Can You Meet Women in Williamsburg?

Yes. Williamsburg in Brooklyn is one of New York's most exciting nightlife neighborhoods, known for indie music, gallery shows and shops run by local artisans. By day it has waterfront lawns and slow shopping streets. The crowd is different from Manhattan's, and that is a reason to try it, not to skip it.

There is one practical point that most articles miss, and it is about what happens after you meet her. Read the section on getting her to a date before you plan an evening there.

By day, Brooklyn's waterfront draws people on warm days. The lawns along the East River in Williamsburg and Greenpoint are the kind of place where people sit and are in no rush, and a woman on a waterfront lawn has time. The shopping streets are the other daytime option: people walk them slowly, looking in windows, which gives you a natural reason to say something about what she is looking at.

At night, Williamsburg has plenty of bars across the river from Manhattan, with a different crowd.

Pick a woman who is not rushing. On a waterfront lawn that is easy: she is sitting, reading or talking to a friend. On a shopping street, look for the woman who has stopped at a window or is browsing a rack.

Stand a few feet away and use your normal voice. a dating coach's rule for every opener is to "assume it's going to happen" and speak as if it will. Give one reason and your name:

"Hi, I saw you with that book and wanted to say hello. I am Sam."

Then read her. If she turns toward you, ask a second question. If she answers in one word and looks away, say "enjoy it" and go. Neighborhood strips can be busy at the weekend, and My warning about crowds applies: a woman in a packed doorway is hard to reach, so wait for a clearer moment.

Judge a bar by whether you can talk in it. coach says individual venues turn over so fast that any list would soon be out of date, but "the categories of venues stay the same." A general admission bar needs no planning. You can walk in, look around and move on if nobody catches your eye.

Midweek can be easier than the weekend. Fewer people are out, and the women who are there often have no plan and are happy to talk. Staying out later also helps, as the crowd thins and the women left are no longer tied to friends who went home.

coach says it is easy to get women to come to Manhattan, and especially to Lower Manhattan, and hard to get them to come out to the outer boroughs. Williamsburg is the one outer neighborhood he calls probably okay, though he would still prefer Manhattan, because "it just is harder to get people to go across the bridge out of Manhattan than to go across the bridge into Manhattan."

Here is what that means. Say you meet a woman in Williamsburg who lives in Manhattan. Asking her to cross the river again for a second date is a bigger ask than a date near her home. Suggest something nearby that night, and set a date near where she lives. If she lives in Brooklyn, the issue disappears.

Williamsburg is known for its creative scene, so you will often meet women who are into music, art and independent shops. That gives you things to ask about. It does not change the basics. She wants to know that you are friendly, that you will take a no and that you are not wasting her time.

In a city with an endless supply of strangers, one bad conversation costs you almost nothing. coach notes you will probably never see her again, and it is forgotten by the next corner. Keep your attention on the next set.

Neighborhood knowledge is the easy half. The other half is the walk over, and it gets easier with a coach beside you. On a Cold Approach Bootcamp, you practice in the field with feedback after every set. Each training day is two four-hour blocks, daygame and night game mixed to suit you, with no skill floor. The Bootcamp runs in New York and Miami.