Williamsburg (Brooklyn)

Williamsburg is a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. It is across the East River from the East Village, and the Lower East Side. Williamsburg is home to many ethnic and cultural groups. The neighborhood is connected to Manhattan via the Williamsburg Bridge.

Williamsburg has been slowly moving northward over the last few decades. The area traditionally referred to as Williamsburg is now occupied primarily by Hassidic Jews who speak mostly Yiddish, dress in eighteenth century Polish/Russian clothing and stick closely to Jewish religious laws. North of traditional Williamsburg is an area known as South Side, occupied by Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. To the north of that is an area known as North Side, traditionally Italian, but now primarily occupied by hipsters: artists and those who wish to associate with artists. To the north of this is Greenpoint, occupied primarily by Poles, but with increasing quantities of hipsters. East Williamsburg is home to many industrial spaces and forms the largely hispanic area between Williamsburg and Bushwick.

The hipster center of Williamsburg centers on the strip of Bedford ave near surrounding the Bedford/North 7th street station on the L train, the first stop from Manhattan. Since their immigration to this area, Manhattanites and hipsters the nation over refer to this as Williamsburg, despite its historic inconsistency.