Owned by Jimmy Lee and Slim Reynolds, it was one of several establishments frequented by the underworld, most especially the Bowery Bums.

[3] Goat Hinch and Whitey Sullivan, who were executed in 1903 for the murder of Matthew Wilson during a bank robbery, were among its regular customers.

[4] It has been claimed that Hinch perfected a method of panhandling by "swallowing a concoction which would make him temporarily ill and arouse the sympathies of people in the street".

[5] The Dump was also one of the regular haunts of Chuck Connors, a longtime Tammany Hall political organizer in Chinatown.

[3] Like other dive bars, such as Patrick "Burly" Bohan's The Doctor's, The Dump provided sleeping quarters, or "velvet rooms",[4] for its customers.