Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY

The slightly cheaper – and some would argue safer – sister to adjacent Williamsburg, Greenpoint is starting to undergo the same wide-sweeping gentrification that has made Williamsburg the trendiest and most popular of Brooklyn’s social scenes.

The area was predominantly farmland during the city’s early years, and perhaps in a nod its beginnings, rooftop gardens are almost as plentiful as skinny jeans nowadays. And as more and more creative types and young residents get priced out of other parts of town, new bars, restaurants, and shops continue to sprout up.

Those in need of more nature than just the veggies on the roof can always head to McGolrick Park, a beautiful oak tree-lined respite from urban life, but there’s still a good deal of grit throughout Brooklyn’s northernmost enclave, which promises a nice assortment of funky dives and rock-heavy music venues, but also wide swaths where very little in the way of day or nighttime options is on offer.

Development shows no sign of slowing down, however, evident in both the rental prices that continue to creep up with each passing month and the ongoing refurbishment of formerly abandoned retail establishments.

City planners are also working hard to reclaim Newton Creek, an estuary that ranked as one of the most polluted industrial sites in the entire country in 2006. If they can pull it off, it’s clear there will continue to be changing tides for both Newton and Greenpoint as a whole.