Dumbo

Flickr/wallyg

By some accounts the most expensive neighborhood in Brooklyn, Dumbo (short for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) has perhaps the most spectacular views of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. Once an industrial boomtown on the edge of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Dumbo became a haven for artists in the 1980s, filling its vast warehouses. Now many of those spaces have been converted to lofts, and rehabbed warehouses share the streets with new construction luxury condominiums. Dumbo is home to several beloved cultural institutions, including Galapagos and St. Ann’s Warehouse, as well as Jaques Torres Chocolates, Bubby’s restaurant, the Powerhouse Bookstore and Smack Mellon Gallery. The first stages of Brooklyn Bridge Park have opened at Dumbo’s end, along the East River, and it’s served by two subway lines, the F and the A/C. If you prefer the open sea, take a water taxi from the Fulton Ferry Landing.