By Brett Selmont

Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was founded in 1810 and named after Colonel Williams, the engineer who first surveyed the area. For me, however, Williamsburg was discovered in 1996, by my friend Jeremy. 

I was sitting at a bar in the East Village nursing a beer when Jeremy showed up and declared that he was “moving to Williamsburg.” 

My initial response was, “Virginia?” 

After I realized he meant Brooklyn, I was confounded: Why would he ever leave the excitement and possibilities of the East Village for an ugly, abandoned neighborhood with nothing to offer but elevated train noise and the constant roar of traffic bellowing from the BQE?

“I moved to New York to live in New York City. I don’t think it’s a great idea,” I warned him. 

Jeremy ignored my warning, and with a few friends moved into a 2,000 sq ft. loft with a rickety freight elevator at $1,600 a month. They worked their asses off night and day and renovated the loft into an amazing space. The only problem was location. At the time, Williamsburg had only a handful of bars and restaurants in the area, and absolutely no one delivered. You couldn’t get a cab to go there, and it was virtually impossible to reach Manhattan except by means of the L train, which appeared about as often as Halley’s Comet. 

In 1998, I left New York for a while. When I returned two years later, I found Williamsburg completely transformed. Shop owners, restaurateurs and other businesses had sprouted up along Bedford Ave. Williamsburg was being hailed in Time as the hippest place in America. 

Back when Jeremy first moved to Williamsburg, Peter Luger’s was the only reason to cross the river. Now amazing cuisine is everywhere. Dumont is on everyone’s “best of” lists, but a little triangular restaurant on Broadway off the JMZ line called Moto is a quaint neo-French joint that tempts the palate as well as the ears with live jazz performers. If the service is on, it’s a wonderful dining atmosphere. Aurora on South 1st St. and Berry is a hidden Italian gem. Diner has a huge fan base and deservingly so, but if the wait is too long, pop next door to Marlow & Sons. It’s the same owners as Diner and was probably opened just to seat their overflow, but the small Mediterranean-themed inlet has sensational appetizers and a raw bar. It’s a cool place for olives, oysters and great cocktails with friends, or a relatively cheap romantic alternative to Diner’s crowds.

Nowhere has the atmosphere changed more in Williamsburg than with the bar scene. The old standbys—Greenpoint Tavern, Turkey’s Nest and the Abby—are still here, but now Williamsburg has a vibrant nightlfe. If you’re looking for a drink with a friend, Iona on Grand St. and Bedford is the perfect place. This Irish pub has friendly bartenders and a comfortable bar, complete with a solid footrest and arm cutouts on the bartop for a long haul of knocking back pints. The outdoor space is one of the best in the neighborhood, and if you want to burn off some of those beer calories, they have a competitive ping-pong table. If getting drunk on the cheap side is your objective, than look no further than the Levee on N. 3rd St. and Berry. One dollar Pabst at happy hour ($2 thereafter), great drink specials and free bowls of goldfish and cheese balls on the bar is tough to beat. They also have darts, pinball, Buck Hunter and pool if you’re an active drunk. At night, Union Pool is as trendy as it gets, and Barcade offers a constantly changing list of microbrews from all over North America, and walls of video games like Frogger, Centipede and Rampage. 

Thank or blame the artists as you will, there’s no doubt that Williamsburg has interesting things to look at. For all of its architectural shortcomings, like woeful tenements, large block warehouses, hideous ’70s-style faux-shingled aluminum siding, and, of course, the BQE, spaces like Black & White, Side Show, Cinders Gallery and hundreds of others litter the neighborhood’s landscape. A day can easily be spent popping in and out of thrift stores like Beacons Closet and Junk, or odd little shops, book stores and the amazing blown-glass designs at 160 Glass on Berry St. 

Unfortunately, the New York City Council just passed a large-scale rezoning of the waterfront property of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, all of which will soon be ultra-upscale housing. It won’t be long before Bedford Ave. is transformed into Bleecker St. All the artists and musicians will have to pack up their paints, grab their amps and find new, less expensive dwellings.

When I recently spoke to Jeremy, he divulged that he was thinking of moving to Long Island City. I replied, “Queens? Are you crazy! Why would you ever leave Williamsburg?”