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Beloved DUMBO Dog Memorial Ousted By Upscale Developer

Lauren Evans

Published Jan 29, 2015

Modified Jan 29, 2015

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Vanessa Wruble

Lauren Evans

Published Jan 29, 2015

Modified Jan 29, 2015

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If you're at all familiar with the streets of DUMBO, you've doubtless stumbled upon a fun but melancholy bit of kitsch hammered into the side of 57 Jay Street: A little memorial shelter for what appears to be someone's pet Chihuahua, his photo festooned with a complement of ever-changing doodads: Glitter-drenched figurines and feathers some months; fake flowers and tiny gold Buddhas others. It's a fun, welcome curiosity for tourists and local office drones alike, and it's rare to pass by without catching someone marveling at it.

The shrine is indeed in memory of someone's pet: The dog's name was Chicken, and he met his untimely demise at the hand of an Access-A-Ride van in 2008. His owner, Vanessa Wruble, erected the modest monument shortly thereafter. Now, it's going to be taken down by the building's new owners, who want to make its exterior more appealingly demure to the rapidly arriving luxury condo set.

But before we get to End of the Chicken Shrine, let's talk about Chicken's life.

Chicken the Chihuahua rose to neighborhood prominence in 2006, when Wruble found herself fostering dogs on behalf of a Manhattan-based animal rescue. One of the last charges to come through her home was an enfeebled, emaciated Chihuahua, who arrived with a broken jaw and an entire side scalded with battery acid. This was Chicken, and his odds of survival were not good.

Chicken was an especially unpleasant charge—he spent weeks cowering in a nook under her stairs, Wruble said, eating and using the bathroom only when she wasn't around, and snarling when anyone came close. "He was in terrible shape—I didn't think he was going to survive," Wruble said. "He looked like Cujo."

That changed one day when, like so many college students and stoners before him, the tiny beast was lured from his hiding place by the irresistible pull of a chicken burrito. In a eulogy she penned after his death, Wruble recalls the day Chicken finally came out of his...egg. Until that time, she referred to him as "the gremlin."

So I sat on the floor facing the gremlin hole and held out a piece of chicken. The gremlin gingerly stepped down onto the floor and snatched the chicken.

I tried another piece. This went on for quite some time, each time increasing the distance from his hole and closing the distance towards me. At one point that night, he put his little gremlin paws on my leg to reach for a piece.

The next day, he let me pick him up. The day after that, he refused to be put down.

By and by, the mangey creature recovered from his injuries and grew back his missing fur. He developed a dedicated neighborhood fan base, still stocked at the time primarily with artists and other loft-dwelling creative types. He was known to hew closely to Wruble's feet wherever the pair walked, even off-leash.

Chicken was killed in September of 2008, after getting spooked and darting into the road—directly into the path of an oncoming van. Wruble described the event as the worst day of her life. Neighbors familiar with the perky pooch rallied in support, and soon, the memorial was born.

Since that time, Wruble said, the shrine has become one of the most photographed sites in DUMBO. Tour buses pause during their rounds of neighborhood, she said, and parents use it as a device to talk to their kids about death. By tomorrow, it's scheduled to come down.

Last fall, 57 Jay Street was sold to Manhattan developer GRJ. Though current residents are protected by the city's loft law, the new owners are required to bring the building up to code.

But Wruble also surmises they want to make it more appealing to the high-paying tenants that have come to comprise the bulk of New DUMBO. On January 20th, Wruble received an email from the building's management company notifying her that all "debris, flower pots, art, and other items" will be removed from the building—including Chicken's shrine. Wruble inquired further, and was told by a higher-up at GRJ that the memorial had to go for "insurance purposes."

GRJ did not respond to requests for comment.

The building's super offered to remove the memorial intact, and managers at the nearby Brooklyn Roasting Company offered to hang it on its facade instead. In some ways, Wruble said, she feels ready to let Chicken and his tragic death go. But on the other hand, she wants to see it live on, in defiance of a changing neighborhood. Ultimately, the latter will likely win out—she plans to fix it up, give it a new paint job, and when it's ready, rehang it.

"People are always saying 'Oh, that thing? We loved that thing,'" she said. "So that made me want to do it not for myself, but for other people to have this thing."

"That's why the Chicken thing is so quintessentially New York—it’s like a bunch of crazy New York artists struggling to keep a hold of their way of life against the tidal wave of gentrification."

Tagged

chicken the dog

dog memorial

dumbo

original

Lauren Evans

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