Breed Dying

Take a long look at what may be the last generation of Manhattan-raised twentysomethings for whom Brooklyn will seem like a place that is far, far away — so far that they needed to convince all of their friends to move into the same terrible building with them:

All three couples were planning to move out of their Manhattan apartments by summer, and although the idea of Brooklyn was appealing — they could potentially get more space for the money — it was also unnerving. None of them had lived in Brooklyn before. Each worried that if the others did not follow, he or she could end up living in an unfamiliar borough without friends nearby.

“One of the issues that people my age have about moving to Brooklyn is that you think that the second you live there, you are moving to a foreign country and will never see anyone again,” said Woody Wright, 27, who grew up on East 58th Street and, at the time of the Hog Pit gathering, was planning to move in with his girlfriend, Britaania Poppie, who is 26 and works in finance.

Ms. Abrams’s enthusiasm proved infectious. By August, all three couples had moved into one-bedroom apartments at 388 Bridge, paying around $3,200 a month in rent for apartments on the 23rd, 24th and 25th floors.

One day we might use the same faintly eulogizing tone to talk about Old Manhattan, a glorious island city that seemed to float in the clouds before the ocean reclaimed most of it, leaving just a handful of soaring skyscrapers which were abandoned and then slowly gentrified by a new wave of young people, pushed out over the water by the soaring rents in waterfront neighborhoods like Prospect Heights and Clinton Hill.