What Is Dating in Williamsburg Like for Men?

Good, for a man who goes out. Williamsburg is full of young transplants, bars and people on the street, and it is one of the easiest parts of Brooklyn to meet women in person, by day or at night. The crowd is creative and casual, dates are walkable, and Manhattan is one stop away on the L train. The main catch is getting a woman who lives in Manhattan to come back across the river for a second date.

Here is what the neighborhood is like once you are actually dating there.

Williamsburg sits on the East River in north Brooklyn, with Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south and Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east. It went from an industrial waterfront to one of Brooklyn's most expensive neighborhoods, with glass towers along the river and older walk-ups inland.

The crowd skews young, and a lot of the people on Bedford Avenue on a Saturday moved to New York in the last few years. a dating coach says that kind of churn is exactly why New Yorkers are easier to talk to than people in towns where friend groups go back to grade school. People who are new are still meeting others, and Williamsburg has plenty of them.

South Williamsburg is a different place. It is home to a large Hasidic community with its own customs. The dating scene men ask about is in the northern part of the neighborhood, around Bedford Avenue and the waterfront.

Most of Williamsburg's nightlife is what coach calls the bottom tier: bars with no line, no promoter and no doorman judging you. He rates that tier highly in New York because there are so many people out that you will find women you want to talk to on volume alone. Bar hopping works well: two or three rooms in an hour, staying only where there is someone you want to meet.

Live music rooms and rooftop bars add variety. coach calls rooftops his favorite kind of venue when it is warm, because the open air keeps the music low enough for a real conversation.

Two habits help here. Try a weeknight now and then: coach likes a quiet midweek bar because a woman out on a Wednesday chose to be out and has nothing better planned than the conversation in front of her. And stay late, since by closing time many women have lost the friends they arrived with.

Daytime is strong in Williamsburg. McCarren Park on the northern edge and the waterfront parks along the river fill up on warm afternoons with people sitting, reading and talking. Bedford Avenue and the side streets are slow shopping streets where people browse windows rather than rush past.

Pick women who have time. A woman on a lawn with a book or browsing a rack has a minute. A woman walking fast with headphones in does not. Say hello, tell her what made you stop, and follow with an easy question about her afternoon.

Dates in Williamsburg are casual and walkable. A drink, dinner and a walk by the water can all happen within a few blocks, so an instant date, taking a woman somewhere right after you meet her, is easy to suggest. If the conversation is good after ten minutes, a coffee or a drink around the corner is a short step.

Dress to match. A sharp casual look fits better than a suit, and a tie on Bedford Avenue gets noticed for the wrong reason. Have a few real interests ready to talk about: food, music and what people do on the weekend come up constantly.

My advice on where to live in New York for dating is Manhattan below about 60th Street. Williamsburg is the one Brooklyn neighborhood he says is probably okay. He still prefers Manhattan, because women are far more willing to travel into Manhattan than out of it.

That shapes how you plan:

• If she lives in Williamsburg or nearby, ask her to something in the neighborhood. Easy.
• If she lives in Manhattan, set the second date near her. Bedford Avenue is the first stop in Brooklyn on the L, so it is a short ride for you.
• If you live in Williamsburg, that same short ride helps when you invite her back to your neighborhood later on.

Knowing the neighborhood is the easy part. The walk over to a woman you want to meet is where most men hesitate. Cold Approach runs its Bootcamp in New York and Miami, in the field, with daygame and night game mixed to suit you. Each training day has two four-hour blocks, with live coaching on every approach and feedback after every set. Group runs three consecutive days at a 3:1 student-to-coach ratio, and Private is one, two or three days, fully 1-on-1. There is no skill floor, and you leave with a written practice plan you can take straight back to Bedford Avenue.