Factory Lofts, The

66 North 1st Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211

Minutes from Manhattan and a gateway to the best of the rest northern Brooklyn offers, Williamsburg is trendy in all senses of the word. Boutique thrift shopping, waterfront food markets, exorbitant brunch cocktails — the works. Sitting along the East River, just over the bridge it shares a name with, Williamsburg is the image that first comes to mind for many when they think “Brooklyn.” Yet, while most probably only think of everything to do off the Bedford Avenue L as “Williamsburg,” the area encompasses so much. Williamsburg is huge. Not even mentioning the other eastward L stations, there’s an entire section of Williamsburg near Broadway (and beyond) under the JMZ tracks, plus more along the G train’s Union Avenue path. Because it spreads out so, the neighborhood is a lively and diverse one that genuinely transcends any one label that may pigeonhole it.