Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park -- with an unbeatable view of Manhattan framed by the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. Runners, bench-sitters, and film students are some of the few appreciators of these still fairly unused parks. The neighborhood has a few restaurants near the Fulton Ferry Landing, including the romantic River Café and Grimaldi's pizzeria, where the lines snake around the corner no matter the hour, along with a gourmet ice-cream parlor, the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, at the end of Old Fulton Street. On Main Street, an enormous branch of Bubby's, the comfort food restaurant and pie company based in TriBeCa, opened in fall 2003.

A handful of new shops have also contributed to the changing tenor of the neighborhood. The DUMBO outpost of ABC Carpet & Home (20 Jay St., New York, NY, USA, PHONE: 718/643-7400) takes up an entire block. Unlike its chaotic headquarters in Manhattan, the sprawling, modern home furnishings shop and showroom is a pleasure to peruse. The first-ever retail shop of West Elm (75 Front St., New York, NY, USA, PHONE: 866/937-8356) opened in November 2003, based on its success as furniture and home-accessories catalogue. Although it's owned by Williams-Sonoma, West Elm's Zen-modern pieces are lower priced. Once a fringe neighborhood, DUMBO's sparse, industrial feel is waning, and the once isolated loft-living residents here now have plenty of services within reach. The half-cobbled-half-paved streets are a metaphor of DUMBO's evolutionary place on the path of gentrification. Subway: F to York St.; A, C to High St.