No sabeis el calor que está haciendo estos días en Nueva York. Es sofocante. Y si encima le unes una humedad al 95% parece que, de repente, tu cuerpo es más pesado, te cuesta trabajo incluso andar y lo único que piensas es en sentarte en la primera terraza que encuentres a beber algo cargado de hielo hasta arriba.
Por eso decidí salir de Manhattan e irme a pasar el día a uno de los barrios que se ha puesto más de moda en los últimos años en Nueva York; el de Williamsburg. Está en Brooklyn, justo en frente de la isla, Y sí, ves modernidad por todos los lados donde vayas. De repente Nueva York se vuelve más amable, más habitable y muchísimo más bohemio y alternativo.
A este barrio muchos lo llaman el nuevo Soho por su gran ambiente artístico y una arquitectura que combina lo industrial con lo moderno. Me alucinaron sus calles con sus elaborados grafitis, la maravillosa vista de Manhattan desde sus parques a orillas del rio, sus exposiciones de arte y sus conciertos de música alternativa.
Definitivamente Williamsburg es un barrio que hay que conocer.
You have no idea how hot is in New York right now. It's suffocating. And if you add a 95% humidity above it seems that, suddenly, your body is heavier, you have trouble even walking and all you think is to sit on the first bar you find to drink something loaded with ice up.
So that is why I decided to exit Manhattan for a day and go to Williamsburg .Though it’s become more refined in recent years, Williamsburg still has a hipster vibe—as evidenced by indie music performances, gallery shows and shops run by local artisans. Distilleries and wineries show off the neighborhood’s flair for locally made spirits, while Smorgasburg packs in creative food vendors along the riverfront on summer Saturdays. Williamsburg is one of the City’s most exciting nightlife neighborhoods too, with many of NYC’s trendiest restaurants and clubs.
Over the past 15 years, Williamsburg has developed into one of New York City's most culturally vibrant enclaves. The Brooklyn neighborhood, which extends roughly from the East River to Bushwick Avenue, bounded by McCarren Park to the north and Flushing to the south (though Broadway is the cutoff for most of the action), is home to an incredible array of the borough's most creative restaurants, fashion emporiums, music venues and arts organizations—little wonder why it's garnered global renown.
So, Williamsburg is a Must-know place in New York City.
Hace 10 años a nadie se le hubiese ocurrido perderse por esta zona, pero los alquileres prohibitivos de Manhattan hicieron que Williamsburg se convirtiera en la opción menos mala para bohemios y artistas . No sólo reconvirtieron en galerías los lofts típicos de esta zona al otro lado del East River también su llegada trajo, además, cafés ecológicos, boutiques de segunda mano, clubs de jazz, mercadillos callejeros, locales donde tatuarse, comprar un vinilo o devorar una pizza orgánica, cines improvisados, mega-graffitis sobre las fachadas, brunchs étnicos… en definitiva el caldo perfecto para la cultura hipster.
Porque es así, Williamsburg se ha convertido en la meca de modernos con un toque yuppie pero también hippy. Y alternativo-intelectual. Hasta el punto de que el diario The New York Times ha llegado a acuñar el término Hipschester para referirse al barrio. Aunque también puedes encontrarte niñas bien con ropa de marca, junto con judios ultraortodoxos o latinos por las calles del vecindario. Un autentico “melting pot"
A neighbourhood of Brooklyn (actually even more), a former industrial district successively used by the NYU University students as “dormitory” (when the apartments still used to be rented out cheap and it was enough to cross the Williamsburg Bridge by bicycle to reach Midtown).
Then it turned over time – thanks to the late ones and the endless cultural variety characterizing the whole area – into one of the most fashion, eccentric (cool – someone would say) and original areas of Brooklyn.
A neighborhood from which creative people, hipsters, stylists, artists and newly-graduated students searching for spaces for their start-ups look like to get inspiration and give their own best.
