Becoming a Wiliamsburg Hipster - Slide Show - NYTimes.com "Brooklyn" is now a byword for cool from Paris to Sweden to the Middle East, so the author, Henry Alford, an avowed Manhattanite, set out to explore this artisan-loving borough. Here, Mr. Alford with his bicycle, which he rented to get the true Brooklyn experience, pauses at a busy corner of hip and chic in Williamsburg. Here is his journey: