Cobble Hill

Shhh! Don’t tell anybody about this adorably quaint (but not cutesy) gem just below Brooklyn Heights — but cheaper. Somehow Cobble Hill has managed to hold on to its traditional working class Italian ethnicity (an episode of The Sopranos was filmed here) as newcomers have added cozily inventive restaurants and charming local boutiques to the great old bars. Beautiful row houses, in a dizzying array of historic styles, wrap around quiet, tree-lined streets and kid-filled backyards. Old-time meat markets sit next to the more upscale bars and chic new shops on the commercial arteries of Smith and Court Streets.