A sort of watershed between the Brooklyn of the past, still really evident among the secondary streets and the old historic brick buildings survived the change, and the more eccentric, colored and fashion one cast into the future.
In the middle there are a series of incredible locations, pubs, restaurants, vintage stores and cafés alternating with short and colored houses, murals, parks, gardens and new, futuristic constructions (with prohibitive prices, by now) overlooking directly one of the most beautiful views in the world: the trembling reflection of the Midtown skyscrapers on the East River.
Si quereis ver el barrio tranquilo id de lunes a jueves. Os recomiendo que os toméis algo en el Berry Park, una cafetería temática sobre los Simpson y que probéis los maravillosos donuts que ofrecen. Si de cerveza se trata, hay que ir a la Brooklyn Brewery, emblema del barrio y con visitas (y catas) guiadas l Aunque la zona de marcha nocturna está algo más allá, al este. Un clásico es el Barcade, con sus máquinas recreativas retro y sus 25 tipos de birra, o el Alligator Lounge, con sesiones dominicales de jazz.
Ya sólo queda asomarse al parque East River y hacer un picnic disfrutando de una de las mejores vistas de Manhattan.En Bedford Avenue y alrededor encontrará todo tipo de locales: La Piazzeta, DuMont Burger, Fette Sau BBQ, Marlow & Sons,Isa, Rye, My moon, Parish Hall, Lula Bean Café… Si quereis carne, Peter Luger Steak House es, sin duda, vuestro sitio.
You can decide arrive directly to Bedford Ave and start your walk in the heart of Williamsburg or lengthen of a stop as far as Lorimer St. and keep going on foot for about a hundred meters along Metropolitan Ave (westwards) as far as the street number 370.
Here you can have a tour of a little and original museum preserving the greatest collection of vintage objects tied to the NYC myth and that probably include the essence and the eccentric spirit of the whole area: the City Reliquary Museum.
Keep walking along the Metropolitan Ave towards the East River as far as run into Bedford Ave, then turn on the right and enjoy the walk among pubs, little stores, cafés and colored houses as far as McCarren Park.
If you love beer you can choose to visit the near Brooklyn Brewery, a particular (needless to say, we are in Williamsburg) independent brewery run by locals, with final tasting included. From here you can “get lost” along Berry Street and Wythe Ave as far as reach Kent Ave and the East River State Park to enjoy totally relaxed the surprising view of Manhattan I mentioned before.
Con sólo un paseo por las calles de este barrio te das cuenta que la creatividad fluye a raudales y que mucha gente se desplaza hasta aquí para comer, tomar algo o ir de compras y huir de la masificación de Manhattan.
En otros tiempos fue una zona obrera colonizada por inmigrantes latinoamericanos, pero ha cambiado de ambiente y se ha poblado de restaurantes cool y moderna vida nocturna. Tiene, eso sí, pocos puntos de interés turístico pero el barrio es perfecto para pasar una tarde viendo escaparates sorprendentes y con buen gusto, cenar, tomar unas copas y ver un concierto. Los fines de semana conviene ir más temprano para ver mercados o tomar un brunch.
Sin duda Williamsburg merece la pena.
In Williamsburg it’s possible to taste and enjoy all the magic and the charm of New York without traffic, noises and stress of Manhattan.
By day it’s an oasis of peace and relax – best-loved mostly by families, couples and singles everyone searching for their own happy island – and the reign of music and “discreet” fun of the young New Yorkers, from the sunset until late in the night.
Williamsburg is actually few subway stops far from Manhattan: reaching it can be extremely easy and in some cases suggestive.
The easiest way is certainly to use the subway L line (unfortunately in 2019 it will be interrupted for 18 months due to rebuilding works following the damages suffered after the Sandy Hurricane) that in just 3 stops links the very central Union Squareto Bedford Ave, in the beating heart of Williamsburg.
So, as I told you before Williamsburg worth it.
TODO LO QUE LLEVO PUESTO ES DE BENETTON
ALL I AM WEARING IS FROM BENETTON