If you stand on Washington Street in DUMBO, you will never be alone. The stretch between Plymouth and Front streets is often filled with people—standing on cobblestone and surrounded by old brick buildings, pointing their phones at the Manhattan Bridge. Or standing in front of a professional photographer. Or angling their selfie stick to hit that perfect angle. We don't have any data, but it's safe to say this is one of the, if not the most Instagrammed spot in all of Brooklyn.
It's located in the highly photogenic neighborhood of DUMBO, which is already a tourist spot on its own — but even if you walk by the spot every day, it never gets old.
It has, however, gotten more crowded. Morning, afternoon, and evening you'll find this stretch sprinkled with people trying to capture the perfect shot, which, if done correctly, features the Empire State Building right in the center.
On some recent visits to the area (notably, in the middle of the day during a work week), we spotted everything from impromptu selfies to highly posed portraits. Check the scene out in the above video... and here's how the spot looked in 1908, before Instagram or the Empire State Building.
In 1908. (Courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives)
